COMMENTARY: When Religious Demagogues Threaten Our `Home Sweet Home’

c. 2004 Religion News Service (Tom Ehrich is a writer and computer consultant, managing large-scale database implementations. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. Visit his Web site at http://www.onajourney.org.) (UNDATED) After an hourlong thunderstorm, spirits at the ballpark were damp but resilient. I wondered how they would handle the national anthem on the […]

c. 2004 Religion News Service

(Tom Ehrich is a writer and computer consultant, managing large-scale database implementations. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. Visit his Web site at http://www.onajourney.org.)

(UNDATED) After an hourlong thunderstorm, spirits at the ballpark were damp but resilient.


I wondered how they would handle the national anthem on the eve of Independence Day. Would it be a bombastic display in keeping with national political bombast, one of those orchestrated shouts of anger much loved by crafty leaders? No, they handed the microphone to an Air Force captain who caressed the anthem and gave us a vision of freedom, not a scorpion poised to strike.

During the seventh-inning stretch, she took the microphone again for “God Bless America.” In the days after Sept. 11, the anthem by Russian immigrant Irving Berlin to America and peace was declared religion’s imprimatur for anything-goes retaliation. But again, she gave us a gentle and soaring reminder of who we want to be _ “a land that’s free” and a “grateful” people _ and not another abuse of faith in the quest for political triumph.

We will disagree about partisan politics. We ought to disagree. There is no single way to be an American or to manage this nation’s affairs. We are a melting pot _ not only of races and nationalities, but of ideas and dreams. Politicians can be expected to claim their way as superior, and to do so with every tool at their disposal, from flattery to flag-waving to fire-breathing. We learn to be wary of them.

What I find dangerous, however, is religion’s loss of separateness and perspective.

American revolutionaries declared their independence not only from a cruel and stupid king, but from centuries of religious warfare. Christian hierarchs had turned Europe into a battleground. Christian prelates had fought against knowledge and free expression of ideas. They had blessed the rape of a New World rich in gold. The Christian establishment had persecuted nonconformists, causing many to seek hope across the Atlantic. They had justified the oppression that spawned those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

In the 150 years preceding America’s independence, the religious did their best to carry on Europe’s faith wars. Tensions within Protestantism and between Protestants and Roman Catholics did much to undermine American Colonial life.

Our founding fathers were determined to keep holy wars from enslaving this continent. This was to be a land of freedom, not religious turf wars. The rights of citizens were to be kept separate from religion’s self-serving claims of certainty and sanctity. Now it is our time to take up their noble cause.

Christian demagogues have declared a holy war that they claim to be for the soul of America, the sanctity of life and the future of Christian faith. They badger us into fixation on two issues _ Scripture and sex _ as if those two issues would determine the future of civilization, not to mention true faith. It is nothing but a power grab. It is a violation of the Gospel. As politicians exploit this holy war for campaign funds, membership lists and votes, it is playing with the fire that nearly destroyed Europe.

Like any preacher, Jesus quoted Scripture. He also told stories, made up parables, spoke without words and contradicted Scripture. His aim wasn’t to defend Torah, but to point the way to God. He offended those who were using Scripture to strengthen their power. I believe today’s Bible warriors are engaged in a similar pursuit of gain and would be just as offended by the real thing.


Jesus said nothing about sex. He preached about wealth and power. He called for humility and servanthood. We have no basis whatsoever for thinking that sexuality was his concern. It may be our concern _ indeed, our obsession _ but we cannot foist it off onto God. It is especially dangerous when arguments about sex provide safe cover for violating what Jesus did talk about.

It is time for believers to stop going along with religious demagogues. They play to the very prejudices and fears that Jesus sought to remove. They trespass on people’s yearnings. They distort the goodness and magnanimity of the Gospel. They make common cause with greed and privilege.

If allowed to be successful, they will re-create the very conditions that caused Europeans to flee their homes and to seek the lamp of liberty.

KRE/PH END EHRICH

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