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News from the States: With the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, there's a space open on America's highest court...a space which George W. Bush will fill. If you think W is the bee's knees, you're probably happy about this. If you, like me, find W as appealing as intestinal flu but with a worse aftertaste, you're not so happy. Conservative religious groups are gearing up to push an anti-gay, anti-abortion judge. Liberal religious groups have written letters requesting that religion not play a role in selecting the candidate. This, I think, is the whole problem...it's the right place to end up, but ultimately a self-destructive way to get there. I'm all for the separation of church and state...we live in such a pluralistic world that it's no good trying to impose one's own faith on a system which governs members of so many differing religions. When government leaders make decisions they ought to do so with the knowledge that those decisions mustn't force an ideology. But when religious leaders make public statements, as religious leaders, they have a responsibility to speak from faith. For too long the liberal voice of the church, backed by a very solid and convincing theology, has instead called "no comment" on issues of faith. By doing so we have abandoned the field to a conservative, often literalist and oppressive, interpretation of Christianity. By refusing to speak from faith we have undermined our own position. This is why so many people assume that Christian = homophobe*. This is why people take for granted that the church is for old, white people. This is why the church, in turn, has lost her prophetic voice. I would rather see liberal church leaders proclaiming a gospel of inclusion, demanding that the entire spectrum of Christian thought be heard rather than only the narrow (minded) path of fundamentalist ideology. I'd rather hear liberal church leaders refute the assumed monopoly on Christian thought and bring balance to the conversation. Instead they call for no faith at all. The conservative view is widely thought to be the only Christian view. It's entrenched in government and embedded in our cultural psyche as the Christian voice, and conservatives are in no rush to correct the misperception. The liberal church has a responsibility to set the record straight, and making a public plea for "no religion" isn't going to do it...we just end up looking like the Godless heathens we've been made out to be. No wonder politicians pander to the religious right - it's the only Christian picture they see. * I recently watched a documentary about gay rights in a Texas town. The film-makers said that they found it fascinating to go inside "the Christian perspective," by which they meant that of conservative evangelicals. I shouted at the screen, "That's not the entire church! They aren't the voice of all Christianity!" Alas, the film is out there and joins the mass of material which, incorrectly, suggests otherwise. |
