Defenders of God
by John Pierce, Executive Editor,
Baptists Today
Strong opinions
about Alabama’s Chief Justice Roy Moore and his now-famous, hefty
display of the Ten Commandments that was installed in — and then
removed from — the state judicial building in Montgomery have
reached bumper crop proportions.
In fact, all 40
pages of this issue could have been filled with various perspectives
on the unflinching judge and his nearly 5,300-pound monument.
Seemingly every political pundit, religion columnist and social
commentator in America has had his or her say about it.
Most of
the comments were insightful and contributed well to this nation’s
healthy debate about religious liberty -- a cause near and dear to
Baptist hearts. It would be hard to have too much dialogue about the
delicate balance between granting free exercise of religion to all
Americans and avoiding the state’s sanction of one religious
expression over all others.
Beyond the
passionate debate surrounding this latest legal episode in the
ongoing church-state struggle is another subject worthy of
consideration. It is the people who emotionally defend the display
and grieve its removal from a government building.
They
surrounded the chiseled stone with prayers, songs, Bible readings
and even shouts of protest. Tears flowed when the workers slowly and
respectfully removed the display from public view.
Sure,
there are always those who show up anywhere news is being made and
cameras are present. And only God reads hearts and knows
motivations.
As with
most public protests, many of us wonder: “Don’t these people have
jobs, families, other responsibilities?”
But
apparently many good Christians were out in force due to the deep
convictions that their spiritual faith was under serious attack.
Repeatedly, they said so. Then they prayed, sang and cried some
more.
While I do
not share their opinion about the judge’s religiously motivated
display on government property, I can empathize with their fears. In
fact, there was a time in my younger years when I might have joined
with them.
You can’t
sing “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” all your life and then back down
when it seems like your faith is under attack. “Defending God” — as
ridiculous as that sounds to many of us — often draws more on
emotion than rational thought.
That is
especially true when faith anchors your soul from life’s storms and
you see so many others being swept about by frivolity and
unfaithfulness -- or worse, when you are confounded by religious
expressions that look and sound very different from the familiar
ways of faith.
Keenly
aware of the dangers of civil religion and proud proponents of the
principles of religious liberty — Baptists’ greatest contribution to
American society — many of us can easily stand in wonderment, or
even judgment, at those who tie their faith too closely to this
graven image. But a better response might be sadness.
Someone
advised me a couple of years ago to look upon ignorance with sadness
rather than indignation. It was good advice that helps me read the
news, watch televised preaching and come out of Baptist meetings
with a better heart.
It is a
perspective that brings out good characteristics like sympathy and
concern rather than anger or resentment.
Beyond the
attention-grabbing politicos and preachers that descended on
Montgomery recently was a bunch of honest, God-fearing Christians.
They thought they were defending God and a worthy cause.
From my
perspective, however, they were misguided. Rather, they were
defending a faulty and failed political philosophy that could bring
much risk to the faithful Christians of America as well as all of
our citizens.
A better
option would be to place such passion in a strong commitment to
church-state separation earnestly pushed by our Baptist forebears.
But,
clearly, that is not what they were thinking. In their minds, they
were standing up for Jesus “’til every foe is vanquished and Christ
is Lord indeed.”
That’s
sad. Because the best way to defend our own personal expressions of
faith is to make sure government stays out of all church affairs and
that religious liberty is available to every person.
Since
condemnation rarely opens doors, we would do better communicating
this important truth with more sympathy and concern for those who
have not yet made that connection.
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