In October, I was
honored to join Coffee
Party radio for a discussion about Faith,
Culture and Politics. This is tricky.
Whereas just a few years ago
Evangelical Christians resisted political involvement now, in less than fifty
years, “Christian” = “Republican” = “Religious Right” in the conventional
wisdom. These days there are so many conservative political figures and
outspoken lobbying groups that wear the name “Christian” that we progressive
Christians have been thrown into that same bathwater and nearly thrown out of
the public conversation. But there is an appropriate place for the minority voice in our national discourse and for the advocacy of a different kind of Christian other than those who have grabbed center stage.
In our radio conversation, we began
by discussing the First Amendment.
Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of
grievances.
I take this very seriously because
the protection of religious freedom is a huge gift our founding fathers gave to
us. As a person of faith and a Christian minister, I come at the First
Amendment from two different angles.
First, for this
country that I love, I want all our citizens to realize the freedom to practice
faith the way they best understand it and I’m proud that America’s insistence
on this principle has been unusual in the history of the world; freedom of
religion is one of our great strengths.
Of course, as a
people, we have not lived up to our principles very well. The spirituality of
the Native Americans was disrespected from our very beginnings. The enslaved
Africans were forced to give up their religions in order to convert to a
perverted version of Christianity that justified slavery. Asian immigrants were
suspect because of the way they practiced their faith; Catholics were
mistreated by the WASP culture of the day; Jews have been vilified and
demonized; Muslims are still struggling to find their place in the midst of
today’s paranoia.
I realize that what
I’m describing here are not legal issues that hearken back to the government’s
role as described in the Bill of Rights but rather some of the cultural
realities of our society. I’m describing divisions that happen within the human
family just because we are human. But the genius of the First Amendment is that
our various governments are charged with protecting all religious
freedom; not only should our laws not favor one religion over another but they
also must not “prohibit the free exercise” of religion. In a multi-cultural
society such as ours, that has to refer to people who hold a wide range of
spiritual beliefs and participate in a variety of religious practices.
Christians who
want to claim that America is a “Christian nation” founded on “Christian
principles” and therefore justified in continuing Christian privilege skew
American history. While it is true that the Founding Fathers were all a part of
some kind of Christian denomination or another that was because Christianity
was simply the culture of the day. I don’t believe America was founded on
Christianity, because it is clear that the Founders were very intentional about
moving away from the model they were used to, the model so common in England.
They yearned for a new way and so they debated and comprised and came up with
this brilliant plan that the government should not use its power to establish
one religion over another, one denomination over another, one ideology over
another.
That said - it is
also true that Christianity has been the dominant religion in America since our
beginnings and it is hard, hard, hard for humans to give up their privileges
and advantages. I guess all in all it’s been an easier thing for the courts to
gradually chip away at Christian privilege instead of trying to change the culture
in one dramatic sweep. But then - on the other hand - the Emancipation
Proclamation and the Civil Rights Act did force sweeping cultural changes – and
I see that as a good thing. In my mind, protecting the rights of the minority
in spite of the wishes of the dominant culture is a proper role of government.
I know that some
Christians feel like they are being persecuted because the culture is shifting
and they are losing their privilege and influence. I’m sorry people feel that
way; just because a group is losing power doesn’t mean they are being
persecuted. I like to use the metaphor
of a family dinner table. The people who have had the most access to the table
need to be gracious enough to move over and make room for everyone to
have a place. In Christian lingo, we would say: “the first shall be the last
and the greatest shall be the least.”
In a society like
ours that values the freedom of speech as much as it values the freedom of
religion that has to mean that all citizens are invited into the national
conversation. Religious and non-religious, progressive and conservative, rich
and poor, Black and White and Brown: citizens can and must speak and vote and
write letters, sometimes even protest. These are just a few of the ways all of
us can continue to grow and learn how to live well together.
It helps me to think
of it like this: we express our opinions, we listen to someone who has
different opinions, we respect them and their beliefs, we re-think our own
beliefs and often fine tune them, then we come back to the conversation with
integrity and humility. (Humility – a big one! And a really difficult one!)
The government
cannot prohibit the participation of anyone in this large cultural conversation
and we the people should not shut down each other’s voices either.
But then there is
second angle on the First Amendment that is important to me: as strongly as I feel about
Americans being able to practice religion as they see fit, as a pastor, I am
even more concerned that Christians should actually live out the faith of Jesus
Christ with more faithfulness, and I am very concerned about the ways Christian
faith is compromised whenever it is wed inappropriately to civic faith. For
example, when Christians are so enamored of capitalism that we can’t critique
the inequitable distribution of wealth within our nation - then the teachings
of Christ are ignored and Christian faith is compromised. When Christians join
in the mindless drumbeat for war - then the example of Christ is lost and
Christian faith is compromised.
The people who
raised me and influenced me when I was growing up were all very conservative -
theologically, socially and politically. It wasn’t until I was able to think
for myself and ask hard questions that I began to shift my beliefs. But change
is hard work - even though it is very important work.
I know a lot of
good, kind conservative people who don’t necessarily believe that change is
good; their definition of faithfulness is to avoid change. Or maybe they just
can’t allow themselves to question what they have always believed to be true; I
know from experience questions can be very scary.
But it was only when I
gave myself permission to question the narrow dogma of my childhood that I was
able to grow into a broader, more inclusive understanding of Christianity. And
interestingly, that shift directly affected my social values: how I believe we
should treat each other as people living together in a society. For example,
when - as a woman - I followed my call into ordained ministry, (something my
fundamentalist upbringing would never have allowed) there was no way I could
deny the same opportunity for ordination and full inclusion in the church to my
gay brothers and sisters. Now that I’m not serving in any particular
congregation, I am freer to advocate openly for political approaches to the
social issues I care about; for example, full inclusion of our gay neighbors
into our society including marriage equality. For me, such radical welcome IS
the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. And if it is good news to
Christians, then it ought to be good news for everyone.
Some of my
Christian friends may wonder if I’m really Christian at all. Some of my
Coffee Party friends wonder why I even still bother with Christianity given its
very poor reputation these days. But this is who I am, deep in my core, and I
cannot betray it; I can only hope to live my faith in such a way that its
circle of goodness and grace might touch the people and the situations of my
wider world.
Feed the hungry.
Welcome the
stranger.
Free the
oppressed.
Speak out for the
least of these.
Give without
expecting return.
Trust. Persevere.
Love.
These actions flow from my faith
but also from values that I share with the Coffee Party USA - Civility,
Continuous Learning, Authenticity & Transparency, Integrity & Clarity,
Inclusiveness, Trans-partisan social and political bridge building.
I hope I will
always be alert to ways I may be inappropriately wedding Christian faith to
patriotism or nationalism; that’s always a deadly marriage. But I also
hope I will ever be alert to the ways that faith and hope and love can help
nudge my culture and my nation to greater wisdom and wholeness.
This essay is excerpted from Press 1 for Democracy, Coffee Party Blogtalk
Radio, October 6, 2014: Faith, Culture
and Politics.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/coffeepartyusa/2014/10/07/faith-culture-and-politics--p1fd-10614
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