"Democratic malefactors like Jim Wright and L.B.J.'s old fixer Bobby Baker didn't wear the Bible on their sleeves.
In the DeLay story almost every player has ostentatious religious trappings, starting with the House majority leader himself. His efforts to play God with Terri Schiavo were preceded by crusades like blaming the teaching of evolution for school shootings and raising money for the Traditional Values Coalition's campaign to save America from the 'war on Christianity.' Mr. DeLay's chief of staff was his pastor, and, according to Time magazine, organized daily prayer sessions in their office. Today this holy man, Ed Buckham, is a lobbyist implicated in another DeLay junket to South Korea."
Here is the deal. I know that there are people who "claim" to be Christian and don't act it. That certainly explains people like Delay. I would contend it includes Bush as well.
Ok, that is the first issue. The second one is really the kicker. The Christian voter--the one who really cares about their faith and takes it seriously--cannot be voting for these people and telling me that God wants them elected. These Christian voters would never use their faith to make money or earn votes, right? This is heartfelt and serious stuff. Well, then you don't get to turn around and tell me that Bush is God's president for our time.
You can vote for him, understand. You can vote for these people because they represent your conservative POLITICS, but you can't have it both ways. You can't tell me that Delay is a Christian Stateman when he breaks the law and ruthlessly attacks his opponents and then compares himself to Christ. You can't excuse Bush's racist tactics in South Carolina and his inability to understand the issues of humility and "turn the other cheek" that his purported faith demands. You can't badmouth the democrats for being anti-God and send money to someone like Delay.
Well, you can. Just don't expect me to respect the faith if it is that easily sold.
1 comment:
Streak:
I'm interested in what you think about this: I think that the term "Christian" is losing its ability to describe religious belief in the US. This is probably just history repeating itself, but nevertheless I think it's true today. My experience has been that there are plenty of places around the world where religious affiliation is as much or more a tribal and political identity as it is a description of an individual's beliefs. Many countries use national identity cards. Indonesia, for example, uses them and very clearly states the religion of the bearer. Changing that affiliation is quite an involved process and has numerous legal ramifications (inheritance, social services, etc...) We often read the paper and see "Christians" killing "Muslims" or "Hindus" killing "Christians", and any combination thereof. Often, but not always, these are political and ethnic labels as well as religious ones. A Muslim cleric in Thailand once brought up the attacks on 9-11 and asked me what I thought about it. I asked him his thoughts, and he answered, "A few Arabs are making it rough on all of us." He admitted that they were Muslims in name, but made sure to point out that they did not practice anything resembling his view of what his religion should be. In fact, he said two of the worst sins that can be committed are suicide and the killing of innocents, especially women and children. I have since had a number of similar conversations with other Muslims. So, when Delay and I both say we are Christians we each have our own definition of what we mean. He has his beliefs and I have mine. Kosuke Koyama says that "isms" (i.e. the religion) is secondary to the "ist" (i.e. the practitioner). In other words, religions don't live, breathe, love, hurt, create, kill, or die. All religion boils down to the "ist" with whom we have a relationship. Have I ever been a Christian based on numerous other people's definitions that come to mind? Do I have the right to call myself one? Does Delay? I don't know. For me it doesn't really matter. Granted, those who don't call themselves Christians see all of us who do as one homogenous group, much like alot of Christians see Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists. In that sense we are affected by how someone in the public arena attributes their actions to religious convictions. Evidently alot of people like Delay's brand of Christianity, whether that means his religion or his politics, I don't know. He's the one in power right now and that alone will attract a good number of people to him. Does his use of the Christian term bother me? Sure. Unlike him, though, I'm happy to toss the term if it doesn't mean anything anymore. Maybe the public presentation of the term is perfect for defining some people's beliefs, but in the public arena it doesn't reflect mine. Words are only effective when they communicate the speaker's intended meaning to the recipient. I need to be aware of what words mean to those to whom I'm communicating if I want to be understood. "Christian" probably doesn't do that for me anymore due to some forces beyond my control. No problem.
Follower of Christ? Jesus People? I'm open to suggestions. Fortunately I don't have an ID card with a particular label on it.
Whew, more than enough already!
BB
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