Walking? Or Just Talking?

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http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/19089/

 

Walking? Or Just Talking?

 

By Molly Ivins, AlterNet

Posted on June 29, 2004,

 

http://www.alternet.org/story/19089/

 

AUSTIN, Texas -- When it comes to religion, I've always believed it's more

important to walk the walk than to talk the talk. I come from a tradition

(Episcopal) that considers it rather in bad taste to wear your religion on your

sleeve, presumably from Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 5 and 6:

 

" And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love

to pray standing in synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may

be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

 

 

" But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy

door, pray to thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in

secret shall reward thee openly. "

 

 

Of course, I also had some Baptist input and so am fond of making a joyful noise

unto the Lord. Texans even like to sing hymns around campfires while drinking

beer -- I'm not sure if that counts.

 

I long ago learned to shy away from the stink of sanctimony. We are all familiar

with pietistic hypocrites and spiritual humbugs wearing dog collars. I doubt the

clergy is more afflicted with canting Pharisees than the legal profession is

with sleazy chiselers, but neither type is exactly rare.

 

When you throw politics into the religious mix, or vice versa, you get some real

beauts in the hypocrisy department. Just to take a recent example, Jack Ryan of

Illinois, the one who had to drop his campaign for the Senate after his divorce

papers revealed he had forced his wife to go to sex clubs with him, was one of

the " family values " crowd who opposes gay marriage because it's such a threat to

the institution. Please. And although Bill Clinton was too polite to mention it

in his book, quite a remarkable number of Republican leaders who were hell-bent

on impeaching him for his folly were themselves adulterers.

 

Back in the 1950s, when the late Rep. Bob Eckhardt was still in the Texas

Legislature, a bill to cut off all state aid to illegitimate children was under

debate. After listening to some of his " Christian " colleagues explain why

illegitimate children should be left to starve, Eckhardt rose and said, " I am

not so much concerned about the natural bastards as I am about the self-made

ones. " I consider that one of the most Christian things I've ever heard said

during legislative debate.

 

I sometimes think we've gotten ourselves into a pointless argument in this

country, as we rather often do, by exaggerating the extremes. We are not faced

with a choice between imposing some Christian version of Sharia law on the one

hand, or " driving religion out of the public square " altogether on the other.

 

Two hundred years of not terribly rigid separation of church and state has given

us one precious gift. As a quote attributed to James Madison (never been able to

find the correct citation on it) put it, " The purpose of separation of church

and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has

soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries. " Religious strife is still

soaking the soil with blood, isn't it, in Kosovo and elsewhere.

 

To the extent that politics should be based on moral and ethical considerations,

of course it has religious foundations. But dragging God into partisan politics

is, in my view, a sin.

 

Is it Christian to cut money for Head Start? Is it Christian to cut poor

children off health care? Is it Christian to cut old people off Medicare? Is it

Christian to write memos justifying torture? Is it Christian to cut

after-school, nutrition and AIDS programs so multimillionaires can have bigger

tax cuts?

 

Historically, the Bible has been used to justify some stupefying crimes,

including slavery and genocide. I see no indication we are any better at

divining the Lord's intent now than we ever were.

 

As regular readers know, I call upon the Lord rather frequently myself, often

for patience in dealing with those who presume to speak in His name. To whatever

extent each of us is affected by religion, I suppose we inevitably bring that

into the public sphere. But I seriously question the wisdom of doing so in any

organized or deliberate fashion. Drag God into politics, and you'll ruin His

reputation in no time.

 

Again, this may be a matter of taste, but I have seen too many Psalm-singing,

Bible quoting, Holy Joe hypocrites in politics to think these frauds improve the

moral tone of our public life. Getting snookered by some canting humbug is even

more depressing than getting snookered by a plain old crook.

 

Beware those who make a show or a parade of their piety: Keep watching for the

ones who walk the walk.

© 2004 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

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