As the post-Inaugural rancor-and-shrill show volumes up to a distilled deafening hysteria on the InterWebsNet megaphone, things are betting Biblical. It’s not politics or policy: it’s Good and Evil. Well, at least Evil.
In terms of expressing religious faith, I think of politics being the last best use of my favorite description of WASP etiquette: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” I see no upside in commingling the most exquisitely profane human endeavor, politics, into universal faithful messages of morality and grace. So when the word “Evil” is invoked for a politician (or whatever President Trump is) I cringe.
For me, faith is completely wrecked in politics — on every level. I am queasy over “In God We Trust.” I think of the “religious right” or “liberation theology” as great enabling buzzkills to convert the agnostic straight to atheism. Political discord is healthy. Biblically allusive self-righteousness is toxic.
This article first appeared on Mockingbird.com on Feb. 2, 2017
