May 20, 2005
Church and state
This is my first blog entry. In coming days and weeks, I’ll be doing more like it that deal with issues that come my way as editor of the Monitor. But I plan to write about lots of things: books I’m reading, places I go, people I meet, sights I see around the area, ideas I find on the web that I think might interest Monitor Online readers. In the spirit of the blogosphere, I welcome your comments.
When I started editing the letters to the editor years ago, I had a strict rule: I did not allow letter writers to use citations from the Bible to make their points.
My reasoning went like this: A daily newspaper is not the place for the endless argument about what the Scripture means or whether particular passages should dictate the mores of Jews and Christians today. It also seemed to me that the Bible could be interpreted to support either side of almost any modern-day argument.
In recent times I’ve relented a little. I still spike letters that are just strings of biblical quotations, complete with citations. Generally, those strike me as boring. But I have found myself letting more biblical interpretations slip through the gate and into print on the editorial page.
Why? Religion has reasserted itself in American public life. I don’t like this much. I thought the Creationism debate ended in 1925. To me, beyond “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” I don’t think the Bible has much useful to say about homosexuality. I nearly walked out of church on a Sunday in 2000 when the priest told the congregation how to vote.
My own belief is that it isn’t that difficult to separate one’s spiritual life from one’s political life and that we are better off as a country keeping the two separate. Starting with the president, whom I respect as generally able to be ecumenical despite his personal faith, I think we have taken more than one step backward from John F. Kennedy’s famous declaration in 1960 on separation of church and state.
I’m usually skeptical of the old slippery-slope argument, but we’re on one now. It isn’t just the obvious issues like gay marriage, abortion rights and stem-cell research that draw debate with a religious cast. It is also the Iraq war, capital punishment, the filibuster. I heard a self-described Christian leader hold forth on television the other night on the kinds of judges who should be seated. It sounded as though he thought their job was to interpret the Bible rather than the Constitution.
So if you read the Monitor’s letters to the editor, you’re seeing some letters in which readers argue the issues through the prism of religion. I should say the prism of Christianity, since that is what it has been so far. And occasionally you’re seeing a biblical quote – and perhaps a few days later a biblical quote fired back from the other side of the issue.
I still believe the letters section is no place for arguments about biblical interpretation, but I see no choice but to roll with the times.
Posted by Mike Pride at May 20, 2005 05:36 PM
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Comments
Mr. Pride:
It's great to see the thought process behind your decision on this matter. I, myself, believe in God, but have not attended church in over 15 years. I believe that organized religion has it's place, but that place is the church.
I am very concerned at how the separation of church and state seems to be all but ignored lately. The (not my) president is fighting God's war by stamping out stem-cell research, and at the same time creating wars out of thin air...
Quoting scripture has been a part of language for a very long time, just as vulgarity has become a part of our youth's speech. I am not offended by either, and not opposed to seeing either in print. But I thank you for not letting the letters column turn into a holy war!
Posted by: Brad at May 23, 2005 08:51 AM
Mike,
I think it is great that you started this blog. I hope that you will be able to post often. I moved from NH when I was 6 years old and I am currently living in Texas. My parents moved back to NH a few years ago so I like to read the monitor online to stay informed about what is going on up there. Good luck with the blog. -Ryan
Posted by: Ryan at May 23, 2005 09:53 AM
Thanks for offering this blog site as I have many comments that a letter to the editor seemed excessive. I'm always intriqued by the comment, "separation of church and state" since that is a judicial interpretation of the constitution. The constitution prevents the government from establishing a religion and preventing the practice of religion. Yet, society seems to be more concerned about preventing the practice of religion outside of church.
The issue of teaching intelligent design and evolution side by side in the schools as two different theories, both with flaws, seems to me to offer information for the public to digest and decide for themselves.
Posted by: Paul at May 24, 2005 02:54 PM
I would have agreed with you a few years ago that arguments over religion should have no place in a newspaper. I was raised believing in separation of church and state. Unfortunately, the religious right has been aggressively using religion to promote their ideas on government and politics to the extent that church and state are fundamentally (and fundamentalistly) intertwined. When a Christian is aghast at the fundamentalist takover of the Republican Pary (and in turn the federal government),one must be able to challenge the unreasoning bases for these actions. The dangers in a fundamentalist-controlled state are legion.
Posted by: Marvin Owens at May 26, 2005 10:55 PM
"Thought experiment: late at night you're alone and hear footsteps reverberating behind you. Would you feel less safe if they were from a young man who attends religious services, than if they were by one who doesn't and thinks religion a waste of time?"
This one is easy. America's prisons are filled with self-described Christians. Violent criminals are often heard to claim that Jesus Christ or some other religious icon compelled them to commit their implausibly unspeakable acts. To hear America's commander-in-chief tell it, the war in the Middle East is as much about pitting the "good" of Christianity against the "evil" of Islam -- an ethos far too many incurious, scripture-spouting Americans eagerly buy into. Contrary to what many fundamentalists claim, "freethinkers" are guided by moral principles just as strongly as are members of any flock, and in their cases their morals are not simply relative to ancient writings brimming with apocalyptic propoaganda, but societally relevant.
As Mr. Pride notes, identifying oneself as a person of faith, complete with Bible passages, is essentially equivocating. For every devout and caring humanist is at least one Baptist homophobe, epistemophobe or misogynist evincing palpable bloodlust and complaining of "discrimination" or "bias" when his unsupportable beliefs (e.g., "Intelligent Design") are not sanctioned by U.S. courts and public schools -- and unfortunately many such persons hold positions of authority in their churches. Plenty of liars, cheats and thieves hide out in America's pews, and to dismiss them as being "not true Christians" grossly minimizes an increasingly troublesome issue.
Posted by: Duddits Cavell at June 1, 2005 10:53 AM
I agree, it's best to keep the two spheres as seperate as possible. It's impossible to keep them completely seperate, religious beliefs tend to effect political decisions. Unfortunately, many these days seem not to be able to discuss politics without religion, nor religion without politics.
Posted by: nikkiana at June 3, 2005 08:08 AM
Duddits Cavell:
You're not being intellectually honest. Prisons certainly aren't filled with legions of church-going men. It's just rubbish to suggest otherwise.
Espousing a belief in G-d or, for Hispanics, having an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the grill or windshield of one's car, doesn't rise to the level of actual church going.
I remember Jesse Jackson agreeing with me on exactly this point.
Can't there at least be clarity on this issue? We don't have to agree, certainly. But, come on.
Posted by: Brent at June 12, 2005 01:46 PM
You are absolutely right.
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