Religion and Politics

As part of the Fortnight, our Deanery had a Red Mass yesterday at Christ the Teacher Newman Center.  It was appropriate to have this Mass on the Memorial of St. Thomas Moore, but also at a Newman Center.  It is hard to miss the ongoing debate about religion in the political realm, and in the public square.  A question that continues to raise its head is the place of religion in so called political issues.  But, considering topics like abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, and poverty; are these political or moral issues?

It would seem obvious that issues concerning life, and the quality of life, have definitive moral and ethical overtones.  With that being said, social justice would insist that we implore our legislators to enact laws and policies that uphold life, and defend the poor and marginalized.  Of course this is where things become intertwined.  In a perfect world we would work together to respond to the needs and concerns of everyone around us.  But in our broken world we do things that are most expedient for the present moment.

At an lecture at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., Archbishop Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Philadelphia, spoke about religion and religious liberty.  At one point he spoke about the perception of 'Man' as he is conceived in our Bill of Rights, and the Constitution.  Chaput pointed out, "Man is first and fundamentally a religious being with intrinsic worth, a free will and inalienable rights. He is created in the 
image of God, by God and for God. Because we are born for God, we belong to God. And
any claims that Caesar may make on us, while important, are secondary."  It would seem that when Chaput speaks about religious, he is speaking less about an institution and more about a philosophy or even a theology of being.

The waters get muddied when we try to insist on a relationship between religion and politics as an 'either or,' as opposed to a 'both, and.'  To be sure we have witnessed devastation and horror in places where the religion and the government are one.  But shouldn't what we legislate be responsible to certain morals and ethical principles.  More so, it would seem that since men and women are orientated towards a belief system which transcends the here and now, that the government should be respectful of those beliefs and mores.  The prohibition of the establishment of religion have nothing to do with religion influencing our social or culture, but rather holding one religion up as the true religion.

There is a slippery slope which begins with the paring away of the essence of any groups beliefs or values.  I am reminded of a science fiction novel from many years ago, THX 1138.  There was a state religion which looked sort of like a combination of world religions.  People worshiped a program.  Because we perceive religion as a peripheral rather than part of his essence, as a culture we gladly take parts of it away.  We need to understand and appreciate the intersection of religion and politics, as being complimentary to our world and not against it.