Easter
As we observe Easter Sunday, I pause to reflect at the intersection of faith, religion and government.
Mass on Sunday, Catechism, sacraments and years as an altar boy at St. Anthony’s have formed my Catholic foundation. As an altar boy I worried about tripping in front of Monsignor Cowgill as I carried the cross towards the altar. Twenty-five years later, watching the cinematic remake of Jesus’ agonizing journey carrying the cross from Pilate to Golgotha, reminded me of how blessed I was to have those worries.
But as a practicing Catholic, the challenge of maintaining a proper separation between my religion and government is getting more and more difficult. And it’s not just my religion.
Many are using biblical interpretations as a tool for chipping away at the wall between church and state. This because the religious right believes government has a role in determining what is religiously right. Fortunately they couldn’t be farther from the truth both biblically and constitutionally.
Religion’s place in government has been misconstrued for over two hundred years.
History records the framers of the constitution as men of great faith. Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “I believe in one God, creator of the universe”. Thomas Jefferson authored an edited version of the gospels, highlighting the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus. But even so, the founding fathers did all they could to enshrine a firewall between religion and government.
James Madison, the chief architect of the constitution stated religion is “not within the cognizance of civil government”. Franklin penned, “I have ever let others enjoy their religious sentiments, I hope to go out of the world in peace with all of them”. The founding fathers agreed that the freedom to practice religion was as important as the freedom not to practice religion. Hence, the word God does not appear in the constitution.
In 1960, when the concern about Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy was his Catholicism and its possible influence on government policies, Kennedy issued an impassioned response. “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute—where no Catholic prelate would tell the President how to act, where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope or any other ecclesiastical source”.
Four decades later, an edict from the Vatican on “Catholics in Public Life” has called for a crackdown on Catholic politicians who support laws that are not in harmony with official church teaching. This comes at a time when polls show Americans are increasingly polarized and the new wedge issue appears to be public policies driven by religious pretext.
However, scriptures are often used out of context for the purpose of proving social prejudices. Misapplied biblical passages often fuel arguments for changes to public policy that infringe upon personal rights and protections for all. These divisive propositions are aided by politicians pandering to a small ideological base in hopes of securing votes while drawing attention away from their other more serious policy failures.
I have faith we can rise above the conflicts.
The Rt. Reverend Steven Charleston offers guidance in Good News: A Congregational Resource for Reconciliation. According to Charleston, the three signposts on the path to peace are found in the gospel of Jesus Christ: justice, compassion and reconciliation. These are virtually the same three values that the architects of the constitution sought to embody in the first amendment: liberty, equality and toleration.
Can you enjoy liberty without justice? The two are basically synonymous. Can we look upon another as an equal without feeling compassion? I don’t believe so. Is reconciliation an aid to toleration? I believe so. The fact is discipleship and citizenship alike calls us to be in relationship with one another. As Christians we are called to love, as Americans we are called to mutual respect. The solution rests in respecting the values of the bible and the boundaries of the constitution.
On this Easter Sunday as Christians reflect on the resurrection of Christ into heaven, the challenge remains before us: providing a government that respects all faiths until he returns.