When it Comes to Politics, Where Does Faith Belong?
Three tests to discern if a public expression of faith is constructive or not
It is horrifying to see religion dragged through the mud of politics or, even worse, hijacked by religious nationalism. What should be the role of faith on the campaign trail and how do we stop the manipulation of our faith for political purposes?
Mark Silk wrote recently that presidential candidates from both parties have actually made headlines by talking about their faith, from Obama to Trump, and Biden to DeSantis.
Here are three tests I use to discern if public expression of faith—especially by a politician—is constructive or not.
One, is it authentic? Obama’s singing Amazing Grace at the funeral of the Mother Emmanuel bible study members murdered by a white supremacist was about as authentic as it gets. This hymn from his and the victims’ traditions was a powerful way to console a nation in mourning.
Contrast that with politicians who adopt a faith—these days it is generally a white evangelical faith—to win over the base of their party. Mark Silk observes how the very Catholic Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis now suddenly “looks like an evangelical Christian, walks like an evangelical and quacks like an evangelical.”
Two, is faith being used to claim a particular policy platform as the only way to be faithful? Or is it shared as an invitation to reconsider one’s stance, no matter what religious or ethical system you live by?
Georgia Republican governor Nathan Deal spoke articulately to his Baptist faith when he vetoed a fake religious freedom bill that would have discriminated against LGBTQ people. His speech was invitational. He used I statements and spoke to several aspects of his life experience and how it led him to conclude there could be no justification for discrimination.
Contrast that with President Trump standing by military advisors and holding a Bible (upside down) in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church with a Mussolini facial expression, having just tear- gassed peaceful racial justice protestors, including clergy. That symbolism screamed “This country is for white Christians only.”
Three, is the expression pluralistic? Some have done this by speaking to ethics and morality rather than a specific faith. This works, but I think it would be a loss to never allow any elected leader to speak to a particular tradition as long as while doing so, the person is welcoming the perspectives of all traditions, secular ones included. I chaired the third of President Obama’s White House faith based advisory committees. It may have been the most diverse in American history.
Faith expression has been so manipulative, I can understand those who want to bar it from public life. But that ironically achieves the opposite of what they intend.
The First Amendment secures freedom of expression for a reason—whoever controls thought and belief controls a country. Democracies only thrive when pluralism is protected. For freedom of belief to be protected, it needs to be modeled, often and in public.
Political leaders have the biggest microphones. If democrats and progressive organizers refuse to speak to faith at all, Christian nationalists will continue to make inroads, especially as people grow more fearful.
In the eighties progressive political and advocates, frowned upon religious expression as the Christian right grew more bombastic. They thought the answer to bad faith was no faith. Legal strategies are important to restraining the use of religion to discriminate. But discouraging full on moral, religious debate leaves a vacuum that religious nationalists are eager to fill.
Once the Christian right took over the microphone, they made significant headway, shaping public opinion and culture.
I lived this reality. Growing up as a white born-again Christian in the Bible Belt as the Christian right took off, I never heard anyone connect the dots between my faith and my political inclinations which were progressive. I was fortunate to find that expression in feminist and liberationist theology.
Until I did, my voice was squelched, as was my spiritual and political power.
Because of progressive silence on religion in public life, the Christian right came to dominate religious views and the Republican party, creating a faction in America that now threatens our democracy.
It is time for those of us who espouse a liberationist faith to stand alongside people of all faiths (and none) to advance human dignity for all and explain our positions in moral terms.
If you agree, spread the word: