Entry tags:

politics, religion

The terrors of the night
Since politics alone aren't controversial enough, here's a post on politics and religion.

Warning: The following doesn't have as much of a coherent argument as I'd like. Think of it more as a "What I'm thinking now, theologically and politically."

The past 48 hours have been a roller coaster of emotions. I've been feeling pretty bleak throughout this election season, and I didn't even allow myself to really hope that Kerry would be elected until yesterday. Early reports of voter turnout and exit polls raised my hopes. The returns of the evening dashed them. I woke up feeling grim. I was furious when I heard of Kerry's concession until a wee rational voice reminded me that the Kerry campaign probably had access to numbers in Ohio that I wasn't seeing yet. And on my friends list and my friendsfriends list, I've seen just about everything. Despair. Rage. And from the less common Bush supporters, mostly defensiveness.

I'm glad those Bush supporters spoke up, because they put a face on the people who voted this president into a second term. It's harder to demonize people when they have faces. It's harder to demonize people when you've had the benefit of their friendship and wisdom over the year. And frankly, I can think of few things more important than listening to people who voted for the other side. How else will you learn to understand what they're looking for in a candidate? And yes, perhaps some of them are seeking something in their candidate that you cannot support on an ideological basis. But it's also quite possible that the good people on the other side are looking for something that your losing candidate of choice should have (and failed to or failed to communicate that he/she) offered. We need to listen.

I used part of my lunch break to catch up on some reading in the Christian blogosphere. Most of the Christian blogs that I follow are not on LJ, so it's easier for me to fall behind on them. They represent a fairly wide range of political and theological views. I found a great post on the blog of Telford Work (a blog that I originally discovered through max_power2's Up, lummox!). In his October 25 post, he discusses his decision to vote for W. Obviously, I came to a different decision for my own vote, but what I respect is his decision process. This is not a man who was brainwashed by the Karl Rove spin machine. This is a thoughtful believer who considered his options prayerfully and made what he considered to be the best possible choice.

I think it's quite possible that many evangelicals did not vote with this thoughtfulness, but we do that segment of the American populace a great disservice when we view them as an utterly homogeneous group rather than as group of individuals.

I was still thinking about this post and the role of the evangelical population in this election when I left work to meet a high school acquaintance for dinner. We go to the same church in Boston, and after our dinner we went over to a special midweek worship service being held by my church. This had absolutely nothing to do with the election; it was not mentioned once by anyone there--not at the pulpit and not in the congregation. This was a relief. This was not a Sunday worship service on Wednesday: tonight's gathering was intended to be a time of prayer and praise. There was a lot of singing. And during the singing and prayer I started thinking about the election again.

I began to consider something Tavis Smiley mentioned during the ABC election night broadcast. He suggested that the American people voted their fears, not their hopes, during this election. They voted for Bush because they were afraid of terrorism and worried about the war in Iraq, and they concluded (however wrongfully or rightfully) that Bush should be better at dealing with it. The exit polls are pretty clear on this. Other people voted their fears about the state of the economy. Most of these voters, though not all, went to Kerry. Again, the exit polls are pretty clear on this.

There there are those Americans voted on other kinds of fears--the ones that we're less likely to admit that we have. They voted their fears of people who are different, whether in sexual orientation, religious background, race, or class. They voted their fears of change. I'll certainly admit that homophobia is alive and well in the Christian church. There are some otherwise wonderful people in my church--the sort of people who would go way beyond the call of friendship to help me out in most any situation--who are simply homophobic. What they say about gays and lesbians makes it pretty clear that their opinions on those people are not purely driven by theological concerns: they don't like them, and they're scared of them. I'm by no means wanting to suggest that all or even most Bush voters (or evangelical voters) were driven by such fears. But it was certainly a factor for some. What fraction? I suppose that's a number we'll never have.

I don't think it's wrong to vote in response to genuine concerns/fears that one has about the state of the country or the world. My fears about the economy, about America's foreign policy, about my civil liberties--all these were behind my vote for Kerry, a candidate about whom I was generally lukewarm.

Anyway, I was thinking about this as I prayed. And I began to pray for our country, for the voters who are so angry and disillusioned right now, for the people who can only dole out blame and hate and gloating at a moment when we need to move forward (whether to organize or to compromise or whatever). It occurred to me how very un-Christian it is to vote in response to those darker fears. Shouldn't our faith give us the strength not to be ruled by that sort of terror (the domestic culture of terror or the terror that threatens us from abroad)? Perhaps this was the message that Kerry supporters needed to (and failed to) give evangelicals this election cycle. Fear not. Don't trust those who tell you to be afraid (of people with brown skin, or people with unconventional lifestyles). Especially don't trust those who tell you to be afraid in God's name. God's message has always been, "Fear not. I am here. Trust me." Not "Trust the Republican Party." And for that matter, not "Trust the Democratic Party."

And maybe "Fear not" has to be God's message to disappointed Kerry supporters today. We can't vote our hatred and fear of Those Midwest/Bible-Belt Evangelicals (can't you hear the capital letters?) in 2006 or 2008 just because they are (gasp!) different from us. That's not going fix things here. We can't ask them to understand our voting decisions, if we're not willing to extend them the same courtesy.

Don't misunderstand me--I still wish Kerry had won. And I still feel that my fellow evangelicals need to answer for participating in the politics of fear and hate. But this disappointed political progressive evangelical Christian woman on November 3, 2004 is tired of being afraid. I didn't vote for Bush in part because I feel he's tried to use America's fear for his own partisan purposes. I'm not going to let him use my fear of him for his own political gains now. I'm not going to let my fear of a second Bush presidency turn into angry words that drive yesterday's Bush supporters deeper into the arms of the those clever hate-mongers that make up certain parts of the Republican Party's leadership.

There's work to be done--tomorrow, next month, in 2006, in 2008, for the rest of this already unlucky century. I'm still not always clear on how a believer should participate in the world of politics. But I am pretty clear on at least one way a believer should not.

Psalm 91 is my emergency section of scripture. That is, it is one of the first places I turn when I'm seeking wisdom or comfort in the Bible. It goes as follows:

You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
   who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,* 
will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress;
   my God, in whom I trust.’ 
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
   and from the deadly pestilence; 
he will cover you with his pinions,
   and under his wings you will find refuge;
   his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. 
You will not fear the terror of the night,
   or the arrow that flies by day, 
or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
   or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side,
   ten thousand at your right hand,
   but it will not come near you. 
You will only look with your eyes
   and see the punishment of the wicked.

Because you have made the LORD your refuge,*
   the Most High your dwelling-place, 
no evil shall befall you,
   no scourge come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways. 
On their hands they will bear you up,
   so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. 
You will tread on the lion and the adder,
   the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

Those who love me, I will deliver;
   I will protect those who know my name. 
When they call to me, I will answer them;
   I will be with them in trouble,
   I will rescue them and honour them. 
With long life I will satisfy them,
   and show them my salvation.

Amen. I don't have faith in our newly re-elected president, but I have faith in a much higher power. I'm going to try not to forget that as much as I have over the past 48 hours.