Saturday, January 27, 2018

Musings on Conflicting Concepts of Christian Morality in Politics

  By Rudy Barnes, Jr. 

            Just what is Christian morality?  According to Tony Perkins, Franklin Graham and other evangelical Christians, it’s about “family values” that oppose abortion, homosexuality, universal health care, the immigration of Mexicans and Muslims, and anything else promoted by leftist Democrats.  Bottom line, it requires Christians to support radical-right Republicans like Donald Trump and Roy Moore to get God’s job done, even  if they are not paragons of Christian virtue.

            That should not be the last word on Christian morality in politics.  The stewardship of democracy is a moral responsibility for all Christians, so all churches should define and apply Christian moral standards for political issues and for those seeking public office.  Since Christian morality is rooted in scripture, the church should provide the exegesis and homiletics needed to understand what scripture meant to its ancient audience, and what it means for us today.
           
            The foundation for Christian morality is the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors as we love ourselves, including our neighbors of other races and religions.  It’s a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims, but it’s only a starting point.  The real challenge is applying that love command to issues of economic and social justice, foreign policy and military operations, and balancing individual rights with providing for the common good.

            A threshold issue in American politics that complicates issues of morality is a two-party duopoly that is polarized by race.  Most white Christians are Republicans and black Christians are Democrats, creating a toxic “us versus them” polarization along racial lines. That has fostered a distorted evangelical Christian morality that supports a radical-right Republican Party and that is opposed by a radical-left Democratic Party hostile to tradition and religion in politics.    

            A politics of reconciliation is needed to end the polarization that threatens American democracy.  It requires a moral standard of “love for neighbor” that can apply to harsh functions of government, such as law enforcement and military operations.  Love in this context requires justifying the use of lethal force to protect the common good from all who threaten it. While Jesus never addressed that political need, Moses and Muhammad did so with religious laws.

            There is no place for religious law in a democracy, but the moral standards of legitimacy derived from religion shape secular law in a democracy.  Christians can rightfully criticize Islamic apostasy and blasphemy laws that deny the fundamental freedoms of religion and speech, as well as other laws that deny equal justice to women and non-Muslims.  But before Christians condemn Islamic standards of legitimacy they must first put their own moral house in order.

            While Jesus never exercised political power as did Moses and Muhammad, his teachings on altruistic love are universal and provide the standards of Christian morality in politics.  They assert the primacy of love over law and emphasize the virtues of forgiveness and reconciliation, humble service, honesty and assisting the needy, and they condemn the vices of deceit, sexual immorality, adultery, greed, malice, lewdness, envy, arrogance, and sanctimonious hypocrisy.

            The altruistic moral standards taught by Jesus have often been subordinated to racist political priorities.  So it was with slavery in the ante-bellum South, and with the racist Jim Crow policies that followed.  Today those who support Donald Trump and his Republican minions favor a materialistic “prosperity gospel” that sanctifies the vices and trumps the virtues of Christian morality in the gospel of Jesus.  What’s worse is that most claim to be Christians. 

            This reversal of moral priorities was made possible by traditional church doctrine that makes believing in Jesus as God more important to salvation than following Jesus as the word of God.  That misplaced emphasis on exclusivist beliefs over morality has allowed Christians to make immoral political priorities articles of their faith.  The church needs to correct those misplaced priorities of faith and clarify the standards of Christian morality in politics.


Notes:

Dana Milbank has cited polls showing that Republicans redefine morality as whatever Trump does.  See https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-redefine-morality-as-whatever-trump-does/2018/01/26/904fe5f4-02cc-11e8-8acf-ad2991367d9d_story.html?undefined=&utm_term=.956583d49b86&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.  What’s more damning for Christianity is that most white Christians vote Republican.      

