Keeping the faith amid a heated debate

I have read the many differing political views of our community’s religious leaders and I see how deeply and differently our faiths can influence our politics, affecting our choices and behaviors.

At the same time, we all experience varying degrees of inconsistency or contradiction between what we say we believe and what we do. As a minister, I am always trying to practice what I preach. Some days I am more successful than others.

Inconsistencies between the values we proclaim and the way we live our lives can be a source of creative tension, motivating us to grow spiritually and morally. If they are too great, the inconsistencies can be so painful that they result in hypocrisy, defensiveness and judgments against others.

It’s hard to be spiritually mature in a heated political debate. It can bring out the worst in us.

As I read long ago: The challenge of a heated political debate is to have our faith inform our politics without letting our politics be our faith.

In an article in Tricycle magazine, a Buddhist journal, an author wrote of the inherent pitfalls of mixing Buddhism with politics. I think his perspective applies to all of our religions. “The basis of religion is morality, purity and faith, while that of politics is power.” The author then admonishes us not to expect from politics what we must gain from spiritual practice. “No political system can bring about peace and happiness as long as the people in the system are dominated by greed, hatred and delusion.”

Howard Thurman said, “Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve, that in good times or in tempest, I may not forget that to which my life is committed.” Well, I think our present political scene qualifies as “a time of tempest.” … We need to remind one another “not to forget that to which our lives are committed.”

We are a diverse community theologically, politically, spiritually. Yet what I hope we have in common is that we all practice our individual faiths to move ourselves ever closer to being the best human beings we can be – even though there may not be any consensus on what that “best” looks like!

The president of our Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, the Rev. William Sinkford, circulated a pastoral letter recently to all our member churches. He is concerned about the divisiveness of the present political campaign. He wrote:

“Since our congregations opened their doors for the new church year … they have been ministering in a deeply divided nation. The United States seems to have vanished beneath the battle lines drawn between blue states and red states, conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans.

“Most destructive and divisive in this political campaign is its tone of fear and fundamentalism – the notion that there is only one way to be religious, only one holy scripture worthy of being followed. Only one way to be patriotic. Only one way to be a family. And, sadly, only one way to be an American.

“We religious liberals share our pews with those who do not share our theology. Liberal Christian, Jew, humanist, Buddhist, pagan – all find a home in our UU congregations. We know pluralism as a blessing, and our lived experience, that our differences need not divide us, is a great gift that we can offer this campaign-scarred nation.”

We need to embrace our differences. The strength and effectiveness of our democracy is historically grounded in our right, in our courage, to disagree. Whatever our faiths, whatever our politics, this nation needs us all to stand purposefully on the side of respect. The strength created by our commitment to respect our difference is a powerful antidote to hate and fear. In the days to come we will all need to do our part to bless and make whole a country wounded by partisan conflict and weary of division. We must not expect our political system to bring about peace and happiness when we the people continue to be dominated by greed, hatred and delusion. At his inauguration John F. Kennedy said, “On this earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

I offer these words excerpted from Sinkford’s letter to remind us all of God’s work in the days and weeks to come.

“Let faith, hope and love abide with us. May we open our hearts, finding there the discipline to avoid stridency, which deepens not understanding but widens the chasms between us.

“May we open our hearts, finding there the courage to join our hands with other people of faith with whom we do not always agree, knowing that to clasp hands with others is to extend our reach farther than we ever could alone.

“May we open our hearts, finding there humility, knowing that many who disagree with us are grounded in a faith as deep as our own.

“May we always acknowledge and honor the humanity of those with whom we disagree. May we remember what religion is: a binding together of that which has been sundered. For in this remembering, we lay wide the possibilities for reconciliation and healing.”

The Rev. Elaine Beth Peresluha is minister of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor. She may be reached via bdnreligion@bangordailynews.net. Voices is a weekly commentary by five Maine columnists who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life.