Newspaper Columns by Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Bring on the Religious Voices ... Please
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
February 1997 column for newspapersOne sometimes feels as though a moral position gotten from a fortune cookie will be more acceptable in public debate than one stemming from faith.
A national newspaper editorialized about an American "moral vacuum" as it became clear that Newt Gingrich would be reprimanded for an ethics violation. Similar cries were briefly raised over the House banking scandal and the Savings and Loan bailout. A former mayor of New York can say, "I didn't commit a crime; I just didn't comply with the law." A former president claims, "If the president does it, it's not illegal." A hotel queen sneers, "Only little people pay taxes."
It is not hard to argue that America has no moral system to speak of. From the permissiveness of thirty years ago, we have arrived at a point where it is considered downright rude to suggest to anyone that their personally chosen moral standards are discussible, much less in need of reexamination or correction. The assumption that desiring something implies a right to have it, goes largely unchallenged.
Long after he had anything to gain by it, George Washington made an observation in his Farewell Address of 1796 that speaks to today's moral dilemma:
"Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
The First Amendment, prohibiting government subsidy or special privilege for any religious group, was well in place when Washington spoke those words. We have trouble hearing them because in recent years freedom of religion has been replaced by a trend to suppress religious voices in public life. Legislation becomes suspect if a religious group is too strongly identified with it. One sometimes feels as though a moral position gotten from a fortune cookie will be more acceptable in public debate than one stemming from faith. "Let's not bring religion into it" rules out most of the moral and ethical thinking that has taken place in human history.
How our children are *not* taught about Martin Luther King, Jr., offers a clear illustration of a near-phobia about religion in our schools. Presentations of his life and work often speak of him as a civil rights leader, and that's all. Not mentioned is the fact that his speeches and writings show his ideas to spring from the content of his religious faith, and that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in which he worked was a religious organization.
King's particular style and emphases cannot be understood without understanding his religion. The same is true for Malcolm X, whose religious journey had tremendous effect on his teaching.
This is not to suggest that religion in any of its forms has all the answers -- something to try when we tire of thinking for ourselves. Quite the contrary, faith communities are meant to be safe and powerful places to test our thinking with people who share our starting point.
It also has to be admitted, of course, that like other movements religion has helped to support, excuse, or ignore great evils. It has also been the inspiration of those who changed the world for the better, however, whether one looks to Martin Luther King or Mother Theresa. And it is impossible to consider the Jewish scriptures, e.g., the books of Genesis and Exodus, about the circumstances leading to the creation of Israel and not wonder at the power of religious identity.
"Religion" means "that which binds." Religious thinking begins with the idea that people are bound to one another and to God, that life has connectedness, meaning, and purpose. People who believe they are bound to one another and to God have a different starting point when they consider morality. For them, a new factor is present in the equation from the beginning: responsibility to others.
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