"It would be nice occasionally if religious Democrats just said:
'We believe everyone is equal in the eyes of God and under our Constitution. Our policies are motivated by a desire to secure the common good for the entire nation and equal dignity and rights for all people.'"
John Halpin, The Liberal Patriot
"Paris is worth a mass."
King Henry IV of France
Joe Biden is a "Cradle Catholic" A cradle Catholic means someone born and raised in the Catholic faith, with Catholicism so thoroughly a part of the person's upbringing and culture and religious practice that they never chose the faith or came to Jesus from outside it. They are Catholics the way children born in a typical American neighborhood speaks English. English is their native language. Catholicism is Joe Biden's native faith.
Americans barely know that Joe Biden is religious, or if they know it they don't really believe it. Trump and Republicans are the brand associated with triumphal Christianity. Democrats have a problem with religion in politics. They seem afraid of it, as if it would make them sound like a Republican.
I hope Democrats re-integrate religious language into their discourse, and I write as someone who is not religious. The moral language Democrats feel comfortable using is the language of academics, policy, and politics. They make moral values concrete by talking about "income re-distribution," "systemic racism," "micro-aggressions," and correct pronouns. Such language has purpose. It reflects the moral value of religious tolerance and respect for the non-religious. It reflects hands-off separation of church and state. The language come across as morally sterile. It is prose, not poetry.
Fairness and kindness are natural human moral instincts. The justification for acting other than as rational, game-theory, marketplace maximizers of advantage is the moral dimension. We understand from our earliest childhood play with others and instruction from parents and other authorities that it isn't fair to cheat people, it isn't kind to disrespect people, even if one can get away with it. That little voice in our heads--or God in the sky--knows it is wrong.
For most Americans, the language of morality is the language of religious texts and traditions. People brought up in a faith tradition learned words that shape their moral instinct. For example, "income re-distribution" finds expression in the command "Thou shall give the workman his hire lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee," (Deut. 24), and "the workman is worthy of his hire." (Luke 10) Public benefits translate into Matthew 25 feed the poor, clothe the naked, that which you do for the least of these brothers of mine. Those words have power.
Democrats under-perform in votes of regular church attendees. Some of this is the abortion issue. Some churches decided that life begins at fertilization, and that has been made sacred, and therefore non-negotiable. It goes beyond that. Democratic thought leaders and spokespeople have been dominated by the educated left progressives--mostly secular people--not the spokespeople of communitarian Catholics, liberal Protestants, or the Black clergy. That is a problem for Democrats. Public policy is done for the benefit of the common good, and consideration of the common good is a moral choice. Most people are moved by the familiar language of morality.
I predict that the Democratic candidate who unifies Democrats and the nation will speak in moral terms. Martin Luther King did not lead the Civil Rights movement by saying that the policies would be clever and effective. He said they were the right thing to do. I also predict a successful Democratic leader will freely use language from the Bible, because that is the common denominator of moral language.
Won't leftist non-religious people like me be put off by religious language? Most will not. The religious language will reflect values we share. We are accustomed to religious language and some of it is lovely.
12 comments:
The Bible offers inspiration and wisdom to those who are receptive, but it has also been used throughout the ages to justify atrocities like slavery. MLK, Jr. was primarily a religious leader and moral force. When politicians start spouting Bible verses, it makes me wonder what they're planning to inflict on us next. Let's not forget, most evangelical Christians believe Trump was anointed by God.
Your column is likely right in terms of politics. We rational thinkers have to tolerate religious language in the political debate because inclusiveness includes religious people, and probably, a majority of religious people. Further, free thinkers cannot expect mutual respect from all religious people even though we have to give them respect.
You are wrong in terms of the language of scientific thinking and morals reached by analytical thinking. Opposing racism because it is morally wrong can be phrased in language just as poetic as that found in religious texts. Describing the universe and its evolution is best done with scientific language and, in fact, describing moral thinking in evolutionary terms is downright beautiful.
Re-read Car Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Richard Dawkins, Susan Jacoby and others and feel the beauty of language through their analytical prose and poetry.
Again, you are right in terms of politics, but don't denigrate the language of rationality.
Jesus was and is a liberal. As a Christian I find it disheartening that religion is viewed as something conservative. In my mind All the main religions of the world are. Generous, kind, forgiving of others, and loving. Unfortunately ultra religious people have corrupted the message.
