| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
19 Nov 2005 10:09:13 AM |
| Object: |
What happens when church and state conflict? |
Clarke: What happens when church and state conflict?
http://www2.townonline.com/malden/opinion/view.bg?articleid=371225
Clarke: What happens when church and state conflict?
By Rev. John R. Clarke/ Focus On Faith
Friday, November 18, 2005
";Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the
things that are God's." That is Jesus' answer when he's asked to weigh in
on what we would call the separation of church and state.
In other words, build a secure wall between religion and government.
Sounds simple. Even sounds constitutional!
But what happens when church and state conflict?
For example, people of faith have a mandate to express love for
neighbor. Should we give two thumbs up, then, to government policies - such
as the failure to provide universal healthcare - that sabotage that
mandate?
As the culture wars heat up and our communities become alarmingly
polarized, this is the kind of situation we face with increasing frequency.
But what exactly is our situation?
Boston Globe columnist James Carroll wrote that we are in a "threshold
period." By that, Carroll means that we're about to abandon society or
government as we've known it in order to embrace a new order. Now, the
exact form of this new order has yet to emerge. It could be better than
what we've got. Or it could be worse.
Carroll suggests that a threshold period like ours has four
characteristics:
# Low-grade social panic
# The mainstreaming of previously "extremist" ideas
# Legislators' surrender of their constitutional authority
# The recasting of patriotism to mean conformity
Recent headlines provide us with examples:
Low-grade social panic: The skyrocketing price of oil. Natural
disasters on the home front. The bird flu pandemic. The terrorist threat to
our cities. The Iraq quagmire. The soaring poverty rate. And current NBC
News-Wall Street Journal poll results: Only 28 percent of Americans believe
this country is headed in the right direction.
What about the mainstreaming of previously "extremist" ideas? One
extremist idea stands out: Attempts by the government to contravene the
Geneva Conventions and adopt torture of P.O.W.s as official policy. Proof?
Abu Ghraib and the government's suppression of documentation and full
accountability.
Legislators' surrender of their constitutional authority: In the run-up to
the Iraq War, Congress granted George W. Bush unprecedented discretion in
the waging of war.
And the recasting of patriotism to mean conformity? Look at the
harassment of peace activist and Gold Star Mother Cindy Sheehan. Need more
proof? Tune into Fox News.
The question, then, for people of faith is: In this threshold period,
what will we do?
As a Christian, for me that question becomes: What will we do to make
sure that the society that emerges from this threshold period will promote
the common good? As a model of the common good, I point to the life and
ministry of Jesus Christ described and revealed to us in the Gospel.
Consequently, will we, as Episcopal Divinity School Dean Steven
Charleston puts it, use the Gospel as a framework for social justice? Or
will we use the Gospel as the basis for creating a monolithic society in
which everyone must believe the same thing in the same way?
Now, if we use the Gospel to create social justice - the framework I
believe Jesus endorsed - our mandate is clear: Jesus' command to love our
neighbor overrides government policies that subvert that love.
That means that when government encourages us to serve others,
especially the weakest among us, we should support it. When government
encourages us to love our neighbors as ourselves, we should support it.
But when government encourages us to serve ourselves at others'
expense - when it opposes the common good - we should oppose it and, by
opposing it, change it.
And if we are to change anything, here are some questions we might
discuss:
Does it promote the common good for people of faith to support a war
based on falsified premises?
Does it promote the common good for people of faith to support tax
breaks for the wealthiest Americans, while 37 million Americans live in
poverty?
Does it promote the common good for people of faith to support a
government when it denies equal rights to all Americans by restricting
marriage to one man, one woman?
Does it promote the common good for people of faith to support government
attempts, in effect, to impose a poll tax that will restrict the ability of
the poorest citizens of some of our states to vote?
Does it promote the common good for people of faith to support
legislation and policies that will pass on a crippling national deficit to
our grandchildren for short-term political gain?
Too political for you? Well, take it up with Jesus. He brought it up.
And besides, it's a matter of faith. And "faith," Walter Brueggeman
maintains, "has never been about sluggish contentment or bare-bones
survival."
So, don't be sluggish. Don't be content. Don't just survive. Debate.
Vote. Lobby. Critique. Invent alternatives. Dream! Make it happen. Never
stop asking the faith-based questions: "Who benefits?" "Who pays?" "Who
suffers?"
Because that way, you will exponentially increase the chances that you
will "give to God the things that are God's."
Rev. John R. Clarke is pastor of St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the
corner of Washington and Florence streets in Malden.
Focus on Faith is a regular column that centers on issues of faith,
and is written by members of Malden's Interfaith Clergy Association.
*****************************************************************
Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
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