Michael Gerson has noted the positive influence of evangelicals like Billy Graham with U.S. presidents in the past, in contrast to the cynicism of current evangelicals like Graham’s son, Franklin, Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Robert Jeffress.  Gerson says that “Some Christian leaders are surrendering the idea that character matters in public life in direct exchange for political benefits to Christians themselves.  …Trump’s court evangelicals have become active participants in the moral deregulation of our political life. Never mind whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is of good repute. Some evangelicals are busy erasing bright lines and destroying moral landmarks. In the process, they are associating evangelicalism with bigotry, selfishness and deception. They are playing a grubby political game for the highest of stakes: the reputation of their faith.  …Not long after Watergate broke, a chastened Billy Graham addressed a conference in Switzerland, warning that an evangelist should be careful not “to identify the Gospel with any one particular political program or culture,” and adding, “this has been my own danger.”  The danger endures.  See https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-trump-evangelicals-have-lost-their-gag-reflex/2018/01/22/761d1174-ffa8-11e7-bb03-722769454f82_story.html?undefined=&utm_term=.7df5466799c2&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.

Edward-Isaac Dovere has noted the muted response of Tony Perkins to criticism of Donald Trump’s steamy affair with a porn actress four months after his wife Melania gave birth to their son, Barron.  The irony is that Perkins heads the Family Research Council that promotes “family values” and supports Donald Trump. Perkins excused Trump’s immorality by saying that “evangelical Christians were tired of being kicked around by Barack Obama and his leftists. And I think they are finally glad there’s somebody on the playground that is willing to punch the bully.”  I have to interject that it’s hard for me to imagine Obama bullying Trump.  See https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/23/tony-perkins-evangelicals-donald-trump-stormy-daniels-216498?cid=apn.

Shane Phipps is a Christian political centrist who bemoans how America’s polarized two-party duopoly has left people like him with few political options: “We could vote for an independent, but that is tantamount to throwing a vote away. No third party candidate stands a realistic chance, let’s go ahead and face that fact right now.  So, ultimately, we are faced with having to swallow hard and bite the bullet–to set aside our belief about some issues in favor of the greater good.  Therein lies a big part of the answer to the question of how we got to this point.  Like it or not, religion has been taken hostage by politics.”  Phipps concludes that “Those with good will and shallow understandings heard ‘Make America Great Again’ and thought it sounded swell. They were sold a bill of goods.  Those with ill will heard the slogan for what it was—a dog whistle into the darkness echoing off of the bigotry, hatred and fear that mark the worst aspects of our history.”  See https://progressivechristianity.org/resources/how-did-we-get-here/.

Edward Simmons has provided a test of Christian morality for politicians.  “The standard Jesus used to evaluate religious leadership was simple: look at their actions. How can we tell legitimate spokesmen for God from the false? ‘You will know them by their fruits.’ (Matthew 7:16; Luke 6: 44). How can we tell which religious leaders truly love God? They imitate the actions of the Samaritan who, not thinking of his convenience or righteousness or the worthiness of the victim, went out of the way to help someone in need. They do not side with the wealthy and prosperous against the needy, or celebrate their success by living in affluent enclaves; rather, they live among common people compassionately and non-judgmentally as they shun lives of extraordinary privilege. Loving God, according to Jesus, is best seen when people are treated as neighbors to be loved without judgment or compulsion. …The message and example of Jesus are clear for our time and for all time. The challenge for disciples then and now is to: “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37)  See https://progressivechristianity.org/resources/jesus-as-critic-of-hypocrisy-then-and-now/.


