Reading notes

Gary Hart, former senator from Colorado, writes about faith in politics. First he mentions his own background —

I was raised in the Church of the Nazarene, an evangelical denomination founded a century ago as an offshoot of American Methodism, which, the church founders believed, had become too liberal. I graduated from Bethany Nazarene College, where I met and married my wife, who was also brought up in the church. I then graduated from the Yale Divinity School as preparation for a life of teaching religion and philosophy. …

Then he explicitly mentions what has been slammed home to me, too, over the last dozen years —

A neglected thread of church doctrine was the social gospel of John and Charles Wesley, the great reformers of late 18th-century Methodism. The Wesley brothers preached salvation through grace but also preached the duty of Christians, based solidly on Jesus’ teachings, to minister to those less fortunate. My political philosophy springs directly from Jesus’ teachings and is the reason I became active in the Democratic Party. …

Excellent advice follows —

Having claimed moral authority to achieve political victory, religious conservatives should be very careful, in their administration of the public trust, to live up to the standards they have claimed for themselves. They should also be called upon to address the teachings of Jesus and the prophets concerning care for the poor, the barriers that wealth presents to entering heaven, the blessings on the peacemakers, and the belief that no person should be left behind.

And then a dream, a wholistic vision, of working together to heal our land —

If we are to insert “faith” into the public dialogue more directly and assertively, let’s not be selective. Let’s go all the way. Let’s not just define “faith” in terms of the law and judgment; let’s define it also in terms of love, caring, forgiveness. Compassionate conservatives can believe social ills should be addressed by charity and the private sector; liberals can believe that the government has a role to play in correcting social injustice. But both can agree that human need, poverty, homelessness, illiteracy and sickness must be addressed. Liberals are not against religion. They are against hypocrisy, exclusion and judgmentalism. They resist the notion that one side or the other possesses “the truth” to the exclusion of others. …

To engage a vision like this (so that we not perish), can we get the hell past [our] raging denunciation of each other? I peruse the political book section of my local Borders and see all the titles roaring about how liberals are destroying America. Nonsense. We all of us bring strengths to the table — unless we’re too busy demonizing everyone else to share ours.

As Eugene paraphrases Paul —

Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful …

Indeed. Embracing and putting to use all the gifts we’ve been given would be healthier, smarter, and more effective — and more appropriately thankful — than what too many of us are doing now, which is drawing and quartering ourselves.

Thanks, Gary.