By
Rudy Barnes, Jr.
After
President Trump’s State of the Union address, the question left hanging in the
air is “What is truth? It’s a question
that has resonated down through the ages ever since Jesus stood before Pilate,
and one that we must answer in our democracy.
Our faith shapes our standards of political legitimacy with God’s truth,
and interfaith dialogue can help us find that truth.
Americans
seem to have agreed to disagree on issues of politics, morality and religion. Politics in America are polarized and reconciliation
seems beyond reach. More than 70% of
Americans claim to be Christians, but white evangelical Christians elected a
president who has demonstrated narcissistic immorality that makes a mockery of
Christian standards of legitimacy.
Christianity
in America is so diverse as to defy definition.
It is no longer the coherent religion that once defined the American
civil religion. Traditional Christianity
has been hijacked by a materialistic prosperity gospel promoted by the
supporters of Donald Trump. It more
closely resembles the objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand than the gospel of
Jesus.
The
prosperity gospel echoes ancient Jewish beliefs that rewarded faithfulness with
worldly prosperity and power. It was
evident in the rich man who came to Jesus seeking eternal life but did not give
up his wealth to follow Jesus. (see Mark 10:17-27) Jesus identified with the poor and powerless,
and emphasized spiritual rather than worldly rewards for faithfulness.
The greatest commandment to love God and
to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, including our neighbors of other
races and religions, is a summary of the altruistic and universal teachings of
Jesus. It is a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, and
the foundation for a politics of reconciliation. Jesus emphasized the primacy of love over law, and the Qur’an considers
Jesus a prophet like Moses and Muhammad. (see 43:59-65; 57:27)
Interfaith
dialogue can relate the altruistic teachings of Jesus as the word of God to a
world that loves wealth and power. In our
materialistic and hedonistic culture, the prosperity gospel has eclipsed the
gospel of Jesus. Jesus knew that his
teachings would not be popular, but the church, in its zeal to make
Christianity a popular religion, has made worshipping Jesus as God more important
to salvation than following Jesus as the word of God.
Evangelicals
have become the voice of Christianity by default. That’s because mainline Protestant churches
have avoided contentious issues of faith, morality and politics since the civil
rights era and the Vietnam War. The
interfaith dialogue group can fill this void in religion and politics by discussing
volatile issues in a way that promotes religious and political reconciliation.
Jesus
was a radical Jewish rabbi who never promoted his own religion or condemned any
others. He sought to put the altruistic
love for others at the heart of Judaism.
John Wesley sought to do the same thing in his 18th century Anglican
Church. He organized his Methodists into
small groups that met weekly to discuss social and political issues and to hold
each other accountable for regular acts of discipleship. It was a precedent for the interfaith
dialogue group.
Theoretically
the church is an excellent venue for interfaith dialogue, but in spite of the
Wesleyan precedent, United Methodist churches seem reluctant to promote
interfaith dialogue. Ideally the
interfaith group is a small group of six to twelve people who have different
religious backgrounds but who want to share their journey of faith with those
of other religions.
To
assist those interested in forming an interfaith dialogue group, the Resources provided at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/p/resources.html include a study
guide, The Teachings of Jesus and Muhammad on Morality and Law: The Heart of
Legitimacy, along with The Interfaith
Fellowship: A Model of Purpose and Process for Interfaith Dialogue. The website offers 166 topics on Religion, Legitimacy and Politics that
address interfaith issues.
The
search for truth in a democracy contaminated with fake truths is a daunting
mission, but one essential for people of faith in their stewardship of
democracy. The interfaith dialogue group
is for all whose journey of faith has taken them beyond belief in one true
faith. It can enable people of all faiths
to explore together the dynamic world of religion and politics; and just maybe
it can help people of faith save their democracy from themselves.
Notes:
Mustafa Akyol has explored the
relationship between religion, morality and politics in Turkey, and reached
conclusions that are analogous to religion and politics in the U.S.: “The religious conservatives have morally
failed [and] become corrupted by power. But power corrupts more easily when you
have neither principles nor integrity.”
He noted that “religious texts often have moral teachings with which
people can question and instruct themselves. The Quran, just like the Bible, has such
pearls of wisdom. A person who follows such virtuous teachings will likely
develop a moral character, just as a person who follows similar teachings in
the Bible will.” But Akyol notes that
for some people “…religion works not as cure for the soul, but as drug for the
ego. It makes them not humble, but arrogant.”
