(WRITING A POLITICAL BLOG FOR THE DES MOINES REGISTER IS ENJOYABLE, BUT NOW AND AGAIN I COME UP BLANK IN THE TOPIC DEPARTMENT. LAST WEEK I TURNED TO MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS AND ASKED FOR THEIR ADVICE. I PROMISED THOSE WHO CAME UP WITH CHALLENGING IDEAS YET TO BE REHASHED IN CYBERLAND TOO MUCH A POCKET COPY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND U.S. CONSTITUTION AS A THANK YOU GIFT. MY FRIENDS DID NOT DISAPPOINT. I AM STARTING WITH ONE THAT IS A TAD SELF-ABSORBED, BUT I AM TOLD BLOGS ARE NOTHING IF NOT VEHICLES FOR THE EGOTIST.)
An old high school friend asked me a series of religious questions that were hardly new. Religion’s role in government has been debated since the founding of our nation. But, as many Iowans debate same sex marriage from a religious viewpoint and many in the Republican Party link religious values with fiscal conservatism, the topic seemed relevant.
His questions: Is it acceptable for government to sanction that which the Bible says is wrong? As a nation under God, do we place ourselves under His authority or is He simply in the sky above us? If we choose to sanction that which He specifically condemns, then just who is the final authority?
Benjamin Franklin
I may be unqualified to answer these questions and it might be best to leave them to somebody “above my pay grade.” However, avoiding the subject entirely is kind of a cop out. The Bible speaks to my friend. Like some Iowa legislators, he appears confident about what is right and what is wrong. I have never been so sure I could rely on my own reading of that holy text. So, I thought I would pose these questions to someone who is spending a lifetime in such work.
I called Matt Mardis-LeCroy, Minister for Spiritual Growth at Plymouth Church in Des Moines. He is articulate and well-learned in the field of Christianity having attended Messiah College, Chicago Theological Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary. On hearing the questions, he warned me against selective literalism. I chuckled. The term reminded me of my grandfather. In later years, Grandpa adopted what the rest of us defined as selective hearing. He would choose what he heard by removing his hearing aid when topics became troublesome. Reverend Mardis-LeCroy said some do the same with the Bible and that one has to consider the entire message, not a few chosen verses.
OK, I see that, but it makes me again feel ill-equipped to ponder my friend’s questions. I imagine few amongst us are experts on God’s word, but I know for sure I am not. In talking about marriage, Reverend Mardis-LeCroy himself has said that “religious people in Iowa are not of one mind on the subject of marriage.” Great, men and women who spend all of their time spreading the word of God cannot agree. I was back to square one – faith is a guide, but where do the answers lie?
I picked up that pocket Constitution sitting on my desk and thumbed through it to distract myself for a minute. My Facebook friend had agreed the Founders dictated a separation of Church and State, but he was asking about that which guides us, me in particular. This made me think of my friend Amir Busnov.
Amir grew up Muslim in communist Yugoslavia. While President Josip Broz Tito ruled, Amir played with Christians as a child and was baffled as a teenager when family members disapproved of a Christian girlfriend. Years later, Amir watched neighbor turn against neighbor – Christian against Muslim – in the bloodbath of war. Yet, Amir speaks self-assuredly about his religion and how it guides him as an American. His conviction is as unwavering as my high school friend’s or those who attended the Family Leader event yesterday with former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Except, there is a difference in Amir’s approach and I think it comes from what he witnessed in Bosnia before he and his family fled, when he returned to Bosnia with the U.S. Army in the years that followed and in his service to the U.S. government in Iraq today. Amir tells me Islam provides him a moral path. Goodness lies in how we treat our fellow man, not in how we judge them based on our interpretation of religion.
Amir makes me think of Benjamin Franklin who signed those documents in my pocket guide. I do a quick Google search and find what Franklin wrote to his father in 1738, “I think vital religion has always suffered when orthodoxy is more regarded than virtue. The scriptures assure me that at the last day we shall not be examined on what we thought but what we did.” That makes sense to me and leads me to this:
The Bible tells us divorce is wrong, but Americans crafted laws to allow people to make their own choice there, because we respect liberty. In a fair society, if marriage is to be a legal partnership between two adults, it has to be allowed between any two adults without bias, religious or other. However, in a just society, if one’s actions harm another or infringe on another’s rights, we must not let those actions stand. A religious conviction may guide us, but we cannot let one’s selective literalism trump another’s. We must seek a kind of legal compromise as mortals.
I will answer my friend’s questions this way. The strength of our country lies in the American accord. While faith is an individual journey, we share a commitment to fairness and equality. My faith guides and comforts me as Amir’s faith does for him and my high school friend’s faith does for him. But, as a nation established and inhabited by people who recognize religious freedom, we leave it to each to seek that final authority. As an American, I accept my neighbor as my equal. My moral compass is set by my faith and I acknowledge that faith likely determines my neighbor’s “true North” as well. Our faiths may lead us to different conclusions from time to time, so we must rely on the most American of principles, to treat all people with equality, kindness and respect.
Faith sets our compass, but that does not mean we should insist all Americans must follow our spiritual path. Our country is based on fairness, liberty and freedom. No person or group gets to select what part of a holy text is more important than the next. Let’s leave that to the “final authority.”
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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.
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