Faith, Politics Can Change One Another

OK, I give up!

A number of people have asked me to say something about the D.C. soap opera, “Impeachment on the Potomac.” There isn’t a whole lot to say that hasn’t been said.

But after the political dust has settled a little, I’ve noticed a few columns looking at this National Sadness from behind a phoropter of faith. That’s what I use to evaluate matters like this, too.

But the adjustments on my phoropter give me a little different view of things.

You remember what a phoropter is, don’t you? It’s the instrument that lets an eye doctor change the prescription for each of your eyes by the click of a dial.

Partway through the exam, you’re sure that both eyes see totally different things. At exam’s end, however, the doc gets both working together, even if one eye is considerably weaker than the other.

A faith phoropter works much the same way. Looking only with the left eye can give a very different view than looking only with the right eye. The problem with using just one eye is that there is always more truth to see than you are able to perceive at any one time.

In philosophical terms, what my metaphor attempts to describe is “dualism.” By definition, dualism sets up irreconcilable competition between ideas of reality.

So why isn’t dualism spelled “duelism”? That spelling more accurately reflects an either-or tension that, by definition, must result in a winner and a loser.

As a pastor, maybe I should rephrase the traditional marriage vows so people can profess their love in sickness/health, wealth/poverty, until “duelism do us part.” Dualistic thinking promotes a kind of death - the death of courageous loving, of unfettered imagination, of tenacity, of compassionate understanding, of reconciliation’s promise.

So what does all of this have to do with the impeachment? Perhaps a little, perhaps a lot.

When we draw our own conclusions about the multilayered drama our country is agonizing through, we are often prone to indulge in dualistic thinking, particularly when we try to understand how God could be invoked by all sides of the debate as being only on one side, “our side.”

One recent column on this matter seemed to look through one lens of the phoropter, the one that says religion and politics should never mix. In my perception, the writer’s oversimplification of politics’ impact on religous faith failed to acknowledge that a mutual impact is also possible.

It is true that political embellishment of faith’s role in the impeachment drama can often poison both politics and faith matters. But let us not allow that embellishment to deny the possibility of healthy interplay between religion and politics.

Can’t faith positively influence politics? You bet! Can politics positively influence faith? Certainly!

The separation of church and state has historically meant to prevent the establishment of a state-sponsored religious expression. And rightly so.

But when we look at that doctrine through only one lens of the faith phoropter, let’s be careful! We may wrongly assume an unbridgeable gap between faith words and faithful actions in political settings.

Politicians must focus their attention on the nuts and bolts of governing. But how they do that work is a direct expression of their spiritual underpinnings and spiritual growth, or lack thereof.

That recent column said, “God’s work is bigger than, and separate from, roads, sewers and Social Security.” Through one eye that may be true. But another credible eye of faith affirms that nothing is too small to be dismissed by God.

(I like to think that sometimes it is God, not the devil, who is “in the details.”)

Together, both eyes can create a vision where faith and politics work together to create a transformed political arena. Here, every political detail is held up to high-minded faith standards.

And every faith standard is held up to whether it works for the welfare of all people regardless of their politics or religion.

“Impeachment on the Potomac” has shown a shadow side of the relationship between faith and politics. But I know there have been less publicized examples of that relationship at its finest.

Let’s open both eyes to see and celebrate where faith and politics can transform each other.

While we’re at it, let’s challenge our representatives and senators to do the same!