Mixing Politics and Religion: Politicians Must Stop Playing God (6/22/07)
By Dean Hartwell
From the beginning of civilization to the present time, civilizations, especially those at war, have often believed that God was on their side. President Bush has told us that God is not neutral when it comes to terrorism. But who, exactly, is God?
If you ask different people about God, you get different answers. Some say that he is the Almighty and that he created the universe. Some add that he knows our thoughts and intervenes on behalf of those who believe in him. Others say that God created everything, then stayed out of what happened next or even became a part of nature. Still others say that there is no proof of God.
Can God be so many different things to different people or is it all a matter of perception?
Either God created discussion about him or discussion created God. If one believes, for example, that God created the universe, then it seems fair to ask who created God. If one believes that time suddenly started upon creation, it is at least interesting to ponder what took place before time.
Those who proclaim their faith, often political leaders, typically won’t touch these issues or they may say that “God works in mysterious ways.” Their response contrasts with scientists, who when asked a question they cannot answer, typically say, “I don’t know” much more frequently than the faithful.
Religious leaders, backed by politicians, have given us answers over the last hundreds of years as to how the world was created, how people came about and so on. In the United States and in other places in the world with similar religious and cultural backgrounds, the answers they point to have been in the Bible.
As one bumper sticker says, “God said it, I believe it and that settles it!” But is it really that simple? A read through the Old Testament makes me wonder what kind of God chooses “his” people and kills off their enemies, approves of slavery and constantly demands the sacrifices of animals to please him. In the New Testament, he has a son with a virgin woman and the son dies and comes back to life to save humans from sin.
The New Testament God sounds more pleasing and, indeed, many millions of people believe the story as a matter of faith. But the logic falters. The whole concept of sin comes from the now-discredited Old Testament story that humans are stained with sin because of the actions of the first two people, Adam and Eve. The theory of evolution, tested and found by scientists to be the best explanation for the start of the human race, displaces the story of Adam and Eve and thus sin.
On the other hand, if God does not exist, then where do ideas of him come from? People want to avoid subjectivity, for one thing. Human interaction often revolves around the concept of intent, or what is inside one’s mind. When people make contact, for example, they want to know if the other person intended it. Typically, wrongful actions stem from an intent to hurt another, an idea shared by believers and non-believers alike.
Rather than place confidence in the person who alone has the answer, people probably began to feel a need for an entity that knew all and could be appealed to for truth. Those who wrote the Bible (as a way of explaining religion and history) point to this need by telling us that the tribes of Israel often drew lots to determine who was at fault. They tell us the people believed that God chose the lots.
Likewise, even though most people believe in the virtue of love, rare is the person who can express it to those who have harmed them. When early people killed other members of their tribe, who could stop the families of the victim from exercising one of the most basic forms of human emotion, revenge?
Again, the early people likely made an appeal to a being who would someday make everyone pay for their wrongs. Thus was born the concept of Judgment Day, which lingers for some who believe in God even today.
And, how to get people to help the unpopular people (like lepers) in society? Early people probably found a way by promising rewards to healthy people who would get close to them and try to cure them. Thus was born the concept of heaven. And, since some people respond better to punishment than reward, the early ones threatened others with hell.
People who believe they have faith are not the problem. The real problem is that people speak of God despite not knowing or questioning much about him. People of faith sometimes tell us of a God who is all-powerful and all-knowing and permanent. But they often stretch him to support any idea they associate with faith. This malleability explains how the United States once fought on Osama bin Laden’s side against the “godless” communist Soviet Union but now target bin Laden and his band of “evil doers.”
History tells us of churches who shut down books that questioned official religious doctrine. Scientists like Galileo, a religious man, had to write findings that contradicted the Bible in obscure languages to avoid detection. People can claim to have faith, and even benefit from the belief, without attacking the facts of science. Instead, all too many believers in Congress act like the former Senator Rick Santorum. A Catholic, he opposed evolution even though the late Pope John Paul II supported it.
We should not let politicians or anyone else define God for us. It may be true that we will never have a consensus of who God is or is not. But when anyone stands up and opposes the forces of logic and reason and directs us to go to war or act with hatred toward anyone without explaining it, it is time to call them on it and to ask them to stop playing God.