Politics

Following up on Christianism, Andrew Sullivan responds to a readers email here. An excerpt:

I'm not arguing that faith should have no role in political discourse. Someone's faith will affect her politics. My faith informs my own positions on torture, the death penalty, gay dignity, the Iraq war, and so on. But in the political sphere, mere recourse to religious authority is insufficient, because, by definition, it cannot persuade those of a different faith or no faith at all. And so religious doctrines need to be translated into moral arguments, applicable to any citizen with good will and an open mind. When Tom DeLay, at a Republican gathering, invokes Christ as his ally; or when the Catholic hierarchy comes close to barring votes for Democrats; or when Jesse Jackson uses the pulpit to garner Democratic votes, they have crossed an important line. It's important to defend that line - for the sake of politics, and for the sake of faith.

The way I say it is that I'm glad that I live in a secular society rather than a theocracy because I'm free to pursue the faith that I choose in a secular society while a theocracy might try to enforce on me a faith that I don't share. Sullivan has also responded to some responses here Following up on corporate America backing gay rights, here's a Fortune/CNNMoney article by Marc Gunther with more detail about ExxonMobil:

For the most part, ExxonMobil has set an unfriendly tone when it comes to gays. When Exxon merged with Mobil in 1999, the merged company rescinded Mobil's anti-discrimination policy, which referred to sexual orientation, and chose not to extend Mobil's domestic partner benefits to new employees. (Former Mobil workers continue to get domestic partner benefits.) Its actions have put ExxonMobil is out of step with the biggest public companies. All but two companies in the FORTUNE 100- Plains All American Pipeline, an energy firm based in Houston, is the other exception-prohibit discrimination against gays. So do at least 16 states and the District of Columbia. Meanwhile, 78 of the Fortune 100 offer health and other benefits to the same-sex partners of their employees. Among them are oil companies BP America, Chevron and Shell... An ExxonMobil spokesman declined, via e-mail, to discuss the issue. Exxon says in its proxy statement that the company "has zero-tolerance discrimination and harassment policies that are comprehensive in nature, rigorously enforced, and applicable to all employees." It goes on to say that those policies prohibit "discrimination or harassment for any reason, including sexual orientation." You've got to wonder. If ExxonMobil will tell its shareholders that it opposes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, why won't it put that into its employment policy to tell its workers the same thing?

Andrew Sullivan's essay on "Christianism" is getting quite a bit of mileage, as it should. I think it's a good one. He highlights a variety of perspectives that are likely uncomfortable with the "religious right" and draws a parallel between Muslim/Islamist and Christian/Christianist. A few excerpts:

The number of Christians misrepresented by the Christian right is many. There are evangelical Protestants who believe strongly that Christianity should not get too close to the corrupting allure of government power. There are lay Catholics who, while personally devout, are socially liberal on issues like contraception, gay rights, women's equality and a multi-faith society. There are very orthodox believers who nonetheless respect the freedom and conscience of others as part of their core understanding of what being a Christian is. They have no problem living next to an atheist or a gay couple or a single mother or people whose views on the meaning of life are utterly alien to them--and respecting their neighbors' choices. That doesn't threaten their faith. Sometimes the contrast helps them understand their own faith better. And there are those who simply believe that, by definition, God is unknowable to our limited, fallible human minds and souls. If God is ultimately unknowable, then how can we be so certain of what God's real position is on, say, the fate of Terri Schiavo? Or the morality of contraception? Or the role of women? Or the love of a gay couple? Also, faith for many of us is interwoven with doubt, a doubt that can strengthen faith and give it perspective and shadow. That doubt means having great humility in the face of God and an enormous reluctance to impose one's beliefs, through civil law, on anyone else... What to do about it? The worst response, I think, would be to construct something called the religious left. Many of us who are Christians and not supportive of the religious right are not on the left either. In fact, we are opposed to any politicization of the Gospels by any party, Democratic or Republican, by partisan black churches or partisan white ones. "My kingdom is not of this world," Jesus insisted. What part of that do we not understand?... I mean merely by the term Christianist the view that religious faith is so important that it must also have a precise political agenda. It is the belief that religion dictates politics and that politics should dictate the laws for everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike. That's what I dissent from, and I dissent from it as a Christian. I dissent from the political pollution of sincere, personal faith. I dissent most strongly from the attempt to argue that one party represents God and that the other doesn't. I dissent from having my faith co-opted and wielded by people whose politics I do not share and whose intolerance I abhor. The word Christian belongs to no political party. It's time the quiet majority of believers took it back.

