Tread lightly on the things of earth

Lovely paragraph from Allen at The Right Christians (“It is time for the Christian Right to meet the right Christians”), drawn from an entry in which he muses — with compassion — on the plight of Christian hawk bloggers as they deal with uncertainty and disillusionment in the face of George W. Bush’s claim that he’d “restore honor, dignity and integrity to the White House”:

The Plame Affair reveals the very heart of this administration. While they have claimed to put the security of the nation above all else, even to the point of dragging us into a war with little international support, it is now becoming clearer day by day that the national security is far less important to them than their own political power. Honor, dignity and integrity have vanished like so much mist. Some of us knew it was a mirage all along.

For a brief time many months ago I was sensitive to the eventual, inevitable disillusionment that would befall my pro-Bush-pro-war-at-any-cost friends and acquaintances — especially the ones who are Christian — and I felt compassion for them. Falling headlong into betrayal and disillusionment brings pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone. But gradually my compassion all leaked away and I was swept into my own quagmire of anger, disappointment, and disengagement.

Lesson for me: Don’t underestimate the power of darkness. It can take us directly, as in leading us to believe things that aren’t true, as thoughtful ones in the Christian Right are discovering about this administration. And it can take us indirectly, as in causing us to give up altogether on those taken directly and to drop out entirely. Either approach severely inhibits us from our goal of loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

I hope I’m learning and growing from this. Actually I hope a lot of us are. What if Bush really does unite us in the end? (That is, unite us in a great revulsion that motivates us, together, to stop his team’s destruction of our country.) I’d call that plot twist a miraculous, supernatural redeeming, a true deliverance.

Meanwhile, though, I admit that my patience with — and forgiveness toward — people still in denial still leaves a hell of a lot to be desired.

Thanks, Allen.