the true Christian path in an unjust society leads to jail

Different strains of Christianity, not to mention different religions, have different answers. A case can be made that God has no interest in running governments, his followers of various stripes having spent meaningful stretches of time in exile and in prison. It's no small irony that a Protestant segment is gloating over the latest American election, when the original church's corruption into a secular power is what led to the Reformation.

That same suspect Catholic Church has joined the anti-papist conservatives in taking credit for the Bush triumph (over a Catholic, yet), noting the strong resonance of the "marriage" issue. This brings the church full circle, from persecuted minority to arbitrary guardian of the gates.

Many Catholics, of course, don't share the Vatican agenda; as many other Christians, including evangelicals, don't share Pat Robertson's. Some would say Jesus wanted John Kerry in the White House; many would simply say Jesus has been too busy at the soup kitchens down the street from the White House to notice who occupies it.

Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker said the true Christian path in an unjust society leads downward, to jail. History tells us there is enormous power in such powerlessness. Gandhi didn't get invited to croquet with the governor and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't pulling the traditional values vote for congressman from Alabama. They lost a lot before they won; and from a strict moral values standpoint, their losing was winning. Jesus, of course, was way ahead of them.

...from: When the state gets churched by Dan Carpenter, The Indianapolis Star, November 28, 2004