Margaret Atwood, poet, novelist and social commentator, says that there are three things essential to a viable democracy: An independent judiciary, an independent press, and a fair and reliable electorate, one free from partisan manipulation. These three are being assaulted and undermined as we speak. I don’t think it is hyperbole to say in these days that our democracy is in the process of being compromised. The possibility of the rise of a totalitarian government in the United States used to be the stuff of dystopian novels. Now those novels seem chillingly prophetic.
How do we as Christian folk live in such a reality? It is often said that issues always have two sides…. That is sometimes true. With my magic wand I would love to sit in on a conversation between Adam Smith, the father of capitalist theory, and John Maynard Keynes, the theoretical pioneer regarding a government’s role in macroeconomic behavior. Two arguable sides. In our own day and age, I would love to hear an informed debate between proponents of state underwritten universal healthcare, and proponents of a for-profit and private healthcare system. But such conversations are not possible in our deeply divided culture. But the present divide, I want to suggest, is not over a difference of opinion…. “Can’t we just listen to one another?” It is not the time to say “both sides are valid.” This is not a time in which, “you say tomato and I say tomahto.” We live in a time when the two sides are, on the one hand, Truth, and on the other, falsehood.
We, brothers and sisters, belong to the Truth, and when we belong to the Truth, we know falsehood when we see it. We know, for example, that the middle class is shrinking, and that the disparity of wealth is widening, that the eco-political world is headed towards plutocracy. That’s not an opinion. It is a fact. We know that our president solicited help from a foreign power to get elected. That is not an opinion. It is a fact. We know that the rule of law is being circumvented and undermined by the current administration… a fact. We knew early on of the coming Covid-19 pandemic, and our chief executive failed to act in deference to his own political interests… a fact. 185,000 dead in five months. Falsehood has consequences. I could go on, of course. Some would say I’m being partisan. I say I’m being truthful and responsible; and moreover, as Christian people, anything that affects the well-being and dignity of our common life… that is our business. The days of the comfortable church being seen and not heard are over.
Jesus told his disciples that they belong to the Truth, and he further exhorted them to abide in Love. Paul writes that Love rejoices in the Truth. Truth and Love are the rubrics of our faith. There are no two sides to the Truth. If we compromise, or worse, abandon our responsibility to the Truth then we forsake our baptismal vows. Jesus is our model. He loved to the end, and he fiercely guarded and served the Truth. We have to do both. There is no compromise in the midst of pandemonium. It will require imagination, courage, and humility. So one more thing: The world has endured plagues and tyrants before, and I believe with all my heart that God is drawing the whole world to Godself. Moments of clarity and crisis such as these perilous times, I believe, are the means, the birth pangs, of healing and restoration. We are in a time brimming with possibility, the darkness notwithstanding. Remember, the dark always precedes the light. That is not an opinion. It is a fact. Trust that, dear friends. Shall we choose the Truth, or do we languish in the consequences?
