The life of the Spirit shows up in collective ways, communal ways, through religious traditions and groups. This human response to the great mystery is inevitably flawed. But it is the way human beings express, pass on and share their common life in faith. This is certainly true for Christians as they have formed and reformed into multiples of denominations.
These forms and traditions manifest locally and globally. We know them from local congregation to religious issues appearing on the national or world stage. Religious leaders and thinkers have a responsibility to continually consider and critique these movements to assess their veracity, to keep ourselves honest, to reach for the best and correct the worst.
From the beginning our country has always maintained strong protections for religious liberty, even as we have also maintained a measured caution about it becoming overly influential in the halls of government. Religious persons are expected to bring their perspectives and values into the public market place and participate as citizens. We are not, however, intended to create any kind of state church, a theocracy, in which a narrow group of religious voices becomes the exclusive voice of the religious community.
In past decades various administrations have leaned one way or another as regards emphasis, values or social philosophy, but in the main we have always included a broad spectrum of religious voices around the proverbial table. Certainly that was true in both the Bush and Obama administrations. The Office for Faith Based Initiatives reflected a broad table of religious diversity. That kind of table insured that our country's emphasis around religious concerns was balanced.
This present moment represents a vast departure from that previous balance. There is no broad religious representation. Rather, today's situation includes a tightly knit club of one spectrum of Christian leaders and virtually no interfaith presence. This provides one narrow religious voice. Compared to virtually every previous American generation this is unprecedented. And it is dangerous.
Anytime a religious group or movement becomes too cozy with government it is dangerous - for both. The non-establishment clause of the First Amendment is there for a reason; government should not establish or be controlled by any one religious voice. In addition, too close a relationship turns religious groups and leaders into lap dogs for political leaders - they lose their integrity and freedom.
The most conspicuous sign of this present religious danger is the decision to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem. This move was ill considered, did not include the many religious voices and interests of the region, and most importantly was determined by one American religious ideology. The end times scenarios of very conservative American evangelicals include certain developments in Israel. These moves are not made out of great consideration for the Israeli people or the region. They are required to fulfill their own prophetic ideology, one that is not shared by many other Christians and certainly not by the adherents of other faiths.
At the same time that the Jerusalem move was made to placate that very particular religious constituency, in effect foreign policy dictated by one slice of American Christians, our Department of State and other governmental representatives voiced flagrant disregard for other religions, people, groups and long-standing tensions in the Middle East. The evangelical preachers chosen to preside at the opening of the embassy embodied the very worst expression of religious bigotry in their many past public statements. These actions will inevitably create additional tensions in the region and undermine any future possibility for a two state solution with Palestinians. The American role in any peacemaking in the future has been jeopardized.
This is a dangerous religious time at home and abroad. I pray that people of good will and especially thoughtful and balanced people of faith will correct this as soon as possible. The American soul depends on it. And so does any hope of peace in the world.
