OPINION PART TWO: “WE DON’T WANT TO BE POLITICAL”: HOW NEW MEXICO CHURCHES SURRENDERED THE PUBLIC SQUARE

While activists organize, register voters, and aggressively shape culture, much of the Church retreats into silence — and New Mexico is collapsing under the consequences.

By Bud Shaver,

Our oldest daughter recently started a Turning Point USA homeschool chapter in New Mexico and began asking churches and youth groups if she could set up an informational table encouraging students to become informed and engaged citizens grounded in biblical values.

Church after church refused.

Not because she was promoting hatred, violence, or false doctrine.

They refused because they simply said:

“We don’t want to be political.”

That phrase may sound humble. It may sound spiritual. It may even sound peaceful.

But it has become one of the most dangerous lies crippling the modern Church.

And nowhere are the consequences more obvious than in New Mexico.

Roughly 63% of New Mexico adults identify as Christian or Catholic. Yet New Mexico remains one of the most radically pro-abortion states in America while simultaneously drowning in violent crime, addiction, corruption, family breakdown, and failing education systems.​

WalletHub recently ranked New Mexico:

THE WORST STATE IN AMERICA TO RAISE A FAMILY (2026)

New Mexico is also dead last in education and child welfare while ranking near the bottom nationally in health, safety, and socioeconomic stability.

WalletHub also ranked New Mexico as having the biggest drug problem in the United States.

These are not isolated statistics. They are symptoms of moral and cultural collapse.
​
For decades, much of the Christian community — including Protestant churches and Catholic institutions — has embraced a soft Christianity that stays safely inside church walls while the culture outside collapses.

The message too often sounds like this:

“Pray privately. Worship quietly. Avoid controversy. Stay neutral.”

But historic Christianity was never passive.

The early Church confronted empires. The abolition movement was driven largely by Christians willing to challenge culture publicly. The Civil Rights Movement was led through churches and pastors willing to confront injustice despite enormous political opposition. 

Martin Luther King Jr. did not separate faith from public action.

Imagine if those pastors had simply said:

“We don’t want to be political.”

History would look very different.

Meanwhile, abortion activists, LGBT activists, and secular progressives organize relentlessly. They register voters, recruit young leaders, shape institutions, and aggressively influence culture year-round.

But many churches and parishes will not even encourage civic engagement, voter registration, school board involvement, or political awareness because they “don’t want to be political.”

That is not neutrality. That is surrender.

Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico warns:

“When Christians retreat from political life, evil does not become less political — it simply becomes less opposed. New Mexico is now living with the consequences of a silent Church.”

Call to Action

With crucial elections approaching in New Mexico and national midterms on the horizon, Christians and Catholics cannot afford to remain silent.

Encourage your church or parish to host a TPUSA homeschool chapter table, voter registration effort, civic engagement discussion, or Abortion Free New Mexico outreach event.

Get out of the pews.
Show up in the public square.
Vote your values.

Because if believers refuse to shape the culture, others already are.

• Click here to get involved today!

Related Reading

• Part One: ​OPINION: THE DERELICTION OF MORAL DUTY BY THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY OF NEW MEXICO