Rules for Bringing Religion into Politics

"1. Christians must accept the fact that our religious convictions are never, ever to be privileged over the convictions of others. Our views are never to be given advantage in the political process, never to enjoy preferential treatment because they are Christian. My grandmother used to say, 'The ground is level at the foot of the cross.' The ground is also level at the foot of the flag pole, or it should be.

"There is a Christian reason for insisting on equity in our political debates. For Christianity in general it is our doctrine of creation, our view that God created the entire world in all of its tumultuous diversity, and pronounced it to be good. For progressive Christianity in particular it is also the belief that God is incarnate everywhere in the creation. Both beliefs mean that the imprint of the divine is present everywhere, and if we look carefully, it is to be found everywhere — in the multiple religions, in the diverse cultures, in the many ideological perspectives, and in the varied political perspectives.

"No doubt the imprint of the divine is more muddled in some times and places than in others, but deciding that is a fallible human judgment to be made tentatively through a deliberative process, not at its beginning, and our decisions are always subject to critique and revision. The message of one Protestant denomination is 'God is still speaking.' Perhaps it should add, 'And God's voice can come from anywhere.' Christian convictions are never to be given preferential treatment in the political process, because Christianity itself warns us that we cannot assume we have a lock on the truth.

"2. Christians must seek to understand our adversaries, and to be understood by them, but in that order. We need to try to place ourselves in the framework of others, whether our areas of agreement and disagreement are large or small. We must try to stand within their worldview. Their views may be strange, but in the biblical tradition strangers are to be welcomed for a very particular reason — because our relationship with them might bring about our mutual transformation.

"We need to hear the stories of others — the secular humanists' stories of the Enlightenment and science, the Muslims' stories of the Prophet and the hajj, the Jews' stories of Torah and the land. We need to hear evangelicals tell how Jesus changed them and pentecostals tell how the Spirit filled them.

"But, also, others need to hear our story. It is a startling story of God's oneness with the world, God's unreserved commitment to it, and a transforming story of the healing that this Oneness can bring to our brokenness. We must not be silent. We must say what in our heritage motivates us to be progressive Christians, to think as progressive Christians, to act as progressive Christians. Disagreements will remain, but in sharing our story, and hearing those of others, we can hope at last to become brothers and sisters who understand and respect one another, even when differences remain.

"3. Christians should identify the many values that we share with others, and ask what we can build together on the basis of the things that we hold in common. This rule — that we should build on our commonalities — is an inheritance from secular liberalism, and it is worth keeping. We do not disagree on everything, and in fact our actual disagreements become exaggerated because we lose sight of what we share. What we hold in common should be kept at the forefront of consciousness even as we continue to debate other things.

"From a progressive Christian perspective we will hold much in common because we are all creatures in whom God is incarnate. We may give different reasons for holding the same or similar values. Christians and atheists, Muslims and Jews, liberals and conservatives — they may have varying reasons for supporting democracy, ending racial injustice, defending freedom of the press, opposing the death penalty, advocating justice for homosexuals, protecting the environment, or whatever the cause. The difference in reasons or starting points, however, does not weaken the common resolve, especially if we share with one another the different journeys that bring us together. Our common values provide the basis for together seeking our common good.

"4. Whenever possible, Christians must give as much ground as possible. In short, we must compromise. Compromise is the effort to allow room for our differences, to open space for as many alternatives as possible. It is a decision not to chisel our particular conceptions of right and wrong into the hard rock of law.

"There is a Christian reason for valuing compromise. It is the realization that we are all fallible, that none of us knows the pure will of God, that each of us is prone to hubris and self-deceit, and that the point of view of the other person, even if he or she is wrong, can perhaps provide a critique of our excesses, our short sightedness, our own insufficiencies. If politics is the art of compromise, compromise is the art of acknowledging that we are human. In Christian terms, compromise is a way of confessing that we are all creatures with partial perspectives; we do not know the absolute truth.

"5. Christians should never press to outlaw conduct unless it directly undermines the common good. This abstract rule was implicit in the prayer I heard recently offered by a very conservative Christian. The prayer came at the end of a heated discussion on same-sex marriage, which he believes to be morally wrong but does not think should be outlawed. He prayed, 'Dear Lord, we are thankful that we live in a country that allows people to do things we believe to be sinful.' The underlying principle is this: Never seek to outlaw something because we think it to be immoral, or we find it to be offensive, unless it directly threatens the common good. In this case the common good was the institution of marriage. This conservative Christian said his marriage, and that of any truly mature couple, could not be weakened because of the marriage of gays and lesbians, even if he believed same-sex marriage to be sinful.

"The law is for the purpose of extending rights, not restricting them, unless doing so is essential for the general welfare on which we all depend, as in the case of murder, malicious harm and exploitation, various forms of deceit, economic injustice, and so on. The Christian reason for defending the extension of rights, not their restriction, is the same as our allowance for compromise. Our ways are not God's ways, our thoughts are not God's, so a restriction on anyone's freedom requires special, careful justification based on what is broadly affirmed to be absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the common good.

"6. Christians should deliberate in community. More precisely, we should deliberate in a community where enough unity exists to make conversation possible, and enough difference exists to make conversation valuable. Deliberate with others who understand even though they may disagree. We need to test our views, and that happens best with others who differ with us.

"Christianity at its best is communal in character and diverse in the makeup of its communities. It is communal because only in community can its message be sustained over time. It is diverse because only in difference can its message be protected from the sinful presumption of infallibility. Do not deliberate alone; deliberate with others, in a community, where our convictions are shared openly and tested honestly in the fires of caring criticism."