When it comes to providing solutions to particular political dilemmas, there is always room for disagreement among honest and sincere Christians, and everyone else involved for that matter. Thus, the short answer to my question is no, there is not one, distinctively Christian response to the current debate about the debt ceiling. There are, however, fundamental principles at the root of the question, and the way in which one defines those principles will highlight the options available in distinctive ways. On this point, I would argue that there are certain core principles that Christians are to consider when formulating a response to the current issue.I have a hard time understanding why the so-called secular left understands this basic Christian tradition better than the so-called Christian right. Maybe it is because the evangelical Christians tend to emphasize individual salvation more than traditional Christians (and also distrust Catholics)? But the Europeans have long put this into action with their Christian Democratic Parties. I don't quite get why evangelicals swallow so easily the libertarian parts of Tea Party orthodoxy.
Drawing upon modern Catholic social thought and the work of Thomas Aquinas’ political thinking, the goal of law and political authority is to serve, enhance, and protect the common good of society (see, for example, Summa Theologiae I-II Q. 90). It is perhaps ironic – or tragic – that the common good is the one element that seems to be missing from the current national debate. This seems to be due to the fact that the ideology that holds the most momentum right now in our political system – and hence that controls the terms of our debate – is the far-right ideology represented most vocally by the tea-party movement (but engaged by others as well). This ideology, rather than upholding the common good as the end and goal of government and law, sees government as the very source of the problem. Therefore, those who propound this ideology are seizing upon this moment of debate over government spending, taxation and revenue creation, and the debt ceiling as an opportunity to starve government at its source by cutting off its supply of money. Some of the more extreme elements seem entirely willing to let the whole system come to a crashing halt rather than think about long-term solutions that seek to protect the common good of all involved.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Religion And Government
Thomas Bushlack looks at the debt ceiling fight and Christian tradition:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The "secular left" understands "Christianity" better than most Christians for a very simple reason--they actually read the documents. If you are a Christian, why would you ever examine the roots of what Christians believe?
ReplyDeleteSo when Christians are asked about teachings like the Sermon on the Mount, the results look like a bad version of Jaywalking. My favorite since I was raised in a Lutheran parsonage, is to ask Lutherans if they remember the difference between Justification and Sanctification. This is especially hilarious if you ask someone who thinks highly of his own intelligence.
I also would guess that the individualism claim is mainly a cover for greed, which the person realizes doesn't match up to the Gospels.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't familiar with the Lutheran definitions of Justification and Sanctification. In my Catholic upbringing, I heard all about good works, and Catholic social teaching generally fits in with Jesus and the Gospels. When evangelical folks would break out salvation through faith alone, I couldn't understand how one could have Christian faith without acting Christian.
I take it that Sanctification is the explanation of how the Spirit acts through Christians, since we are all terrible sinners undeserving of God. Thus, Christians do good work because Jesus is sending the Spirit to cause them to act as he would. You can clarify that if I am misunderstanding.
If I remember correctly, Justification is the final act of God's forgiveness when the slate gets wiped clean and it is "just as if I had never committed the sin in the first place." Sanctification is that state of grace one reaches where what you do is as if God's invisible guiding hand works even when we don't think about it.
ReplyDeleteOr not. It was a long time ago that I learned this. The point I was trying to make is that MOST folks have NO idea what their religion teaches. Don't believe me, ask someone who regularly attends church if "God helps those who help themselves" is found in the Bible.