A Political-Religious Spat and its Solution
I CONFESS THAT, as I write this column, I have been ‘enjoying’ the recent spat between the President of the United States and leader of the largest Christian denomination in the world, Pope Leo XIV. Much of this has been defined in terms of disagreement over the legality, morality, and conduct of the war initiated by the American-Israeli decision to destroy the leadership and governance of Iran. The disagreement is profound. The pope has said God does not listen to those who wage war, and further, “Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth”. It was a clear shot across the bows which enraged the President. His response was a long screed declaring that the Pope was a loser, and then a tweet showing himself as a robed Jesus beaming healing light.
The Pope has declared his colours in other ways too. Christians, he says, should be embracing the stranger, feeding the hungry, and standing up for the neglected poor – actions that the current regime in the White House dismisses as being unworthy of government or even faith’s attention. The differences between the leaders are stark.
All of which raises the issue of whether Christian or, more broadly, religious faith, is a force for maintaining the status quo as defined by political rulers, or a movement for the transformation of accepted cultural norms. Political leaders tend to opt for the former, while more socially aware religious voices opt for the latter. This same tension was reflected for me recently when a conversation with a Muslim friend turned to a discussion about what are often called Gandhi’s Seven Social Sins. (They were in fact penned by an Anglican priest who preached about them in Westminster Abbey in 1925, but Gandhi, being better known, brought them to a wider public).
The Seven Social Sins are:
● Wealth without Work
● Pleasure without Conscience
● Knowledge without Character
● Commerce (Business) without Morality (Ethics)
● Science without Humanity
● Religion without Sacrifice
● Politics without Principle
The initial concepts specifying how we frame our social lives – wealth, pleasure, knowledge, commerce, science, religion, politics – require to be shaped by values (the ‘Without’… phrases) that provide us with purpose and render our social lives meaningful. Take science for example. Science is good and to be celebrated as a means for discovering how the world works at basic physical levels but, if it forgets the humanity which it is intended to serve, it becomes impersonal and even potentially misguided. Think of both the potential and the dangers of artificial intelligence which are coming to dominate much of our daily lives.
I suggest that the Seven Social Sins as they stand define rather well the presidential outlook on life – a suggestion that I feel sure would attract agreement by Pope Leo. Referring, for example, to the final ‘Sin’ – ‘Politics without Principle’ – many would agree that what we need is a whole lot more ‘principles’ if politics which can be trusted is to be once again assured of its decent and proper place in the hearts and minds of populations around the globe. Our social and cultural lives surely deserve this.
Revd Dr Alan Race, Reading Minster
Be the first to comment