"One Nation, Under God"

“Who do you say that I am?”

This is the question Jesus asks His disciples, and we too must answer the same question.   Do we believe Jesus was simply a man whose reputation was embellished by His ardent followers?  Do we believe He was the Son of God, but now long-gone and irrelevant to our modern age?   Do we believe that He is our Lord and Savior, but only as long as we can preserve our individual freedom of conscience?  Does each of us get to define Jesus as the person we want Him to be; there when we need Him, and absent the rest of the time?   Is He relevant to our daily lives, or meekly in the background waiting for us at the time of our death? 

These are questions each of us must answer, not only at the time of our death, but here and now,  in the formation of our personal beliefs.   Do we believe what He said to the disciples, or do we think he was speaking only in the context of His historical time?  Perhaps a review of what Jesus said about Himself can inform our belief.  At various times Jesus described Himself as: “Son of Man” (a reference to many prophecies in the Old Testament), “The Good Shepherd,” “Bread come down from heaven,” “Living Water,” the “True Vine,” the “sheep gate,” and of course, “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”  Taken out of context, these titles make little sense, but when reading the text of each passage, a theme emerges.  Jesus connects us to God and is our only means of connecting with God… we cannot do it on our own.   Moreover, we cannot pick and choose among what Jesus taught, and adhere only to what is comfortable or convenient in our lives.   Either we accept Him at His word, or we reject Him.  When we reject Jesus, we reject God because Jesus also explained clearly that He and the Father are one, and when we know Jesus, we know God the Father.

Unfortunately many Christians seem to believe it is okay to pick and choose which of Jesus’ teachings to follow while ignoring the rest with impunity.  We call Catholics who do this, “cafeteria Catholics,” as if we can claim to be authentically Catholic even while rejecting major tenets of the Catholic faith.  Catholics spoke prominently at both presidential conventions last month and both conventions closed with a prayer offered by Cardinal Dolan.   The Democratic convention included Catholics Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Katherine Sibelius, Carolyn Kennedy, and Sister Simone Campbell who has been on a bus tour criticizing Paul Ryan’s budget plan.  Sister Simone and other pro-life Democrats believe that a cut in the rate of increase in Medicaid spending will result in more abortions.  Amazingly, none of these self-professed Catholics seem to have a problem with the Democratic platform that is pro-abortion, supports gay marriage, and until amended in a hotly contested oral vote, precluded any mention of the name of God.  Moreover they shared the podium with the heads of Planned Parenthood and NARL (National Abortion Rights League).  Despite these flagrant affronts to the Catholic faith, Cardinal Dolan closed the Democratic convention with a prayer for the protection of religious liberty and the unborn.  Here’s an excerpt of his prayer: “Grant us the courage to defend it — life, without which no other rights are secure.  We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected.”  Although he got in the last word, no one seemed to take notice.

This election year our country is more polarized than ever.   The difference between the two parties has never been more distinct or more divisive.  The differences in social policy with regard to abortion and marriage leave no room for compromise and even disputes in fiscal policy revert back to questions about each party’s approach to social issues.  With so much incivility and such a wide chasm between the beliefs of the two parties, I’m reminded of how divided the country was when the Civil War erupted.  The northern states had abolished slavery and the southern states wanted not only to maintain slavery, but see it expanded as more states joined the union.   Many believe that the event which triggered the civil war was the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred Scott case in 1857 which declared that Africans were not citizens and therefore had no rights; not even the right to defend themselves in court.  This meant slaves could be beaten and even killed with no means of redress.   Abraham Lincoln ran for president as a Republican on a platform of abolishing slavery.  Southern Democrats accused him and other Republicans of being “lawless rebels” for refusing to accept the law of the land as determined by the Supreme Court.  We all know that the Civil War ensued and although slavery was indeed abolished, it would be yet another 100 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would outlaw racial, ethnic, religious, and gender discrimination.  Civil rights was an issue promoted mainly by Christian leaders like Martin Luther King and Bishop Sheen who decried the immorality of discrimination. 

In many respects, history seems to be repeating itself.  In the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, the court declared that individual states did not have the right to place restrictions on abortion.  Like slaves in the 19^th century, unborn children have no rights; not even the right to life.  Once again, Republicans refuse to accept this injustice and the immorality of taking the lives of defenseless unborn children.  This debate has been on-going for 40 years and now seems to be culminating in the stark contrast between the values of the two parties and their presidential candidates.  President Obama refers to himself as an Evangelical Christian, but disregards the core message and meaning of Christ’s teaching: that all life is sacred.  He does not comprehend that the murder of unborn children is intrinsically evil.

This term, “intrinsically evil” has been much discussed lately by the Pope Benedict and Catholic bishops.  They teach that certain things are intrinsically evil, and can never be condoned or rationalized.  Moreover, anyone who supports intrinsically evil acts makes themselves a party to that evil, and this includes endorsing laws and politicians who facilitate such evils.  Christians willing to accept “intrinsic evil,” because their support for social justice, are sadly mistaken.   Caring for the poor is an important social justice issue, but does not carry the same moral gravity as defending human life.  Our public culture is deeply confused about moral issues because of the growing belief that truth is a private matter and that happiness is rooted in willfulness rather than virtue.  Ironically, the same people who argue that there are no moral absolutes would be incensed if someone lit a cigarette next to them in a restaurant, or parked in a handicapped space without a permit.  At the same time, we are moving in the direction of categorizing Christians as irrational bigots for our failure to conform to the hierarchy of values established by judicial precedent, e.g. that privacy is more important than human life.  We have become a divided nation where those who believe in the inherent dignity of every human life, and in the nature of marriage as God intended, are scoffed at as extremists, hiding under the pretense of “religious freedom.” 

This amounts to nothing less than a culture war, a struggle that is at the heart of the political divisions separating our nation.  The crux of this culture war is the problem that our nation cannot arrive at a moral consensus.  The result is that our politics have become embittered and polarized.  When our nation was founded, there was a moral consensus and it was based on “the laws of nature, and nature’s God.”  America began with the assertion that there are deep truths written into the human condition.  But now people deny this and believe each person determines his/her own truth and no one can impose their truth on another.  This brings us back to the question of who we think Jesus is, and whether or not we believe in the moral values He taught.  Lets’ pray that our nation finds a way to return to a belief in the moral values that made us the great nation we have become: “One nation, under God, indivisible…”  When you take God out of our nation, we become divided.