Tread lightly on the things of earth

According to today’s New York Times, my senator, Bill Frist, the Republican majority leader, has “agreed to join a handful of prominent Christian conservatives in a telecast portraying Democrats as ‘against people of faith’ for blocking President Bush’s nominees.”

I am a person of faith. I vote Democratic with a passion, mostly because I am a person of faith. Hence my existence disproves these folks’ assertion. I just sent this message via Sen. Frist’s online contact form:

Dear Sen. Frist:

Concerning your campaign against the filibuster, saying it is “being used against people of faith” as reported in the New York Times:

I am a lifelong Christian.
I even earned a seminary degree.
I qualify as a “person of faith.”
And I am your constituent.

YOU ARE NOT SPEAKING FOR ME.

I was educated in fine Tennessee schools during the 1960s and 70s and I paid attention during my civics and history classes: I understand the filibuster is a vital check and balance in our system of government. Your attempt to subvert it is ill-advised; I believe that as my senator you should be defending the filibuster rule instead. Please stop your “nuclear option” campaign before irreparable harm is done.

Respectfully,

Mike

I omitted more of what I really think:

Peer past the surface and you see this isn’t so much about religion as it is about dividing and demonizing people, controlling people’s lives, clutching power at any cost. I don’t think these guys — and the spiritual powers animating them — really give a rat’s ass about “people of faith.” Religion just provides a convenient lever to stir up a generation of people who have lost the will to think.

These are perennial questions I think people of faith must ask again and again to avoid being snookered:

• Who is the father of lies?

• Who are his children?

• What would they say?

• What would their fruit look like, their actions by which Jesus said we would recognize them?

God-talk words are a dime a dozen. We’re obligated to look deeper.

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I am a liberal person of faith, an impossible combination according to Sen. Frist. Yet here I am, because I understand the Spirit of Jesus to be liberal by definition:

liberal. adj 1: showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; “a broad political stance”; “generous and broad sympathies”; “a liberal newspaper”; “tolerant of his opponent’s opinions” [syn: broad, large-minded, tolerant] 2: having political or social views favoring reform and progress 3: tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition [ant: conservative] 4: given or giving freely; “was a big tipper”; “the bounteous goodness of God”; “bountiful compliments”; “a freehanded host”; “a handsome allowance”; “Saturday’s child is loving and giving”; “a liberal backer of the arts”; “a munificent gift”; “her fond and openhanded grandfather” [syn: big, bighearted, bounteous, bountiful, freehanded, handsome, giving, openhanded] …

[Middle English, generous …]

Principled conservatism honors tradition, and that’s important. But more important, by my reckoning, this definition of “liberal” aptly describes the character of the Spirit who’s willing to intersect — and if we allow, to inhabit — our lives. Hence to me this definition connotes a way of being to be aspired to, a pearl of great price, the seeking of which is discernable in that Spirit’s telltale signs:

The fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), [and] self-control (self-restraint, continence).

I do not see these fruit present in this Frist-led campaign against the filibuster rule. Or any other Republican-led endeavor.

And I am not alone.

We can do much, much better than this: By grace we’ve been given ears to hear, eyes to see, and minds to think. Time to dust ‘em off and rev ‘em up. Engage.

[Via lively discussion at dKos]

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Next morning:
I observe that Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, is quoted as saying:

As the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left has been repudiated in almost every recent election, the courts have become the last great bastion for liberalism. … For years activist courts, aided by liberal interest groups like the A.C.L.U., have been quietly working under the veil of the judiciary, like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms.

First, that’s nonsense: these people (judicial, ACLU, and many others) have worked day and night for decades to ensure everyone’s freedom, religious and otherwise. And AFAIK it’s always done in the full light of day. I think Mr. Perkins means, “to rob us of our religious hegemony.”

(White folk with power whining about being victimized and then blaming others for it doesn’t sit well with me. Yes, I’m a middle-aged white guy.)

Second, I counsel this:
Grieve not the Holy Spirit by slandering his character.

Make no mistake, using “liberal” as a dirty word does exactly that.

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*What is the Big Lie? According to the Wikipedia, it’s “a propagandistic tool based on the belief that a lie, told often enough and shouted loudly enough, ignoring any and all statements that debunk the lie, will eventually be believed by the masses.”

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2005-04-16 update:
I see PastorDan has unveiled a thousand points of light — testimonies from liberal/progressive/Democratic people of faith from all over. Yes! Yes!

2005-04-17 update:
TeacherKen and Musing85 each provides a particular gem, each a testimony that resonates to my toes, making me wonder if I was separated at birth from either of them. :-)

Highly recommended. Thanks, guys.