The issue of church and state has arisen in an odd way over the past two weeks. Rick Santorum posted a video clip of John Kennedy saying that one’s religious beliefs should be kept private, out of the public sphere, and Santorum went on to excoriate Kennedy’s statement implying that it was an abdication of one’s moral duty in public life. Of course there was much more context surrounding Kennedy’s statement, and , after all, Kennedy’s Roman Catholicism was no small issue in that race in 1960 for the presidency. Kennedy’s statement was tantamount to saying to the American people, “I won’t be forcing Roman Catholicism on you.”
The doctrine of the separation of church and state is fairly unique and new among nations. The birth of our nation was a dramatic separation from England, a nation that had and has an “established church,” (with legislation however allowing other denominations and faiths to practice their form of religion), but still the queen/king appoints not only the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England, but other diocesan bishops as well. Our doctrine of the separation of church and state disallows the government to establish any particular religion, and it prevents the government from exercising any control over any religious body. That is the first and foremost premise of this provision in the constitution; secondarily and conversely: organized religion may not have any institutional control in the affairs of government , lest there be the possibility of a theocracy. It is a good law.
But the separation of church and state does not mean that we don’t act out our faith in the public sphere. Nor do we remain silent on issues that affect the good of the whole. Archbishop William Temple of the Church of England in 1942 said it best, that the church exists only and solely for those outside its walls. The principal concern of the early first century church was quite simply to see to the well being of their neighbors’ immediate needs, and therefore seeing to their neighbors’ dignity.
By living out our faith in the public sphere I don’t mean to huckster to and coerce people to accept Jesus as a belief system (we’re still trying to figure that out) Living the faith in the public sphere to the contrary is to become agents, advocates for the ethics that Jesus represented in his life and ministry….we are to in short proclaim the egalitarian life, bring it to fruition…This way of life is stated in the sermon on the mount (my paraphrase): We will help you who are poor and at the end of your rope; we are community enough to stand with you who mourn; you who are humble and courageous of heart, stand firm, for you will lead us all in the end; thank God for you who are passionate for justice, for your work will bear great fruit; You who ardently seek the truth will see God’s actions in the world; those of you who proclaim and strive for non-violence, you are God’s very own children; even when people challenge you with malice, know always that you share and participate in God’s life.
The gospels as you have heard me say time and again are intensely political….not partisan political….but political, that is: How do we live together justly and with integrity? That is the political question since time immemorial. So when it comes time to cast your ballot in the electoral process that we thankfully have in this country vote for the candidate who best stands for the manner of life Jesus modeled in his life and ministry, Republican, Democrat or Independent…vote the beatitudes… vote for the ones who seek to bring a way of life in which all share in the abundance of our world…As Robert Berra (article last weeks Herald) wrote…. “we don’t need a roof to be the church”…we belong to the world, so that it may be continually changed, transformed, recreated for the better….that is our lives’ work…the reason we are here.
