Catoosa Vision

Religion and Politics

On this blog, I typically avoid any broader, national-scale discussion of politics. However, given the down-home evangelical nature of our local GOP, I thought I'd mention something I read earlier this morning.

Randall Balmer, a professor of religious history at Barnhard College and an avowed evangelical, recently wrote an essay about the current state of Republicanism and Religion in America. Specifically, he talks about what has the religious right -- in control of all three branches of government -- done with their power? Here's just one excerpt:

And what has the religious right done with its political influence? Judging by the platform and the policies of the Republican Party — and I'm aware of no way to disentangle the agenda of the Republican Party from the goals of the religious right — the purpose of all this grasping for power looks something like this: an expansion of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the continued prosecution of a war in the Middle East that enraged our longtime allies and would not meet even the barest of just-war criteria, and a rejiggering of Social Security, the effect of which, most observers agree, would be to fray the social-safety net for the poorest among us. Public education is very much imperiled by Republican policies, to the evident satisfaction of the religious right, and it seeks to replace science curricula with theology, thereby transforming students into catechumens.

Here's a link to the full essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Here's more...

If evangelicals believe that God cares about the fate of a fetus, it shouldn't require a huge leap in logic to surmise that God also cares about people of color or prisoners or immigrants or people with an orientation other than heterosexual.

Finally, an evangelical social and political ethic would take into account the pluralistic context of American society and recognize the genius of the First Amendment. That requires respect for the canons of democracy and for the importance of public education to ensure its future. It acknowledges, for example, that the proper venue for the teaching of creationism or intelligent design is the home or the Sunday-school classroom, not the science curriculum. It means refusing to identify the symbols of the faith — the Bible, prayer, the Decalogue with the political order. In short, our best hope for the recovery of an evangelical social and political ethic lies with recognizing that the faith functions best independent of the political order. (emphasis added)

I could not have said it any better. I highly recommend reading the entire essay. I'm pleasantly surprised to hear such rational thought from an evangelical conservative christian.

How rare, and how refreshing. Maybe there is hope in our society.

posted by Chris Casey @ 10:48 AM