As the holiday season reaches a crescendo, let’s take a moment in the midst of assembled families and celebrations of faith to evaluate what religion means to us and, moreover, what we mean to religion. As my brief bio states, “I am non-aligned ... I belong to no one party, religion, or ideology.” But, not ‘belonging’ doesn’t mean the trinity of head, heart and power doesn’t fascinate me, or that I don’t grant each their due respect. In fact, they are what I study every day. My doctoral research examines the effects of religious convictions on US foreign policy over the transom of presidential ideology. And, not ‘belonging’ allows me the advantage of indifference – my interpretations of the historical record and today’s events endure no predestination (sorry St. Augustine).
In the American experience, dominated by Christianity, three tenets emerged that inform much of our American identity. Individualism rose from the Protestant Reformation to grant the individual primacy over institutions. Rights became intrinsic to humans rather than bestowed by monarchs or churches. Perfectibility, or the belief that humans could make the world right in advance of a Second Coming gave us hope and a reason for the “pursuit of happiness.” And, exceptionalism rose from a belief first uttered by John Winthrop as his ship, the Arbella, approached the coast of modern-day Massachusetts, that “we shall be as a city upon a hill” – a chosen people in a promised land – the new Israel.
Each of these tenets has found expression in and out of the private, public, and political spheres. At times, they remain more or less dormant; at others, they seem prominent. They ebb and flow. Our American religious convictions remained away from the political sphere after they were shamed to the sidelines during the Scopes trial in 1925. They found new expression in the public sphere during the 1950s as a point of differentiation to ‘godless communism’ and as a center of socialization while the suburbanization of America got underway. Then, they entered the political sphere in the late 1950s and early 1960s, providing compelling arguments for civil rights and anti-war sentiments. By the late 1970s religion was completely ensconced in the political sphere providing a political whipping-post for casting social judgment and filling the coffers of televangelists. Finally, more recently, they have provided cover for the hubristic projection of power to remake the world in our own image.
These tenets can be both beneficial and/or dangerous depending on their application. They are double-edged swords. In their benign state – where each is pursued and expressed with both confidence and humility – they act separately and collectively to build stronger citizens and a cohesive, powerful, and compassionate nation. In the last thirty years or so, they have been twisted and torqued reaching a level of perversion that threatens the future of our country and those upon whom we project our power. Our individualism has morphed into narcissism, perfectibility into entitlement, and exceptionalism into hubris. Our national self-righteousness has been deluded by its first cousin – self-deception – producing a decade of deceit beyond the values of any religion, or the expectations of any god.
In this season of celebration and reflection allow me a personal appeal – my hope for you and America. May we set aside judgment in favor of service, choose reflection over projection, and turn our evangelical zeal inward – that we might be exemplars of our beliefs and convictions rather than agents of their demise. If we don’t take care of our head, heart, and power our souls may be lost forever.
Finally, I share with you something I wrote years ago. It seems to still make sense – maybe now more than ever.
Your Gift
We arrive in this world by circumstance and spend much of our life trying to reconcile the gift. We endure our struggles and ascribe our lot with the certainty of burden. Between the jubilation, pain and occasional humility we scrape a path that is ours, alone. In the seam of these struggles life offers brilliance; the warmth of late summer’s sun quenching our shoulders as we gaze across a horizon of promise; the magical touch of a child’s hand who clasps ours for comfort; the flash of a smile from a heart who loves ours, too. We are placed here by chance to express a life all our own. Tear away the wrapping … therein lies the gift.
Every morning offers beauty. Every day arrives as a clean slate, if we look past the indelible erasures. When the sky is dark, the wind unyielding and the news dire, there is reason to smile. We each possess the promise of greatness; to thrust our spirit into the light where our gift can shine. The choice is ours, in this moment and every moment that follows. Look into your own eyes and accept your gift. Draw those near who nourish your soul. Let others pass.
This season, take a morning walk in the silence of new-fallen snow; lift a child upon your knee and tell him/her a story about your grandfather; sit outside at night until the sky throws a star your way.
Listen.
Love.
Laugh.
Celebrate.
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