We may have evolved to be religious because tribes that shared a religion tended to be more unified and successful than tribes that didn’t. In any case, religion is an almost universal aspect of human societies. I think humans have an innate tendency towards religion.
I was raised to be an atheist, and stayed that way until 1960s-style mystical experiences opened my mind. I was actually fortunate to have been raised that way, because all I had in my head where religion might go was a blank space, so I didn’t have to overcome any preinstalled ideas to understand and absorb what the psychedelics had to show me.
There are beliefs and ideologies that resonate with our propensity towards religion. Communism, for instance, was pursued with a religious fervor in the early and mid-20th century. Many, including John McWhorter, think that wokeism is actually a new religion. Look at this religious ceremony, for instance.
Our society could benefit from an input of benevolent and competently executed religious feeling. I hope that happens. But there is also a dark side of such things, which we need to be wary of. There are no easy answers…
Dave--
In what way(s) do you cast Jesus as a liberal?
Religion or drugs.
Some people can't handle reality without either.
I hope, someday, atheists have political representation at all levels of government.
It brings to mind a poster from the 60s that showed Tinkerbell flying through a mist and said: "SPREAD MYSTICISM. HELP STAMP OUT REALITY."
Dudgeon: A more appropriate question might be;
In what ways do you find Jesus espousing Conservative/Libertarian values ?
Edc--
Fair enough! As I see it, anyway, Jesus is a draconian conservative first and foremost, most obviously because he is quite literally judgmental and ultimately unforgiving, with extreme unnuanced prejudice at that. Even the New Testament Jesus is unequivocal that at one point the sheep WILL be separated from the goats, period, depending on who has and has not repented and accepted specifically him as the sole and exclusive intercessor between every human and the wages of sin, the fate which they all otherwise have coming. The unworthy unsaved--the greater portion of all human souls ever--will be cast away from God and the saved for all eternity.
Most of what Dave and others would likely cite (subject to correction from Dave and others) as proof of Jesus' loving, tolerant kindness and liberality can only be viewed in that dogmatic context. Sure, Jesus is love, but it's tough love. Dad got angry once and killed almost every human, and was right to do so! Yes, we are to feed the poor and observe the Golden Rule, but that's only while we wend our way through this vale of tears, this life (and death, waiting) prior to the Last Judgment. Moreover, Jesus while certainly a small "d" democrat was nonetheless no activist nor revolutionary in the temporal sense, which is one reason why Jewish leaders were so disappointed in him. You can't get much more conservative than Obey the Authorities, or as he put it, Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's.
That's Scripture, and those are Jesus' own words and promises. Certainly one is not obliged to believe in e.g. a literal heaven with billions judged to deserve exclusion therefrom, but at that point the real question is whether you are an orthodox Christian or a cultural Christian, like Joe Biden appears to be with his build-your-own-pizza version of Catholicism, and like so many mainstream Protestant denominations today, for whom the only thing you have to believe to call yourself a Christian is that there isn't anything you really have to believe. Christianity's cousins in Abrahamic monotheism, Islam and Judaism, are hardly teachers of "I'm Okay, You're Okay" either, unless, once again, belief is only cultural or social; symbolic or self-referential.
Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome strangers, give clothes to the needy, help the sick and those in prison…If this nation actually put Jesus’ teachings into practice rather than just profess belief, we’d all be better off, regardless of party, religion or lack thereof.
Dudgeon: Thanks for a very interesting take. Personally, I walked away from organized religion if all sorts while in my teens, and have never really found a reason to look back. I do think a lot if the principles espoused in the socalled Gospels of Christ offer many good pieces of advice, like treating the least among us as ourselves for one example. The things you describe about the My Way or the Highway christian types,are why I run away from them. There is no Love, that I can see, in Fundamentalist teachings of most any stripe, Christian, Jewish or Islam.
Thanks again for your response.
To me the worst is children brainwashing. I could never escape. I claim to be an atheist.but I am actually a Christian parrot. I can spout verse after verse. I can sing the altar call songs.. I can say all the books of the Bible in order. I know which denominations are full of heresy and will be rejected on judgement day. I can take any verse and make a quick sermon out of it. The guilt is still there, god watches me, Jesus watches me, the holly spirit is on to me, not Mary she’s for Catholics . Jesus is the one He’s the only one let him have his way until the day is done.John 3:16, Romans 8:28 say them both with your arms raised to the roof. Amen.
Post a Comment