The Tower and the Booth.

While surfing the web I came across a posting by Stephen Mack (Stephenmack.com), which opened with some highly blasphemous claims. In his opening remarks on is August 14 post “Wicked Paradox: The Cleric as Public intellectual” (http://www.stephenmack.com/blog/archives/2007/08/index.html) he compares a prayer tower to a voting booth. Right off the bat I found this offensive. I am not a particularly religious person myself. My mom used to make us go to church every Christmas Eve and Easter, but I hardly count myself among the believers. With that fact understood I would like to say that I have the utmost respect for people with strong religious convictions. It takes a much less selfish individual than I to give part of yourself over to faith and piety. When Mack made the claim that the political experience is analogous to a religious experience I automatically laughed.

How can one compare God to a political party? God, the creator of the universe versus politics, the creator of the official separation of conservative and liberal thinkers. The answer seemed obvious. But I have to say, after further thought; I have come to the decision that my gut reaction may have underestimated the power of politics.

America was founded by a group of people seeking religious freedom. But they were not seeking to change their religious beliefs, or to make radical change in their faith; they wanted freedom from a political system that oppressed their religious beliefs. They were willing to cross a seemingly endless ocean for the chance to have the political freedom to practice their religion.

One of my first qualms with Mack’s argument was that politics could never inspire the amount of dedication and selflessness that religion has shown in spades. Millions of people throughout history have died for their religious beliefs. Wars have been fought for it. People have been tortured for it. Innocent blood has been shed, all for the abstract concept of faith. Countless men and women have martyred themselves with absolute certainty that they were doing right by their God. The Crusades, the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, The genocides of Rwanda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide) and Darfur; all of these held religious motives as their starting point. Although these events are some of the lowest points in human history, they also illustrate the awesome power that religion commands. To be able to elicit hate and terror based on an abstract belief system is truly outstanding. Could politics claim such fervor and atrocity?

I started to think about all of the American wars that I have studied. WWI and WWII, the Vietnam War, The Revolutionary War, the Civil War and our ongoing war in Iraq. Our American blood was shed, not for the higher power of God, but for freedom and democracy and our American dream. People of all religions and cultural backgrounds came together to protect these values that we hold just as closely to our hearts as any person of faith holds their religion. Hate spewed through the well-aimed snipers and the blunt bombs that represented our political beliefs. God forbid anyone try to destroy or tamper with our democracy. In Iraq right now we are fighting to establish democracy at the cost of our own men. In Vietnam we sacrificed thousands of our young men in an effort to save a country from the long arms of communism. The world of politics has its own martyrs as well. Abraham Lincoln, JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. all died for our country, fighting to protect the freedoms and liberties that we all deserve. They protected the Constitution of the United States and they delivered equality. In answer to my own question I believe that politics does inspire fervor. I believe that it can create atrocities.

But does that make it equal to religion? I think after all of the reflecting I have done I am still at a loss in regards to this question. I believe that religion is more powerful, but I can’t seem to prove it. And yet, maybe I have just answered my own question once again. The point of religion is faith. In believing what you cannot see. In putting your trust in a higher power. Even our American currency carries the phrase, “In God We Trust.” You can’t touch religion. God is not going to run for office. He doesn’t have campaign slogans or interested investors backing him financially. There might be conservative and liberal Catholics, but they aren’t fighting over amending the bible. Some things are sacred. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that our constitution changes as we mature as a country. Evolution is a sign of intelligence. Debate is important. It keeps people interested and involved. Political parties force people to make decisions about their beliefs. But people shouldn’t be looked down upon for using their religious beliefs as a deciding factor in their political beliefs; it is inevitable that they should be important in informing their decisions. So here they are together again, the prayer tower and the voting booth. How strong are your convictions? Would you be willing to fight for either?