Related commentary:     

(12/8/14): Religion and Reason
(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith
(1/18/15): Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart of Legitimacy
(2/8/15): Promoting Religion Through Evangelism: Bringing Light or Darkness?
(2/15/15): Is Religion Good or Evil?
(3/8/15): Wealth, Politics, Religion and Economic Justice
(4/12/15): Faith as a Source of Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy
(5/3/15): A Fundamental Problem with Religion
(7/12/15): Reconciliation in Race and Religion: The Need for Compatibility, not Conformity   http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/07/reconciliation-in-race-and-religion.html
(8/23/15): Legitimacy as a Context and Paradigm to Resolve Religious Conflict
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(2/27/16): Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy in Faith, Freedom and Politics
(3/26/16): Religion, Democracy, Diversity and Demagoguery
(6/18/16): A Politics of Reconciliation with Liberty and Justice for All
(7/5/15): Reconciliation as a Remedy for Racism and Religious Exclusivism
(7/26/15): Fear and Fundamentalism
(8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities
(8/30/15): What Is Truth?
(1/2/16): God in Three Concepts
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(2/7/16): Jesus Meets Muhammad on Issues of Religion and Politics
(3/12/16): Religion, Race and the Deterioration of Democracy in America
(4/30/16): The Relevance of Religion to Politics
(5/7/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation
(5/21/16): Religious Fundamentalism and a Politics of Reconciliation
(8/5/16): How Religion Can Bridge Our Political and Cultural Divide
(9/17/16): A Moral Revival to Restore Legitimacy to Our Politics
(11/19/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation Based on Shared Values
(12/17/16): Discipleship in a Democracy: A Test of Faith, Legitimacy and Politics
(2/25/17): The Need for a Revolution in Religion and Politics
(3/11/17): Accountability and the Stewardship of Democracy
(3/18/17): Moral Ambiguity in Religion and Politics
(4/22/17): The Relevance of Jesus and the Irrelevance of the Church in Today’s World
(5/27/17): Intrafaith Reconciliation as a Prerequisite for Interfaith Reconciliation
(6/10/17): Religious Exclusivity and Discrimination in Politics    http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/06/religious-exclusivity-and.html
(7/1/17): Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy
(7/15/17) Religion and Progressive Politics
(8/5/17): Does Religion Seek to Reconcile and Redeem or to Divide and Conquer?
(8/12/17): The Universalist Teachings of Jesus as a Remedy for Religious Exclusivism 
(9/9/17): The Evolution of the American Civil Religion and Habits of the Heart http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/09/the-evolution-of-american-civil.html.
(9/23/17): Tribalism and the American Civil Religion 
(11/11/17): A Politics of Reconciliation that Should Begin in the Church
(11/18/17): Radical Religion and the Demise of Democracy
(12/2/17): How Religious Standards of Legitimacy Shape Politics, for Good or Bad
(12/16/17): Can Democracy Survive the Trump Era?
(12/23/17): If Democracy Survives the Trump Era, Can the Church Survive Democracy? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/12/if-democracy-survives-trump-era-can.html.
(1/6/18): The Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Diversity in Democracy
(1/20/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Morality and Religion in Politics
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/01/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on_20.html.

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Morality in Religion and Politics

  By Rudy Barnes, Jr.

            Religion is the primary source of the moral standards of legitimacy that shape our politics—for good or bad.  Christianity and Islam are the world’s two largest religions, and both are exclusivist.  Each claims to be the one true faith and asserts the inerrancy of its ancient scriptures—fundamentalist beliefs that produce conflicting concepts of political legitimacy.

            The best way to reconcile religious differences is through dialogue, but dialogue cannot reconcile exclusivists who believe that they must try to convert those of other faiths.  Such proselytizing denies respect for other religions; and fundamentalist beliefs in the inerrancy of ancient scripture as God’s truth oppose freedom, democracy and the secular rule of law.

            Religious exclusivism and fundamentalism are intrafaith issues within each religion as well as interfaith issues.  Fundamentalists within each religion have supported radical-right politicians who oppose equal justice under law, and they include evangelical Christians in the U.S. and fundamentalist Islamists in the Middle East and Africa. 

            Christian and Muslim fundamentalists resist progress and modernity with belief in their ancient scriptures as God’s unchanging moral and legal standards of legitimacy.  Christians go a step further and subordinate the teachings of Jesus to man-made church doctrine that asserts that God sent Jesus as a blood sacrifice of His one and only Son to atone for the sins of all believers.
 
