This and That:
Religion and Politics
The “God question” is part of everyone’s life, and the public life. We simply can’t avoid it. Does God exist or not? If we REALLY believe God exists, that belief will inevitably color our personal and public behavior: our actions, our choices, our decisions.
What we believe about God shapes what we believe about men and women. And what we believe about men and women shapes how we act -- socially, politically, and economically. Jesus tells us in John 15 that if we stay united with the vine, we will bear much fruit; apart from Jesus the vine, we wither and die. Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson wrote as early as 1995, that for all of our American development in medicine, science and technology, we, as Americans, are neither whole nor happy. Technology has made U.S. workers more competitive. It has also deepened worker stress by overloading employees with information. It has lead to longer workdays and heavier demands for productivity. We now spend up to $ 44 billion dollars each year treating depression. Too, our consumer economy turns appetites into needs. Nobody makes us pile up credit card debt but millions of Americans do exactly that. Further, over the past couple decades, our civic vocabulary has coarsened. An overfed understanding of our personal rights and individual freedom has squeezed out responsibility and decorum we owe each other. We’ve moved off and away from the vine of our lives.
The Catholic mission in the world comes from the nature of God Himself. Catholics believe in one God. But He is a God in three Persons, sharing one nature. This belief is central to Catholic life. For Catholics, God is a living community of love -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- and in creating us, God intends us to take part in that community of mutual giving. All of Catholic life comes down to sharing in the exchange of love within the heart of the Trinity and then offering that love to others in our relationships.
The word “love” unpacks into a lot of other words: truth, repentance, forgiveness, mercy, charity, courage, justice. These are action words because in accepting Jesus Christ, the gospel says we will know the truth, and the truth will make us free (Jn. 8:32) -- not comfortable; not respected; but FREE in the real sense of the word: able to see and DO what’s right. This freedom is meant to be used in the service of others. Actively witnessing to, and advancing what we (Catholics) believe to be true about key moral issues in public life is not coercion. It’s honesty. It’s also a duty -- of faith, and of citizenship.
The church engages the world in two ways: through the life of each individual believer and through the common action of believers working together. Every Catholic life, and every choice in every life, MATTERS! Baptism does not simply wash away sin. It also incorporates the baptized person into a new life; and part of that new life is a mandate to act; to be God’s agent in the world. Everybody shares the basic mission: bringing Jesus Christ to the world, and the world to Jesus Christ. We can’t uncouple what we “do,” from what we claim to “believe.” How we act works backwards on our convictions, making them stronger, or smothering them under a snowfall of alibis.
May God’s grace enable us to love the truth (Jesus Christ) strong, well, and with much love.
Love and Prayers,
Dr. Jack Buchner
Director of Religious Education
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