 A
Pastor on the Wrong Side
 Just
a couple of weeks ago, I helped to lead a group of over
100 members of the Cathedral of Hope in a time of protest.
Our intent was to take our signs and stand outside as
a quiet witness to another view of faith. We went to
Fort Worth to protest Texas Governor Rick Perry’s
use of an appearance at a church to sign a bill restricting
abortion and another that would amend the state constitution
to ban gay marriage. The fact that he conducted this
important government business at a suburban church was
proof of the real point of the legislation all along.
They were bills designed to pander to religious conservatives.
In fact, since the signing of the marriage amendment
was purely ceremonial and completely unnecessary, this
was pure rank pandering.
Well,
no one would be surprised that the President of Hope
for Peace & Justice would protest the launch of
a campaign to limit the civil rights of LGBT people.
What surprised even me, though, was that our witness
was joined by a couple of hundred others who were also
upset with the Governor and the event. Of course, there
were Democrats who are trying to establish their identity
in Texas, and there were parents and teachers frustrated
that, once again, the government failed to address public
school funding. But there were also a significant number
of people who came to protest the blurring of the lines
separating Church and State.
 As
with most ad hoc demonstrations this one soon became
fairly confusing. There we were, a group witnessing
to a different call of faith mingled in with people
wanting to separate Church and State. Since I was wearing
a clerical collar, I had to be careful which signs I
stood near. I could just see the photos, and though
the Governor has no sense of irony (meeting in a private
school after failing for the third time to fix public
schools), I do.
One
of the biggest fears the United States has in Iraq right
now is that we liberated them from Saddam Hussein only
to turn them into a Muslim theocracy much like neighboring
Iran. In fact, the greatest challenge we face in the
Middle East is how to respect Islam while encouraging
secular democracies.
Once
again proving our leadership is devoid of irony, we
are fighting this battle in the Middle East while fundamentalist
Christianity seeks to establish a theocracy in the United
States. Consider the major domestic issues that seem
to have gotten our government’s attention:
-
Gay Marriage - The ONLY argument
offered to granting special rights to heterosexual
taxpayers that are denied homosexual taxpayers is
a religious one. As a civil rights issue it is a no-brainer:
equal rights for all tax payers.
-
Terri Schiavo - Her autopsy revealed
that it was pure religious pandering that led the
federal government to interfere in this case. If she
had been a lesbian whose lover was seeking to keep
her alive do you think there would have been special
legislation passed in Congress and signed by the President?
-
Stem Cell Research - President Bush,
siding with the Catholic Church, threatens to veto
legislation passed by his own party. It isn’t
science or the good of the American people deciding
this issue; it is religious conservatives.
-
Selection of judges and the threat of ending
filibusters - The Religious Right claims
to have controlled the outcome of the last election,
and now they demand payback. So, the Senate last week
confirmed Judge William Pryor, whose homophobia in
Alabama made it clear that LGBT rights don’t
fit his religious agenda and this belief would take
precedence over the constitution.
As
someone who has spent most of his life trying to convince
people that their faith ought to govern their behavior
and their values, this encroaching Judeo-Christian theocracy
poses a real dilemma for me. Is it just that I don’t
want this particular right-wing brand of faith ruling
our country? Would I be okay if George W. Bush were
a liberal Jew who was fighting for civil liberties in
the name of his God?
It is a fair question that compels honest self-examination.
I hope the answer would be this: I want my elected officials
to obey the U.S. constitution and make their decisions
based on what is right and best for all citizens. Partisan
pandering, to any religious group, is dangerous. More
dangerous still, though, are churches that allow themselves
to become political pawns serving the agenda of any
politician or party. We who are people of faith must
stand for the rights of all, not just our own group.
The irony is that it sometimes leaves us standing under
strange signs. |
Lory
Masters