Let’s Mix Religion and Politics
I rather suspect that I now have your attention and I rather suspect that depending on your point of view you have some firmly held notions of what is coming next. However, as we sail into the summer of 2004 there is somewhat of a calm before the barrage of campaigning and political advertising we are in for given the announced dollar figure of what the candidates have managed to raise. No doubt it is somewhat hip to try and be above the fray. Anyone anywhere can score some points mocking the process and distancing their self from the madness.
Yet here we go again engaging in the ritual that will define us for good or ill. With the passing of Ronald Regan we are reminded that rarely in the American experience have we been able to define ourselves without drawing on the religious roots of our past. President Regan was clearly fond of quoting John Winthrop’s (Governor of Massachusetts in the 17th century) line that, “We are a city set on a hill.” Of course in addressing his Puritan sisters and brothers Winthrop was drawing on Jesus’ words from the 5th chapter of Matthew. The Bible voices two perspectives on the meaning of city. On the one hand it is the place where the best among us get betrayed and crucified and was where the man came from whose craziness went by the name Legion. Yet, the book of revelation cannot describe the completion of human history outside the context of the restored and renewed heavenly city and righted and “rited” human relationships. Like it or not, we will be a heavenly city or not that all will.
In speaking at New York University Bill Moyers recently said “Equality doesn’t mean equal incomes, but a fair and decent society where money is not the sole arbiter of status or comfort. In a fair and just society, the commonwealth will be valued even as individual wealth is encouraged.” That is the meaning of the society Winthrop envisaged. It is not the City we ought to hide or hide from.
Of course we will be mixing religion and politics. Neither Winthrop nor the late President could separate the two. They are a pretty combustible mixture. Yet that combination may provide not only heat but also enough light to guide our steps toward what God is rooting for us to be. Much will depend on if as result of our work we draw closer together or further apart or if we draw the conclusion that the commonwealth is valued significantly less than individual wealth, or as Election Day draws near we draw lines in way that says we are all in it together or not. These things may not be the themes of the political advertising we are about to be deluged with at the behest of the candidates. Yet, in combining the twin realities of religion and politics we might get the best out of the candidates that are before us. “Let no one put asunder what God has joined together.”
12:46:05 PM 
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