...In legalistic religious traditions, like Judaism and Islam, this
problem occurs when religion is reduced to the practice of rituals. An
exceptional Jewish rabbi who lived two millenniums ago, Jesus of Nazareth,
spotted this problem. Those practicing Pharisees who are ‘confident of their
own righteousness and look down on everybody else,’ he declared, are not really
righteous. This kind of ‘us vs. them’
mentality can corrupt and radicalize any religious community. Conscientious believers in every tradition
need to stand against the toxic urges that turn religion into a hollow vessel
of arrogance, bigotry, hatred and greed. Otherwise, more and more evil will be done in
their faith’s name. And more and more people will ask, as many young Turks are
asking these days, what religion is really good for.” See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/opinion/does-religion-make-people-moral.html.
In opposing radical Islamists who
promote an exclusivist Islam that condemns other religions, Akyol has cited a
provision of the Qur’an that accepts other religions
of the book and desires Jews, Christians and Muslims “compete with each
other in doing good.” See Qur’an 5:48, cited at p. 285 in Akyol, Islam
Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty, Norton, NY, 2013.
Mustafa Akyol has described what Jesus can teach today’s Muslims on
putting love over law: “He called on his fellow Jews to focus on
their religion’s moral principles, rather than obsessing with the minute
details of religious law. He criticized the legalist Pharisees, for example,
for ‘tithing mint and rue and every herb,’ but neglecting “justice and the love
of God. …Muslims need to take notice because
they are going through a crisis very similar to the one Jesus addressed: While
being pressed by a foreign civilization, they are also troubled by their own
fanatics who see the light only in imposing a rigid law, Shariah, and fighting
for theocratic rule. Muslims need a creative third way, which will be true to
their faith but also free from the burdens of the past tradition and the
current political context. …But no
Muslim religious leader has yet stressed the crucial gap between divine
purposes and dry legalism as powerfully as Jesus did. Jesus showed that sacrificing the spirit of
religion to literalism leads to horrors, like the stoning of innocent women by
bigoted men — as it still happens in some Muslim countries today. He also taught that obsession with outward
expressions of piety can nurture a culture of hypocrisy — as is the case in
some Muslim communities today. Jesus even defined humanism as a higher value
than legalism, famously declaring, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for
the Sabbath. … If Jesus is ‘a prophet of
Islam,’ as we Muslims often proudly say, then we should think on these
questions. Because Jesus addressed the
very problems that haunt us today and established a prophetic wisdom perfectly
fit for our times. 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®ion=Marginalia&src=me&version=column&pgtype=article. Generally, see Akyol, How the King of the
Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims: The Islamic Jesus, St. Martin’s
Press, NY, 2017.
Deidre McPhillips has cited a
recent survey that found most people consider religion the primary source of
global conflict today, since “spiritual beliefs create an ‘us versus them’
scenario. …More than 80% surveyed said
that religious beliefs guide a person’s behavior.” Because religion is a source of conflict, McPhillips
advocates faith–based dialogue for interfaith reconciliation. See https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-01-23/tribal-divisions-created-by-religion-most-harmful-in-global-conflict-experts-say.
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
(3/29/15): God and Country: Resolving Conflicting Concepts of Sovereignty
(4/5/15): Seeing the Resurrection in a New Light
(4/12/15): Faith as a Source of Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy
(4/19/15): Jesus: A Prophet, God’s Only Son, or the Logos? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/04/jesus-prophet-god-only-son-or-logos.html
(5/3/15): A Fundamental Problem with Religion
(6/14/15): Jesus Meets Muhammad Today
(6/21/15): Christians Meet Muslims Today
(7/5/15): Reconciliation as a Remedy for Racism and Religious Exclusivism
(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 (7/26/15): Fear and Fundamentalism
(8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities
(8/23/15): Legitimacy as a Context and Paradigm to Resolve Religious Conflict
(8/30/15): What Is Truth?
(9/20/15) Politics and Religious Polarization
(10/4/15): Faith and Religion: The Same but Different
(10/11/15): Seeking, Being and Doing on Our Journey of Faith
(10/25/15): The Muslim Stranger: A Good Neighbor or a Threat?
(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
(2/27/16): Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy in Faith, Freedom and Politics
(3/12/16): Religion, Race and the Deterioration of Democracy in America
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/03/religion-race-and-deterioration-of.html (3/26/16): Religion, Democracy, Diversity and
Demagoguery
(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
(6/18/16): A Politics of Reconciliation with Liberty and Justice for All
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/06/a-politics-of-reconciliation-with.html (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
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/11/religion-and-politics-of-reconciliation_19.html
(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
(4/29/17): A Wesleyan Alternative for an Irrelevant Church
(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
(6/17/17): Religious Exclusivity: Does It Matter? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/06/religious-exclusivity-does-it-matter.html.
(7/1/17): Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy
(7/15/17) Religion and Progressive Politics
(7/22/17): Hell No!
(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
No comments:
Post a Comment