Monday, March 5, 2012

Faith & Politics, BOLD yet DANGEROUS

In today’s context you have to admire anyone in politics who unabashedly declares their religious conviction, a faith in God: "I am a Believer.  I am a Christian.  I believe in Jesus.  I am a man/woman of faith.  I have convictions."  It is something we should respect.

Voters appreciate men and women of conviction.  Voters want honesty, openness, and clarity: What motivates you?  Why are you passionate about that issue, this cause?  What is your purpose?  Who inspires you, shapes your ideals, and informs your vision?  What’s the source of your moral compass?  Where do you draw the line and why?

People of faith generally desire to do the right thing.  People of faith believe in a better way, a higher law, and a greater good.  This is their strong point.

It is also their weak point.  Precisely because people of faith believe-in and submit-to a higher law and a greater good, there is always the danger of becoming narrow-minded, self-righteous, and hypocritical.  Accusatory, judgmental, mean-spirited, harsh, unmerciful, uncaring, and condemning, this is how many non-believers experience People of Faith.  This is sad.  It is also what makes mixing-religion-with-politics dangerous.

God is perfect.  God is good.  God is right.  So, if I am on God’s side, I too am good and right and can count on God backing me.  Right!?  Ergo, we have the Self-Righteous One.

A nation-state of any Faith (be it a Christian State, Muslim State, Jewish State, or otherwise) claiming that their laws are backed by none-other than God Himself, to which all must submit, is always in danger of becoming Pharisaic—self-righteous, socially oppressive, and unmercifully condemnatory in applying those laws.

Let me put it another way.  On the one hand I am a Christian.  That is, I unabashedly and unequivocally believe that Jesus is the Son of God, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, and is the Savior of all humanity.  As such, I would invite you and anyone else to believe in Jesus and to freely submit to His Lordship in your life and accept His free gift of salvation for your soul.  However, on the other hand, I have no right to coerce you, forcing you to submit to my version of Christianity or my set of Christian rites, rules, laws, and regulations.

Indeed Jesus Himself said, “My Kingdom is NOT of this world.”  Christians are in the world but not of the world.  Therefore, it is a mistake for Christians (or other religious groups) to seek a kind of commanding dominance so as to control the moral behavior of ‘outsiders,’ non-believers (or even fellow variant believers) who may come out at a different place on many social/political/religious issues such as, for example, abortion and gay marriage.

Christians should be confident that Jesus will come soon enough, at which time all will be held accountable to Him.  Each of us will have to answer to God for our own choices and actions.  Have we been proud, arrogant, and rebellious before God or have we been humble, receptive, and submissive toward God?  But until then, Christians are to be generous, gracious, forgiving, compassionate, merciful, and redemptive—seeking to lovingly save those they believe are lost, not to bitterly hate and condemn them.

It is sad therefore that very few Humanists or Secularists see Christians as a kind, compassionate, and merciful people.  What’s worse is that those Christians who are most often in the public spotlight, especially those who have chosen to enter the political arena, are often the worst examples of this, demonstrating the least compassion and showing little mercy, having little care for others of different persuasions and backgrounds, judging and condemning their opponents with a vehemence that can rival the Dark One himself.

The danger is self-righteousness.  Indeed, be they self-righteous believers or secularists, religious leaders or politicians, the resulting character is always the same—frightfully oppressive, intolerant, and abusive of their power.

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