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In the Name of God Stop!
Ahh America,
you have to love its ability to make the important trivial and the trivial
sacrosanct. So let me pose this question
to you: are you a secular, anti-God liberal or a theocratic, religious right
conservative? Wait, you don’t fit either
of those categories? Well, if you listen
to the dribble proceeding from the chattering classes in current political
discourse, you of course would have to fit into one of those two caricatures. While the lack of real discourse is tragic,
it does open a window for a discussion of the role of religion in politics and
the role of politics in religion. So
here we go down the rabbit hole.
First,
let’s start with the basics. The
Declaration of Independence makes several references to a deity or “Nature’s
God.” Religion played a major role in
the lives of many of the founders of this country. However, the presiding religion was deism
which is a bit of a stretch from Christianity.
The Constitution itself makes no mention of religion until the Bill of
Rights. The First Amendment guarantees
freedom of religion and makes sure to prohibit the establishment of a national
church. Interestingly enough, the
Constitution, unlike the Declaration, makes no reference to any deity in
it. Some have even gone so far as to
call the Constitution a “godless constitution.”
Some of the
founders were much more explicit in their notions on church and state
relations. Jefferson
of course called for a “wall of separation between church and state.” Hence, we get the idea of the separation of
church and state. Others such as Madison
wrote, “Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less
they are mixed together.” The separation
of church and state is beneficial to both according to Madison’s
opinion. President John Adams in Article
11 of the Treaty of Tripoli stated, “The Government of the United
States is not in any sense founded on the
Christian religion.” So we gather from
these quotes that there is a separation of church and state, it is better this
way and America
was not founded as a Christian nation.
So where
did we drop the ball? How did
Christianity become so intertwined with the political process? First, let’s state that despite the founder’s
best wishes, religion has been intertwined with politics since the nation’s
founding. To claim that the mix of
politics and religion is a recent phenomenon is deceptive.
But let’s
move onto current events. The rise of
the so-called religious right is somewhat of a new phenomenon. Prior to the 1970s, many white Evangelical
and Roman Catholic Christians were members of the Democratic Party and voted as
such. With the implementation of Roe v.
Wade, gay rights, banning school prayer, removing religious symbolism from the
public square and the seeming disintegration of civil society brought forward
by the radicalism of some members of the Democratic Party during the 1960s,
many Christians believed that the Democratic Party abandoned them. Thus, Christians in large droves became
Republicans on account of social issues.
It was during this time that people such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson
and James Dobson emerged as leaders of this fledgling movement.
However, by
the same token, the religious left emerged at the same time. The focus of the religious left seemed to be
driven by the ideals of social justice.
Some of the issues that animated this movement were the preservation of the
welfare state, criticisms of American foreign policy, labor rights and combating
racism. This loose coalition was made of
black churches, mainstream Protestant churches and some liberal Catholics. Figures such as Jesse Jackson rose to
prominence. Many of these people became
closely tied with the Democratic Party.
This brings
us to our current time. The same
alignment in politics still stands and to be completely honest it does a great
disservice to both politics and religion.
What is the purpose of Christianity?
Is it the preservation of a Christian state? The primary purpose of Christianity is the
changing of hearts and lives. The act of
legislating produces an external change which does not affect the heart.
Perhaps the
most annoying aspect of this alliance between political parties and religion is
the seeming wrapping of the message of the cross with legislation. For instance, Jim Wallis, a renowned
religious leftist, has been one of the more egregious abusers of this. In an open letter, he castigated any attempt
at privatizing Social Security as disobeying the commandment to “Honor your
mother and father.” What a ridiculous
message. But Wallis is not alone in
cloaking political messages with Christianity.
I cringe whenever conservatives such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell
open their mouths on any issue. Since
they are known for being pastors, whatever they say is instantly perceived as
the Christian response to a pressing political issue.
All in all,
Christian politics is a message which could not be further from the message of
the Gospel. The New Testament has very
little to say about government besides that it is right to obey authorities
(Romans 13). So where exactly did we get
the idea that religion can be expressed through politics again?
There are
some who have expressed what I believe to be a certain perspective which is
more consistent with how people of faith should operate within our
government. The first principle is that
of being citizens within a state. This
means that voting and participating in civil governance is a must. More important than being citizens is how we
relate to that duty. People of faith
must be focused on issues rather than
parties. This means that people of faith
from all sectors of society will disagree on issues, but honestly is being
anti-war or pro-war a statement of our faith?
Absolutely not. Whether we
consider ourselves conservative, moderate, liberal, libertarian, green or
whatever, we have to realize that there is diversity within the realm of
faith.
However, there are principles of
faith which should be binding. First,
the issue of life is sacred. This
statement may be controversial, but all people of faith should embrace the idea
that unborn life must be protected. Second,
people of faith should embrace social justice.
We in the United States
are very wealthy compared to the rest of the world and it is imperative that we
spend our money, resources and more importantly our time helping those in
need. Finally, we have an obligation to
be examples. This does not mean that we
trumpet our actions, yell loudly for all to hear and create a political climate
in which parties and personalities take precedence. As Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel
and sometimes use words.”
In many ways, this article which I
have written is as much a challenge to me as it is to everyone else. I’ve been prone to sometimes cloak my
political beliefs with religious ideals.
For that I am sorry. It is not
enough that we simply identify religious beliefs with our politics. There is such a thing as “God’s Politics”,
but it is extremely limited. So honestly
folks, stop. Let no one tell you that
your politics beliefs are “unchristian” or that God has a particular
perspective on most of the pressing issues of the day. If we continue in this belief system, we both
cheapen politics and more importantly make our faith more and more meaningless.
Jeff Hartline is a writer for the Retriever Weekly. He can be reached at jeffhar1@umbc.edu
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