Word Of God Can’t Be Legislated

‘In America,” presidential candidate Alan Keyes says, “politics is founded on the solid foundation of God Almighty.”

Last weekend, I almost believed him.

In Washington, two separate groups held meetings, the National Prayer Breakfast and the Christian Coalition, proving the continued strength religion exerts in our public life.

The National Prayer Breakfast, held every year at the beginning of the new congressional session, is a broadly ecumenical, non-partisan, and non-political gathering of religious leaders. They meet to pray for the nation and discuss the role of religion in national life.

An overtly political group, the Christian Coalition held its annual meeting as training session, pep rally and presidential race preview for leaders of the 1.7 million member organization of conservative evangelicals and Catholics.

Keynote speakers illustrated the difference between the two events. Bill Clinton addressed the National Prayer Breakfast, and Pat Robertson, the Christian Coalition.

The two men - both Christians - commented on America’s moral crisis. Ironically, each pleaded for a return to traditional values of faith, family, education, and community.

That’s where the similarities end. No two men could disagree more.

Their speeches, however, belie the myth of a “culture war” between secular humanists and religious faith. The argument is not one of secularism versus religion. Rather, it is an argument between two versions of faith: the tension between mercy and justice.

As a faithful churchgoer, Clinton frequently speaks on the importance of religion in the public square. His religious vision is based on mercy. We are not all the same. Our diversity is a strength. By loving one another, together we can create a caring national community.

Speaking to the National Prayer Breakfast on the spirituality of personal responsibility and devotion to work, Clinton reiterated America’s twin commitments to faith and democracy. These broad values - not simple black and white solutions - will carry us into the future as we seek the best for our nation.

For Clinton, love is modeled by acceptance of difference.

Not far from the White House, Robertson and the Christian Coalition modeled the opposite impulse: toward justice. Although a few speakers reminded delegates of Christian love, from calls to criminalize the status of unwed mothers to reinstating sodomy laws, the atmosphere was charged with judgment.

For them, moral purity is the basis of American greatness. Having strayed from biblical precepts, warned Robertson, we stand condemned by God. Before Christ returns in judgment, America must repent and return to God’s (not the Christian Coalition’s) agenda.

Therefore, the nation must be purified of its sins.

For Robertson, love is modeled by obedience to God’s law. As I watched the weekend’s proceedings on C-SPAN, I felt increasingly frustrated over the tension. Mercy or justice? Ideally, I want a community with both.

In 1630, John Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts, told Puritan settlers, “There are two rules whereby we are to walk one towards another: justice and mercy … The only one way to avoid shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God.”

Idealistically, the Puritans attempted to create such a society. However, they erred on the side of justice, failing to temper its administration with mercy.

But dreams die hard. Winthrop’s words reechoed throughout history. Succeeding generations attempted to make America the community he envisioned - often vacillating between the two extremes.

However noble our attempts, the Bible teaches humility in such matters. Although people should seek both justice and mercy, we can’t create it by political means. “Mercy and justice will kiss each other” only in God’s kingdom.

I hope for a society where mercy and justice embrace. However, the dream is always elusive. We are prone to one extreme or the other. So until God’s kingdom comes, I’d rather err on the side of mercy - and remind Alan Keyes that politics is based on the not-so-solid foundation of human frailty.

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