Saturday, July 01, 2006
Faith and Politics
Democrats Have Found God * Mahmudiyah, Iraq
It seems that there is a headlong rush by Democratic leaders to embrace God. Not that they were all atheists or agnostics, but they were different than the Republicans who began wearing God on their sleeves years ago. It paid dividends in the elections. Is that the reason for Democrats to prove to the American voters that they,too, are religious? That would make them contemptible. E.J. Dionne's column in the Post "Obama's Eloquent Faith" is about the speech given by Senator Barrack Obama (D-IL) at Call to Renewal Conference on June 28th. "Many Democrats discovered God in the 2004 exit polls. Specifically, they looked at the importance of religious voters to President Bush's majority and decided: We need some of those folks. Off Democrats went to their Bibles, finding every verse they could -- there are many -- describing the imperative to help the poor, battle injustice and set the oppressed free. "
- Here's what stands out. First, Obama offers the first faith testimony I have heard from any politician that speaks honestly about the uncertainties of belief. "Faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts," Obama declared. "You need to come to church in the first place precisely because you are first of this world, not apart from it."
- In an interview yesterday, Obama didn't back away. "By definition, faith admits doubt," he said. "Otherwise, it isn't faith. . . . If we don't sometimes feel hopeless, then we're really insulating ourselves from the world around us."
- On the matter of church-state separation, Obama doesn't propose some contrived balancing act but embraces religion's need for independence from government. In a direct challenge to "conservative leaders," he argued that "they need to understand the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy, but the robustness of our religious practice."
The excesses of religious zealots in recent years have given many of us a bad taste in the mouth. I do not question the sincerity of Barrack Obama's position but one has to accept the fact that zealotry among the faithful is not confined exclusively to Republicans. I am concerned about their influence as the Democratic Party courts them.
A recently published book, American Gospel by Jon Meacham casts a fresh look at the subject.
A recently published book, American Gospel by Jon Meacham casts a fresh look at the subject.
- At a time when our country seems divided by extremism, American Gospel draws on the past to offer a new perspective. Meacham re-creates the fascinating history of a nation grappling with religion and politics from John Winthrop's "A city on a hill" sermon to Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence; from the Revolution to the Civil War; from a proposed nineteenth-century Christian Amendment to the Constitution to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s call for civil rights; from George Washington to Ronald Reagan.
- Debates about religion and politics are often more divisive than illuminating. Secularists point to a "wall of separation between church and state", while many conservatives act as though the Founding Fathers were apostles in knee britches. As Meacham shows in this brisk narrative, neither extreme has it right. At the heart of the American experiment lies the God of what Benjamin Franklin called "public religion", a God who invests all human beings with inalienable rights while protecting private religion from government interference. It is a great American balancing act, and it has served us well.
Disturbing report about American soldiers being investigated for rape and murder at Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. "BAGHDAD, June 30 -- The U.S. Army is investigating allegations that American soldiers raped and killed a woman and killed three of her family members in a town south of Baghdad, then reported the incident as an insurgent attack, a military official said Friday."
- The alleged crimes occurred in March in the insurgent hotbed of Mahmudiyah. The four soldiers involved, from the 502nd Infantry Regiment, attempted to burn the family's home to the ground and blamed insurgents for the carnage, according to a military official familiar with the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was providing details not released publicly.
Recently an American soldier was taken prisoner and killed by insurgents in Iraq. His body was found brutally mutilated. It drew universal condemnation. Rightly so. There is no justification for such barbaric acts. Do we have the right to point our fingers at others if our soldiers are found guilty of rape and murder of civilians?
