Davison's Doodle

Faith in the Public Square

Apparently, there is not enough overt preference for Christianity in our Nation, which if you forgot, our Government is designed to give no religion a preference in our secular society.  But, of course there is plenty of Christian faith in the public square and little of it works to change the American system of capitalism that oppresses and profits from the culture wars; and from being unreasonable.  It appears that some politicians and political candidates would be ok with a theocratic United States of America as long as it was compatible with their version of the deity.  See the character, Will McAvoy, from the HBO show, The Newsroom, describe the fundamentalism he called, the American Taliban.

With respect for my companion, here is a reason for me to manage my life better: so I can live long enough to witness the first non-Christian and or ‘none’ to run for POTUS or Governor of a State.  Ms Davis, the Rowan Co Clerk, like all Christians, is reading her bible selectively, and then in her position of power she applies her reading of the Christian bible to deny a civil contract of marriage between two consenting adults.  Not too long ago it could have been an interracial couple that would have been denied.  Today, it is a same-sex couple.  That is an example of a government official giving a religious preference, rather than applying the marriage contract to adults before it is a spiritually blessed union, or not, through the religious institution of a couple’s choice.

It is the County Clerk’s job to issue a variety of licenses, no matter her or his religious beliefs, that help order and regulate our secular society.  Just like the SCOTUS ruled on desegregation and civil rights as the law of the land, it also ruled on what the marriage contract is, and is not, as the law of the land.  It is a mistake to give a religious accommodation to a government official carrying out her or his duties when the government official’s religious beliefs conflict with the ordering of our secular society that has been legislated and ruled upon, when necessary, by our Supreme Court.  Religious liberty is about worship practices.  It is not about accommodating an individual’s beliefs practiced in secular society especially when that person is a government official. The First Amendment does not mean that a Government official can practice his or her religious faith while doing their duty (job) when that religious faith requires him or her to be discriminatory against citizens.  My guess is that Ms Davis is a good person experiencing a culture changing too quickly, and in her capacity as County Clerk, she can obstruct while asking for, and expecting from a Government that preferences Christianity, for an accommodation that she is not willing to give to the LGBT couples seeking marriage licenses at her office.  Is that narcissism or separate, but equal inside Christendom?

Faith in the public square.  It’s why I read Sightings by Martin Marty each week. Click here to read this week’s Sightings.

Enter former President Jimmy Carter.  Faith in the public square.  Leonard Pitts wrote about Jimmy Carter’s Faith, and it’s worth a few minutes of your day.  It is especially worth the read because former President Carter expresses a depth of belief most wish to attain, but are unwilling to do the daily discipline to find the peace, “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said, in such a way that you believed him without question. And it was impossible to feel sorry for him.”  I’ve known one other person who expressed a similar sentiment to me.  I was sitting at Mary Beth’s kitchen table. She was dealing with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.  After surgery and chemo, she was now taking chemo pills.  Mary Beth loved ice tea.  Mary Beth was a smoker. Somewhere in the conversation she smiled and with a chuckle said, “They told me these would kill me someday.”  Mary Beth was a reluctant minister that had mastered pastoral care even when one was there offering her care.  I didn’t ask about her spirituality, but while talking about the cancer journey she said, “Michael, I’ve lived this faith of mine.  I’ve married and buried people, within my ability I’ve helped the poor, prayed with the dying, and baptized a few into this faith.  I’ve got no reason to be afraid of dying nor abandoning this faith that has blessed me.  I’m good with whatever happens and how it happens.  I just don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”  Faith in the public square.

Jimmy Carter’s Faith
Leonard Pitts | miamiherald.com

For all its loudness, all its exclusion, violence and ubiquity, the faith that is modeled in the public square is often not particularly affecting. It is hard to imagine someone looking on it from outside and musing to herself, “I’d like to have some of that.” What Carter showed the world, though, was different. Who would not want to be able to face the unknown with such perfect equanimity?