And now, what I said would be yesterday's topic… today.
Faith, specifically the faith of a given candidate, has played a substantial role in this year's Presidential campaign. Barack Obama has seen his faith serve as both surprise and stress inducer. Surprise in that it has severely challenged the general assumption of Scripture quoting and Christ confessing being the right wing's sole property; stress inducer in that when your pastor is Jeremiah Wright… 'nuff said. Meanwhile, since Sarah Palin entered the scene her evangelical beliefs have been roundly hailed by fellow believers and hated by those who, well, hate.
While Obama and Palin both hold fast to the core elements of Christianity — belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who was born a man to be sacrificed as atonement for the sins of humanity, then bodily rose from the dead to forever destroy its hold on mankind — from this common ground their respective walks of faith almost immediately head off in different directions. Obama is of a social gospel/liberation theology bent, while Palin holds fast to a more traditional individualistic dogma.
Liberation theology states the mandate given by Christ to His followers in regard to charity and equality should be pursued by all available means including active resistance, up to the level of becoming armed resistance, against a government and/or military organization depriving those under its charge of what are considered to be basic human rights. It was extremely popular in the liberal wing of the Catholic Church during the 1960s and 1970s when a spate of activist priests routinely made headlines in America and throughout much of Latin America where socialist agendas were preached and pursued. Along the line it has been adopted by some elements of the black church which use it as reinforcement for their preaching America is dominated by a racist society. Although Obama distances himself from this extremist edge, he has wholeheartedly embraced the concept of faith as a basis for social change brought about through government activity.
Palin's faith focuses more on the believer's personal relationship with Christ. Although there are elements of the social gospel, they are secondary. What dominates is the belief that the individual being transformed through Christ will as a result of that transformation put into practice those changes the social gospel states should be mandated by law.
There are obvious differences between the two theologies. Palin's beliefs state the individual is responsible for themselves, while Obama's declare group action and/or action on behalf of a group to be paramount. Where there is no difference is in how both have been slammed for what they believe, yet have not wavered from those beliefs for the sake of political expediency. This is commendable.
The incessant personal snark and sniping from both left and right has grown beyond wearisome. It adds nothing to the discourse about this election or anything else of value. Rather, it poisons the atmosphere and distracts from the issues. While traditional media and bloggers alike out-do themselves daily with gotcha games and piling on any perceived weakness of those they oppose, what genuinely matters is almost entirely ignored. This is not commendable.
It can be argued Palin's beliefs are more akin to a pure Scriptural basis than Obama's. Jesus spoke of the personal obligation of all believers to preach through action by tending to the needs of others. It was not a mandate to transform government, but of the transformed individual making the difference on a personal basis. You cannot legislate caring. Only Christ can change the heart to where it embraces caring as a way of life. Of course those do not believe are more than capable of caring. However, those who do so are cheating only themselves. Why not embrace the One true source of love from which charity is born? It makes it so much easier to give.
That said, Obama's faith is not illegitimate. Off-base to a degree, perhaps. But not illegitimate. Somewhere along the line, a profession of faith and belief in Christ needs to be accepted for what it is. One cannot expect the haters to change their ways. One can and should expect those who believe to welcome the presence of fellow believers in politics. Right now, it could certainly use them.
