Buddy Hanson:
Political Coach and Christian Lobbyist

That includes an emphasis on the “fundamentals” and the importance of a viable game plan. Buddy is a prolific author of 10 books (at last count) and four more on the drawing board.

For Christians with no leadership aspirations, his books are loaded with wisdom and tips on how to be an effective Christian lobbyist.

We caught up with him for an interview in mid-October on how he works to bring Biblical principles to bear on government through the Christian Policy Network.

In 2000, I decided to step away from a career in corporate marketing and begin the Christian Policy Network (CPN). My goal was to be the only explicitly Christian lobbyist in Alabama (and perhaps America), and to write a commentary on the Ten Commandments (God's Ten Words), and a book on how to choose our civil rulers (Choose This Day: God's Instructions on How to Select Leaders). I'm a Puritan born out of time, so George Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming, Samuel Rutherford's Lex Rex, Junius Brutus' A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants, plus Knox, Calvin and Rushdoony were authors that greatly shaped my worldview.

2. Can you describe the ministry of the Christian Policy Network for our readers? Specifically, how do you help train Christian office-holders and Christian lobbyists?

Originally, my goal was to use Alabama as a model and expand the CPN to other states. I identified the legislators who took their profession of faith seriously (remember that in Alabama "everybody" is a "Christian"). I met as a Christian lobbyist with the Republican leaders to find out which issues they were focusing on for the upcoming Session.

In addition, I began tracking the bills as they were introduced, and discussed how they were out of conformity to biblical ethics with the legislators. I soon discovered that these Christian men were intrigued that God's Word was relevant to legislation. For the most part, there were large holes in their worldview. That was when I began sending the TGIMs to them (Thank God It's Monday), and for the first couple of years, they dealt with legislative matters.

As my first two books began to be read and I was invited to give talks, I found in the Q&A sessions that even among the reformed audiences there were great gaps in their worldviews. It was then that the marketing side of my brain kicked in and said, "Hanson, the books and conferences that these people are reading and attending are only providing descriptions of how ungodly our culture is becoming, but nobody is providing God's prescriptions of how to correct our culture. (Your Discipling the Nations, and I Smell A Rat are among the rare exceptions.) So I began writing and speaking to those issues. People can click on www.graceandlaw.com and click on the covers of the books to see the Table of Contents.

3. How does it work? As a Christian lobbyist, do you draft model legislation to be distributed to the various states?

Again, this was my original plan, but upon discovering that the current paradigm of Christian legislators is conservative, rather than Christian, an explicitly Christian bill sounds very strange. The harsh truth is that even if such a bill were to make it through committees and come up for a vote, it would have a difficult time being passed by many Christian legislators because they still trust more in man's sovereignty, than in God's sovereignty.

The most well-known example of this is the various pro-life bills that allow for abortions in the case of rape or incest. "If we don't allow for these exceptions, we won't get the votes to pass the legislation, and a bill that addresses part of the problem is better than no bill at all," is the typical response. In the meantime, of course, we are sending a message that we are not really "pro-life," and are opening the door for non-Christians to expand the exceptions until the bills are useless.

This is the main reason that my TGIMs have shifted from dealing with legislative matters as a Christian lobbyist to worldview matters. Unless and until our brothers and sisters understand that Christianity encompasses our entire life, and is not merely "adding-on" a few moralistic behaviors, and/or a few Christian bills, we won't positively impact our culture.

4. Can you share an example of how this has worked with an actual legislator in your state?

A couple of years ago, Democrats introduced a bill to teach the Bible as an elective in the public schools. This was an apparent attempt to reach out to Christians by a party that traditionally ignores them. The textbook was very poorly done, and we documented the biblical inconsistencies in it, plus asked, "How do you know if the person teaching it will be a Christian?" Even though this was a victory, it didn't really excite me, since I believe Christians should abandon the God-hating public schools, and let them implode on their own unrighteous weight.

5. Tell me a little bit about your latest book. What is the theme of the Christian Prince and how does it relate to the Christian lobbyist?

Coming from a career in marketing and sales, I was very familiar with "management by intimidation." But it wasn't until a friend suggested we do a Christian alternative to Machiavelli's The Prince, that I actually read the book. The plan was for me to write a manuscript that exposed and contrasted the failing ideas of man, with the "guaranteed to succeed" ideas of God, and he was going to add case studies of Christians whom he had helped to elect. However, I think my no-nonsense, bottom-line conclusions scared him off, so I completed it on my own. The contents are arranged under five headings:

• What is Government
• The Citizen's Role
• Living Large (with a Christian worldview)
• Can Culture Be Changed?
• Becoming the Change We Seek

6. Why is it important for Christian legislators and Christian lobbyists to read The Christian Prince? Can you give us an example?

It explains in detail how to govern from a Christian worldview, and not merely from a conservative worldview. Throughout the book I contrast 10 of Machiavelli's principles in boxed areas entitled: "Is it Machaivellian, or Christian?" Each of these contrasts show that Machiavelli's principles limit individual liberty, while God's principles expand personal liberty.

For example, in his Principle 17, Machiavelli states that the masses will become bored, and that the only way to get them to vote for you is to create an emergency, then solve it. The Christian worldview states that God is perfectly capable of controlling the results of the ballot box, because He "removes kings, and sets up kings," (Daniel 2.21) therefore there is no need to "create false emergencies" in order to stay in office. Up to now, FED and LBJ were the most flagrant creators of "false emergencies," but, as the saying goes, I'm afraid that "we ain't seen nothing, yet."

7. Can anybody profit from reading the Christian Prince, or is it just for office-holders and the Christian lobbyist?

All of my books are written with the idea of teenagers being able to understand them. We must pray that our Homeschoolers will be allowed by God to turn us back to living according to His ethics.

8. You talk a lot about education in the book. Would you say it is sinful for Christian parents to send their children to the government schools?

YES! Lord willing, I will publish How to De-program Yourself from ALL of the Blasphemous Ideas You Learned in Public School. While there are several excellent books that describe the ungodly things that are going on in those schools, De-Program is the only one that I know of that provides God's prescription by approaching the education of our children from a Christian worldview perspective.

Since most Christians believe that their worldview hasn't been dramatically and negatively affected by their time in the public schools, I begin the book with a worldview self-test, and then discuss the answers in the various chapters. I am probably oversimplifying a little, but my premise is that the public schools are making us into "Manchurian Candidates" for the ungodly state.

Buy my books and read them to your pre-teens, or have your teenagers read a chapter a week and discuss the material. I write as though I am coaching a player to learn a skill, so there are plenty of illustrations, examples, and how-to's. The purpose behind each of my books is to transform a person's life so that he or she will know how to apply biblical ethics to all areas of their life. They are not designed to merely provide more knowledge about God to store up in your mental warehouse. I'm not a think-tank, I'm a do-tank. Christian lobbyist activity will flow out of that.

Thank you for allowing me to spend this time with you.

Thank you, Buddy, for sharing your ministry with us.