            More progressive Christians and Muslims interpret the dictates of their scripture based on reason and advances in knowledge.  While Muslims reject the divinity of Jesus, they consider him a prophet like Muhammad, so that his teachings are considered the word of God.  This gives the teachings of Jesus the moral authority to resolve both intrafaith and interfaith issues. 

            Jesus was a Jew who never promoted his or any other religion.  His teachings are summarized in the greatest commandment to love God and to love our neighbors—including our neighbors of other races and religions—as we love ourselves.  That altruistic and universalist love command is a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. 
 
            While there are many similarities in the teachings of Jesus and Muhammad, there are also many differences that can be attributed to their contrasting contexts: Jesus lived under Roman rule, but he never engaged in secular politics.  Muhammad was more like Moses and Joshua. They lived in hostile environments that required religious leaders to assume political and military leadership roles to provide law and order and protect their people from violence.   

            Moses and Muhammad emphasized obedience to holy law while Jesus emphasized love over law.  There is no place in a libertarian democracy for coercive religious law, and religious moral standards must be compatible with the love command to enable Jews, Christians and Muslims to be good stewards of democracy and promote a politics of reconciliation.
           
            The most contentious political issues today relate to social and economic justice and involve a volatile mix of religion and race.  The church is the best place to initiate interfaith dialogue on morality in religion and politics since religion is the primary source of the standards of legitimacy that shape our politics, and since over 70% of Americans claim to be Christians.

            Neither Jesus nor Muhammad considered issues of democracy, human rights and the secular rule of law since those topics were not relevant to their ancient time and place.  The challenge for interfaith dialogue is to relate the ancient teachings of Jesus and Muhammad to contemporary political issues, balancing individual rights with providing for the common good.

            Once altruistic and universalist principles grounded in the greatest commandment take precedence over exclusivist religious doctrines, then reason and advances in knowledge can overcome fundamentalist beliefs that consider ancient scriptures to be perfect and immutable.  Only then can interfaith dialogue reconcile difficult issues of morality in religion and politics.


Notes:

Evangelical Christian leaders who have supported Donald Trump and radical-right Republicans illustrate the moral ambiguity of Christian morality in politics—that is, if the teachings of Jesus as summarized in the greatest commandment are considered the Christian standard of morality.  But in the wake of Trump’s “s***hole” remarks on immigration policy, some evangelicals are acknowledging their hypocrisy.  See http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/13/evangelical-rift-intensifies-over-trump-immigration-remarks.html.

Mustafa Akyol affirmed the relevance of the teachings of Jesus to Islam, noting that Jesus “called on his fellow Jews to focus on their religion’s moral principles rather than obsessing with the minute details of religious law.  …He also taught that outward expressions of piety can nurture a culture of hypocrisy.  Jesus even defined humanism as a higher value than legalism, famously declaring, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’” See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/opinion/what-jesus-can-teach-todays-muslims.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2FMustafa%20Akyol&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=Collection&region=Marginalia&src=me&version=column&pgtype=article.

Mustafa Akyol asked, Does religion make people moral?, and then pointed out that religious conservatives [Islamists] in Turkey have “come to dominate virtually all institutions of the state, as well as the media and even much of the business sector.  In short, they have become the new ruling elite. …The religious conservatives have morally failed because they ended up doing everything they once condemned as unjust and cruel.”  They “have become corrupted by power.  But power corrupts more easily when you have neither principles nor integrity.”  See  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/opinion/does-religion-make-people-moral.html.

Carl Krieg has advocated that Christians “replace the word God with the word love in the context of humanist/Christian dialogue”, citing 1 John 4:16: God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. He then makes reference to the greatest commandment and the story of the good Samaritan in which Jesus answers the question, Who is my neighbor? (Luke 10:25-37). See https://progressivechristianity.org/resources/tillichs-challenge-the-search-for-new-vocabulary/.

