Wednesday, October 5, 2005 · no responses · comments closed

Chri Sumberg, in an essay called “The War on Common Sense” (published in Orion), writes, “why not begin by stating what we already know: The Good Book is not a conservative text. Neither is it a liberal text. It is a spiritual text; and as such it is — or should be — above the political fray.”

Though I doubt I agree with where Sumberg takes his thinking in the rest of his piece, this is worth pondering. The issue as I see it is that while the Bible itself may be outside politics, what believers do with its teachings is not. No one can claim that God is Democrat, Republican, or anything else — but His followers have to choose a party or candidate to vote for, and that choice should be informed by an understanding of Scripture.

The question for me is how to make those choices in a loving, life-giving, and consistent way. And related to this is the ability to articulate clearly the rationale for those choices — articulate clearly to non-believers or to believers with different understandings of Scripture. “Just because” is not an acceptable answer in the public arena. Consistency is key, and one that conservative Christians often seem to fail in. Here in Alabama, for instance, it was a challenge to explain why a tax plan that would have greatly benefited the poor was so strenuously opposed by those espousing pro-life views. There may have been very good reasons for opposing the tax plan, but those reasons were never articulated in a way that made sense as part of a bigger picture of faith and public policy. The question from some of my politically-left coworkers was reasonable: “how can someone claim to be pro-life and show so little concern for the poor?” It’s a fair question. Unfortunately, I don’t think its been answered here in Alabama.