Planet Waves | May 20, 2005 We talk in worried tones about the pending civil war in Iraq ... but what about the one we're having right here in America -- in our families, in our churches, in our workplace. It's a struggle between religion and spirituality, between belief systems, between the "Letter of the Law" and the "Spirit of the Law." Religion is so deeply personal to all of us, it's no wonder we are at odds, all of us -- that is ALSO the reason it has no place in our government. You knew we'd have to get around to religion eventually. Sadly, we can't talk politics without discussing it ... we've let the Founders carefully-placed division between church and state crumble and now we've got a mess on our hands. The problem with that is that having a conversation with fundamentalist legislators throws a mixed non-political message ... no matter how often they tell those of us who don't worship as they do that we're "out of touch with what the public wants," they're kidding themselves. A good many of us don't speak the same language or have the same intention -- and we're never going to. At least under democratic process, we were all on the same page. The only people who seem to be on the same page these days are the Religious Right and the Islamic Right -- they're both ... doncha know ... "right." I was raised a Baptist, and was devoted up until my fifteenth year. There came a point when I discovered all the wonderful expressions of wisdom outside of my own religion and noticed that my church experience seemed to be less about that and more about micro-managing my thought process. As I began to explore those other sources of wisdom, I hit the big Fear Wall with my family and friends ... all those sources might be just fine to play with, they warned, but they weren't "right." There was only One Way to "right" -- and if I didn't tow that line, God would -- sadly, I suppose -- cut me out of His will. I'd cut my teeth on the notion that God loved me, that had always seemed pretty unconditional to me. That's what I took with me when I left the church ... that and all the questions that a careful study of Biblical scripture provoked. Religion, I decided, had too many rules and not enough answers. Jesus was the prototype "rule breaker" ... I mean, they strung him up for it -- I figured if he could leave the "traditional church," so could I. I began to look for a larger concept of the God who loved me. My journey took me to the discovery that God IS Love ... and so are we ALL. [Light Bulb!!!] It was at that point that I went "spiritual" ... and there was no turning back. "Spirituality is to religion as justice is to law," said Richard Gross. Ahhhh ... nuance, everywhere you look. I had to scratch my head when the polls started playing the Religion card during the election -- how many were church members, how many were "secular." Scuuuuuze ME -- who said it was "either/or?" I don't attend a specific church and I don't consider myself secular. And I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a member of the "Godless Left." I DO have permission from the Power I believe in to think for myself, though ... and I can't imagine a God that wouldn't expect that of me. You're on a spiritual path, of course, and thinking for yourself, if you're reading this. Astrology is NOT approved by the conservative Christian church, but it's a definite stop on the path to discovery. Astrology is the art of interpreting energies and phases of experience. I've always thought that was one of the perks -- to understand how transitory everything is, how things progress, how new options open as old ones close. It's not difficult to recognize some Grand Design in how the stars move and the energy shifts -- nothing about that seems random to me. Or ... you might conclude it entirely random, in your philosophy. That's the expansiveness of the spiritual path ... we are individually informed as we move along, exploring ourselves and our world. On that path, you don't NEED to be "right" ... it's a journey, not a destination. There are a lot of religious people out there who are spiritual, as well -- I've appreciated hearing from some of them lately. We might not agree on every "jot and tittle," but I respect their insights. I've posted some of their voices, below. "Religion is a set of social and political institutions, and spirituality is a private pursuit which may or may not take place in a church setting," proposes D. Patrick Miller. For me, spiritual practice is the experience of the Divine, with or without the formal context. I just think of it as ... life. It would appear that being religious [and we're talking about Christianity, here, because that is the driving force behind our political conversation in this nation] does not necessarily mean one will come to spirituality -- for instance, I doubt that you would hear two spiritual people having a serious discussion that starts out, "What would Jesus bomb?" There are many mainstream Christians who find that whole concept a betrayal of their belief system -- they are attempting to live their religion and they do not find that this current politicized version of Christianity contains the message of the Christ. For awhile, they only said, "George Bush doesn't speak for me." Now, they're beginning to speak for what they do believe ... and it's past time we heard from this mainstream majority. They are, mostly, too well-mannered to Shout ... but they're raising their voices now. The nation needs to hear them