Paul Chafee has cited a practical extension of interfaith dialogue and relationships conducted by St. Philip’s Centre in Leicester England that has “goals and strategies that are carefully considered and crafted in an environment that treasures listening, embraces differences, and thrives on inclusivity.”  The interfaith project is described in Learning to Live Well Together by Tom Wilson and Riaz Ravat.  See http://www.theinterfaithobserver.org/journal-articles/2017/12/12/review-learning-to-live-well-together-wilson-and-ravat.

Edward Simmons describes Jesus as Critic of Hypocrisy, Then and Now.  He notes that Jesus taught that you can tell legitimate spokesmen for God from the false by their actions: You will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16; Luke 6:44).  Simmons cites the standard of the greatest commandment and the story of the good Samaritan as the message and example taught by Jesus for our time and all time: Go and do likewise. (Luke 10:37).  See https://progressivechristianity.org/resources/jesus-as-critic-of-hypocrisy-then-and-now/.


Related Commentary:

(12/8/14): Religion and Reason
(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith
(1/18/15): Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart of Legitimacy
(2/8/15): Promoting Religion Through Evangelism: Bringing Light or Darkness?
(2/15/15): Is Religion Good or Evil?
(3/8/15): Wealth, Politics, Religion and Economic Justice
(4/12/15): Faith as a Source of Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy
(5/3/15): A Fundamental Problem with Religion
(7/12/15): Reconciliation in Race and Religion: The Need for Compatibility, not Conformity   http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/07/reconciliation-in-race-and-religion.html
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(2/27/16): Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy in Faith, Freedom and Politics
(3/26/16): Religion, Democracy, Diversity and Demagoguery
(6/18/16): A Politics of Reconciliation with Liberty and Justice for All
(7/5/15): Reconciliation as a Remedy for Racism and Religious Exclusivism
(8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities
(1/2/16): God in Three Concepts
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(2/7/16): Jesus Meets Muhammad on Issues of Religion and Politics
(3/12/16): Religion, Race and the Deterioration of Democracy in America
(4/30/16): The Relevance of Religion to Politics
(5/7/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation
(5/21/16): Religious Fundamentalism and a Politics of Reconciliation
(8/5/16): How Religion Can Bridge Our Political and Cultural Divide
(9/17/16): A Moral Revival to Restore Legitimacy to Our Politics
(11/19/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation Based on Shared Values
(12/17/16): Discipleship in a Democracy: A Test of Faith, Legitimacy and Politics
(2/25/17): The Need for a Revolution in Religion and Politics
(3/11/17): Accountability and the Stewardship of Democracy
(3/18/17): Moral Ambiguity in Religion and Politics
(4/22/17): The Relevance of Jesus and the Irrelevance of the Church in Today’s World
(5/27/17): Intrafaith Reconciliation as a Prerequisite for Interfaith Reconciliation
(6/10/17): Religious Exclusivity and Discrimination in Politics    http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/06/religious-exclusivity-and.html
(7/1/17): Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy
(7/15/17) Religion and Progressive Politics
(8/5/17): Does Religion Seek to Reconcile and Redeem or to Divide and Conquer?
(8/12/17): The Universalist Teachings of Jesus as a Remedy for Religious Exclusivism 
(9/9/17): The Evolution of the American Civil Religion and Habits of the Heart http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/09/the-evolution-of-american-civil.html.
(9/23/17): Tribalism and the American Civil Religion 
(11/11/17): A Politics of Reconciliation that Should Begin in the Church
(11/18/17): Radical Religion and the Demise of Democracy
(12/2/17): How Religious Standards of Legitimacy Shape Politics, for Good or Bad
(12/16/17): Can Democracy Survive the Trump Era?
(12/23/17): If Democracy Survives the Trump Era, Can the Church Survive Democracy? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/12/if-democracy-survives-trump-era-can.html.
(1/6/18): The Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Diversity in Democracy
(1/13/18): Nationalist Politics and Exclusivist Religion: Obstacles to Reconciliation and Peace