Sullivan's viewpoint is complementary to that of Gary Wills (see earlier blog entry here), though Sullivan's is, I think, more satisfying as it seems to come from a sincere believer while Wills' has more of a taste of a professor's academic smugness. There's a follow-up to the Christianist essay here. And Hugh Hewitt takes offense here.

From an AP article of the same name by Mark Stevenson in The Washington Post:

Mexican President Vicente Fox backed off signing a drug decriminalization bill that the United States warned could result in "drug tourism" and increased availability of narcotics in American border communities. Fox reversed course Wednesday and said he was sending the bill back to Congress for changes, just one day after his office had said he would sign it into law. The measure would have dropped criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs. Fox's statement said he will ask for corrections "to make it absolutely clear in our country, the possession of drugs and their consumption are, and will continue to be, a criminal offense."

Jon Stewart joked that the Mexican law would end the illegal immigration debate...the influx of illegal immigrants would be offset by Americans going to Mexico for the drugs.

From a Washington Post article of the same name reprinted in the Detroit news:

A new poll by scholars at Harvard University found that religion and morality are playing important roles in shaping the politics of college students of all political leanings. More than half the students interviewed at schools around the country said they are worried about the moral direction of the country. But the poll, conducted by the Institute of Politics at Harvard, also noted that students were sharply divided along party lines over whether religion ought to play a strong role in politics and government. Fifty-six percent of Republicans thought it should, but only about 20 percent of Democrats agreed. The poll found that college students did not fall neatly along liberal and conservative lines. While the largest group of students was still traditional liberals (44 percent), the numbers of religious centrists (25 percent) and traditional conservatives (16 percent) have grown in the past year. The number of secular centrists (15 percent) has declined.

There's an interesting article by that title in the LA Times a week and a half ago by Stephanie Simon. It describes a US church on the Texas/Mexico border (a sort of Spanish-style mega-church) made up of immigrants and children of immigrants, focusing on their views of politics and the immigration debate.

The stakes are high, but many here do not dwell on how changes in immigration law could affect their families. They ask instead: What would please God? Most come to an answer that represents a middle ground: not unequivocal amnesty but not mass deportation of illegal immigrants, either; better policing of the border, but not a wall stretching hundreds of miles... Tougher measures to halt illegal immigrants at the border are viewed as an act of Christian kindness. Too many men and women die trying to sneak across. Once they're here, too many are taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers. Too many have nowhere to sleep. ...Eleidy Olivarez, 35, a native of Colombia...can't accept a proposal to build a wall along the border. "God doesn't want to divide people," she said. But she would like to fine every illegal immigrant in the U.S., and use the money to hire more border patrol officers, install more security cameras and take other high-tech measures to police the Rio Grande. The congregation balances the call for a border crackdown with appeals to put illegal immigrants in the U.S. on a path to citizenship, as long as they work hard, pay taxes, learn English and stay out of trouble. Sonia L. Garcia, 49, makes the case for amnesty through theology: God demands reverence for life and for family. That's why she opposes abortion. And that's why she disapproves of the proposal to deport immigrants who have long since settled in this country: It could wrench parents from children, husbands from wives. "To me, abortion and immigration are issues of equal importance. We're talking about protecting the family," Garcia said. She came here from Mexico a decade ago to be with her parents and to make sure her two children learned English. She's now a legal, permanent resident, with the goal of becoming a citizen - and, she said, God has given her compassion for others who would like a similar chance. "The blessings of God come to us when we look down and say, 'I need to help you,' not when we look away," Garcia said.