before we all believe that God is the willing captive of one religious sect. A number of our Founding Fathers were Deists ... they believed that God had started the whole thing off with a bang but wasn't interested in the outcome. Very few of them had a good opinion of religion. This may be what prompted George Washington to state that, "The United States of America should have a foundation free from the influence of clergy." The Constitution reflects that agreement between them in it's declaration that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." So, no laws have been made, granted -- but the amount of deference to fundamentalist Christianity in this country has been stunning. The day that George Bush linked the words "terrorism" and "crusade" together we all knew where we were going ... and how it would play. We're in a holy war now against "evil" ... but the interpretation of "evil" is fluid, these days. For instance, Iran is, but Uzbeckistan isn't. Selective sight, in Bushworld. That's the problem with open-ended concepts like "good" and "evil" ... who decides? In the hands of a president, I'd like to see a LOT of humility to go with that power ... but, well... sigh. And there's no doubt that for at least a portion of our population, "Onward Christian Soldiers" is playing in the background, while once again the church asserts that the Judeo/Christian God is better than those other One's, whoever they might be -- and in THIS century, we've got the bombs to prove "might makes right." Except of course, it doesn't ... you don't "war for peace;" mutually exclusive concepts. And so slowly it dawns on us that peace may not be the intention ... and that's where the Bush administration does it's professed religion a disservice -- Christianity suffers a big, global black eye in his hands. We've seen a lot of "smiting" in the tradition of an Old Testament Yahwe throwing thunderbolts, but how do we reconcile the actions of this government to the New Testament declaration that Jesus is the "Prince of Peace?" If by the very tenents of the Christian faith, Christ is the messenger for a new dispensation of the Law of Love ... and the political machine of the moment is completely and unequivocally "Christian" -- why are people dying from war and disease and famine while we do nothing to stop it and often, much to promote it? Why are the poor and underprivileged denied opportunity and decent wages? Why is child welfare funding constantly shrinking? Why are unfair business practices allowed to touch the lives of every one of us, here and abroad? Why is our earth being polluted and spoiled to fill the pockets of a few? Why are people being tortured and humiliated at our hands? Why do we continue to support dictatorships and nations that deny their own people civil liberties? It seems to me our government was a lot more "moral" before it got religion. It's failings were legion ... but not by design. Tolerance of our diverse backgrounds and beliefs, and the rule of law that denied the government body a religious preference, gave us a feel for the whole of humanity, not just the "special ones." Being "special" means that the guy who doesn't join you in your specialness, ain't. No matter how you rationalize it, being "special" is too great an ego-seduction for a mere mortal ... that is why the great religions always pound away at the practice of humility and charity and service and gentleness. Of all the "tests of power," the spiritual is the most fraught with peril. I feel sorry for the Democrats these days -- their job is a lot like dealing with the folks who show up at your door on a Saturday morning when you're in your bathrobe and want to tell you their version of the "good news." I'm always interested in good news, of course -- but ... you know ... you just can't have any kind of conversation with people who are sure they're "righter" than you can ever hope to be. When there's only one version of "right" available, you just end up having to shut the door in their face. And that's the tone that has stopped our legislative process cold. "Ethical existence [is] the highest manifestation of spirituality," said Albert Schweitzer. It may indeed be time for each of us to discover what we believe, to hash that out with the people we know and love, to go to the next level of our religious and spiritual understanding. But that should never have been allowed to spill over into our government process. The Founders were correct in their initial assessment -- democracy does not do well under religious inclination ... it may in fact cease to BE democracy. I think, if we're looking for ethical politics, we'll need to leave this religious experience we've been having behind. We need to slam the door on what tries to divide us in the name of God. Peace ~ Jude God's Own Party? Jim Wallis http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/051205H.shtml News is a commodity to be produced at full speed Sister Joan Chittister, OSB http://nationalcatholicreporter.org/fwis/fw051905.htm College ad to protest Bush visit http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050516-103313-9190r.htm Putting Bush's religious crusade against terrorism into historical context -- BuzzFlash interview: James Carroll http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=19076 Eric Francis is on holiday. Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is standing in for his daily blog this week. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/