Diocesan
Life Columns
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Bishop Paul's writes a monthly column for the Diocesan Newspaper, Diocesan
Life, edited by Communication
Minister, Bill Lewellis.
For more features from the life of our diocese, check Diocesanlife....ONLINE; and Bethlehem
News.
Always
and Everywhere
Faith and public morals
By Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Diocesan Life, May 2003
The church has a duty to speak on moral issues. That is not optional. This was
true in the time of the Old Testament prophets, and has remained true. Among
the Pennsylvania bishops there are many political points of view and a range
of theological perspectives. For the seven of us to agree that the inequities
of funding public education is a moral rather than a political issue is a remarkable
event.
It is an unfortunate aspect of work as a religious professional that whenever
comment is made about public morals, a group of people will, for whatever
reasons, complain about faith and politics not belonging together, or, with
stunning ignorance as to what the First Amendment is for, invoke the separation
of church and state. It is my experience that, very often, people who want
the Church to advocate for their position (on say, abortion or war) do not
want the church to advocate for the other person's positions (on say, abortion
or war) That is what they really mean by the Church staying out of politics.
Let's be a bit more specific. "Politics" is a term for the acquisition
and maintenance of power by a particular group to accomplish its ends - more
generally, organized behavior designed to achieve a goal.
What people are usually objecting to when they are concerned about "politics" is
their fear that the church may become partisan, aligned with a party (or worse
still, a party other than their own.) In this regard, it was sad to see a bishop
of this Church in full clerical rig on stage with Al Gore at the conclusion
of the last Democratic convention. For a representative of the Church to endorse
a political candidate remains problematic for me: we need to keep lines of
communication with all parties so that we can speak with integrity to the issues
before us to all persons.
That is not optional. The church has a duty to speak on moral issues. This
was true in the time of the Old Testament prophets, and has remained true to
our day. Nonetheless, Anglican Christians who opposed slavery were accused
of meddling in politics (the entire bench of bishops in the House of Lords
voted against layperson William Wilberforce's abolition legislation). The Episcopal
Church's endorsement of the civil rights movement was resented by some segregationists
as advancing a merely political agenda, when it was in fact advancing a moral
agenda.
Similarly, we have acted through our lobbyist in Washington to pressure government
to halt the killing and enslavement of Christians in the Sudan, an issue in
which the Clinton administration publicly declared itself (through Madeline
Albright) as not interested, and in which the present administration has taken
only a bit more interest. It is interesting, in this regard, to observe the
historic pastoral letter of Pennsylvania bishops regarding Good Schools.
Among the Pennsylvania bishops there are many political points of view and
a range of theological perspectives. Anyone who reads the newspapers knows
that the bishops of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania are at the extreme opposite
ends of the theological spectrum, yet they agreed on this. The bishop of Northwestern
Pennsylvania is a lawyer who is very, very careful about inappropriate church/state
behavior. The bishop of Central Pennsylvania (Harrisburg) is a profoundly good
person without a partisan bone in his body. Of the assisting bishops, one is
a British subject and one is married to a widely respected educator. That leaves
me as the only crank.
For the seven of us to agree that the inequities of funding public education
is a moral rather than political issue is therefore a rather remarkable event.
It comes from concern for the children themselves, and for the future workforce
of the Commonwealth. We believe that giving each child a desk, text books,
paper, and pencil is a matter of fairness, not politics, and one that has important
implications for Pennsylvania as a whole. Public schools in my home town of
Lancaster were started because the rector of the Episcopal Church there, one
William Augustus Muhlenberg, overcame resistance to educating the poor at public
expense. This moral question is not a new idea to Pennsylvania Episcopalians.
It is one where we in fact have a noble track record. The letter read to Episcopalians
throughout the state was not written for the advantage of either political
party; in fact, members of both parties support the movement.
It was as clear a statement as we could make of what we believe is our moral
obligation to speak against an injustice that hurts individuals and threatens
the future of our economy. We have no desire or means to require people to
accept our view as doctrine, but we do ask those who are persuaded by our statement
to take appropriate action. I hope you will help reinforce the distinction
as you discuss the Good Schools movement with your neighbors.
The letter of the Pennsylvania bishops, Seeking Justice in Funding Public Education,
may be read here.
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