Let's Leave God Out Of It
Just until after the first Tuesday in November
I know we can't, but hear me out, for October, why don't we encourage both candidates for President of the United States not to talk about God or faith or anything at all for that matter. I mention this not because I've suddenly gone crazy, but because the New York Times thinks it would be really great if Kamala Harris talked more about religion and spirituality, and honestly, I'm really hoping she just won't.
Wandering around the NYTimes,
"The vice president was raised in an interfaith household, and she grew up going to both a Black Baptist church and a Hindu temple. She is married to an observant Jewish man. Though her faith is not something she discusses frequently, she has a lifelong, seemingly profound connection to religion.
I don't want to be mean or anything, but the word "seemingly" there kind of feels like a wrecking ball. Either you have a "profound connection to religion"--whatever that even means--or you don't.
Anyway, according to Jessica Grose, author of this fascinating venture into the realm of the Unseen,
She spoke movingly to the National Baptist Convention in 2022 about attending 23rd Avenue Church of God in Oakland, Calif. In that speech, she directly connected her administration's policy positions--on health care, the child tax credit and civil rights--to her faith.
Hang on a minute. Is the New York Times trying to patch things up because Ms. Harris isn't planning to go to the Catholic Charity Event that every presidential candidate has attended since Walter Mondale lost back in the 80s? Or is this just out of the pure love of all things Jesus that they happened to be bent on lyricising how "health care" can be a matter of personal "faith." I feel like that's the sort of thing that happens when you think that "faith" isn't a matter of truth, of bending your will and desires to the God of the Universe, but is more like making sure you get all your flourishing in before the end of the work week.
According to Grose, Ms. Harris feels "the church" has "a role to play" in "cutting down on health care debt" and getting "prescription drug prices under control." But also "so does the government. Because we all here know God calls on us--God calls on us to help heal the sick." I'm just so curious what "the church" might do to help with these particular troubles that Americans have. Should we take up a collection and give it to the government? Maybe it could be some kind of special partnership where the government tells the church how much money they need and then the church just ponies up. I'm sure the government would then love to hear from the church about some things.
Or rather, it could just be a matter of trying to get everyone to vote for the proper candidate:
In such a close election year, with an opponent who does not appear to have sincere religious convictions of his own, I see an opportunity for Harris to reclaim faith for Democrats. Because of her unique background, I think Harris could talk about her own faith without alienating the big voting bloc of nonreligious Democrats.
Grose goes on to talk about the deep faith of President Biden, and pulls out Ryan Burge's thing about Republicans being so good at Christian branding--at least in former times--and then explains how Mr. Trump is so bad on matters of faith. He "has no consistent record of church attendance as an adult," he also "gets Bible verses wrong," and then, she says, "whatever vision of religion he seems to have is based on vengeance." Also, he has changed "religious affiliations" "while in office" because at first he was a Presbyterian and then later he "identified as a nondenominational Christian." After this, she trots out The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, to say that Christians like Trump because he more fully empowers them to fight the culture war. Then she quotes Trump who said one time, "I love you, Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, you got to get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again."
The piece saws on and on explaining how hateful Mr. Trump is, what percentage of Democrats and independents think that "Trump is a person of faith" and then giving a lot of advice about what Harris could do "to show how some conservatives are using religion to divide rather than unite.” “She could,” explains Grose, "talk about how they're trying to dismantle the separation of church and state in Oklahoma public schools, and about the far-right Christian movement to restrict I.V.F. and contraception." One person, a professor at Harvard Divinity School, explains that "Harris's public expressions of faith" are about her "acknowledging that faith is a kind of universal category," and that "her self-characterization as a 'joyful warrior' seems to be part of her Christian identity."
What is most special and important about Ms. Harris, for the writer of this piece, is "the way Harris has been able to articulate her support for reproductive rights within a faith tradition." "Extremists" are always trying to "take away the freedom of women to make decisions about their own bodies," but fortunately, "faith leaders are taking a stand, knowing one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held religious beliefs to agree that a woman should have the ability to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do." Ms. Harris won't be "accused of hypocrisy" for talking so much about "reproductive rights" along with faith because "Black Protestants are far more supportive of abortion rights than white Protestants."
Time forbids me from getting through the rest of teh article, or going on to speculate about what deep Lutheran faith Mr. Walz has, apparently, according to Ms. Grose. I find that an odd speculation given that he is so committed to making it possible for minors to get away from their parents to undergo life-altering medical procedures that are increasingly controversial. I would just like to make a couple of obvious points.
First, just to point out the obvious, God does exist. Though everyone might use him as a support for their political aspirations, he actually has his own thoughts and feelings and cannot be molded into one political party or another.
Second, I hate to disappoint anyone, least of all any writer at America’s Paper of Record, but the way in which Jessica Grose perceives the clownish faith efforts of Mr. Trump to be so useless is exactly the way that I, an actual Christian, view Ms. Harris’ attempts to leverage her interfaith childhood to persuade beleaguered voters to vote for more abortion.
Third, I have already said this a couple of times this year, but I hate having two candidates arguing over exactly how many babies are acceptable to die. Speaking of hatefulness, any political party that spends any time arguing over the death of infants has discredited itself, at least as far as I am concerned, entirely.
Fourth, I am so deeply comforted, I cannot even begin to put words to it, by the daily lections in Morning Prayer. You don’t have to be Anglican—you can be whatever type of Christian you like best—but you should still find a daily Bible reading plan that also incorporates collects, canticles, prayers, and a confession. If you’re not up for the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, which is the height and measure of, what was it called? “expressions of faith,” you can perfectly well check out the 2019 book. Yesterday we got to Zechariah telling us about Wickedness (a woman in his vision) being taken to Hell in a Handbasket. And the thing that comforted me is that God is not constrained by our ideological priorities. He keeps his own council. He chooses his own pronouns. He is not anxious about who will win in November.
So that’s all to the good. And now I have to go to a church that has more important and pressing things to think about than how to lower the cost of prescription drugs for a government program that can’t think its way out of a political or spiritual paper bag. There I will putter around washing coffee cups, dusting Sunday school material, and fussing over the bulletin—for the real church administrator, who holds all the ecclesiastical world together by the relentless click of her mouse, sometimes does need a holiday. All these small, inconsequential matters have to do with eternity, with the Kingdom of Heaven, with the love of a God who can actually be known by showing just the slightest bit of interest in who he is instead of trying to make some kind of political statement.
Have a nice day!
Reproductive healthcare indeed. I counsel with a woman who has had two abortions. She longs to see those babies. She knows there was no healthcare involved. Thankfully she has repented, is repenting all the time and loves Jesus and cherishes her living children. Pray for K.
Best line of the day, “ I don't want to be mean or anything, but the word "seemingly" there kind of feels like a wrecking ball.” Of course, there’s only one “faith tradition,” in the interfaith family that the author is really wanting Harris to highlight. She most certainly doesn’t want Harris to get out there and talk about “right action,” which is the Hindu notion of desirelesness or “action without desire for fruit of the action,” or expounding on the finer points of the Caste system and how folks must stay within the Caste into which they were born. Of course, the article is simply saying that Harris needs to continue to say utterly meaningless things about the importance of her faith, but I’m not entirely certain who she thinks this will appeal to. It’s all just so much white noise.