Christian Politics **Must** Be Moral

I believe the following comments on Tim Keller’s NYT op-ed on Christian politics, are warranted:

(1) Keller is right to point out that “[t]he historical Christian positions on social issues do not fit into contemporary political alignments”. Consider issues relating to human life. Genesis 1:28 reveals that fertility within marriage is a divine command. Many natural lawyers of the early modern era stated that mankind “has not liberty to destroy himself, or so much as any creature in his possession . . .

“Every one, as he is bound to preserve himself, and not to quit his station wilfully, so by the like reason, when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.”

John Finnis has shown in many places that the unborn has a right to life. Now, when a major American political party promotes late-term abortion, can we say that the political position of a Christian on this issue is not a matter “of biblical command but of practical wisdom”? (See the lengthy quote above in regards to the examples Keller does mention in his article.)

(2) Keller is right that “there are many possible ways to help the poor”. However, it is not clear what he means when he writes ‘[t]he Bible does not give exact answers to these questions for every time, place and culture”. Keller’s example of the Misssisssipian reminds me of a quote from the late Francis Schaeffer, in which Schaeffer ended a question on a political matter with something to the tune of “However, I can see how someone might be a Democrat and a faithful Christian”.

Unfortunately, this is not the case anymore. A good man was recently accused of being a serial rapist on charges which a member of the US Senate’s investigative council found to be worse than the usual “he said, she said” case. Republican representatives demanded that the claims of the accuser be corroborated; Democrat representatives did not. Who do you think is bound by the dictates of justice.

I agree with Keller that “Christians should be involved politically as a way of loving our neighbors” and that we can turn to the Bible for “the resources to love people who reject both our beliefs and us personally”. However, I worry Keller is implicitly allowing Christians to idolize the god that failed.

Call for Papers: “Your Light Will Rise in the Darkness: Responding to the Cry of the Poor”

My friend notified me of this upcoming conference. Here’s the description:

“Among our tasks as witnesses to the love of Christ is that of giving a voice to the cry of the poor.”
~Pope Francis, Address to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 6/14/13

 

Inspired by the Pontificate of Pope Francis, the University of Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture is pleased to announce that its fifteenth Annual Fall Conference, entitled Your Light Will Rise in the Darkness:  Responding to the Cry of the Poor, will be held on October 30-November 1, 2014.  In our customary interdisciplinary fashion, this conference will take up a host of questions related to the human meaning of poverty and how to care rightly for the poor. These questions will be pursued in the contexts of philosophy, theology, political theory, law, history, economics, the social sciences, the biosciences, literature, and the arts.

 

We welcome the submission of abstracts drawing on a wide range of moral and religious perspectives and academic specialties. Possible issues to be explored may include:

• Who are “the Poor”?  Defining and Measuring Poverty

• The Preferential Option for the Poor

• The Meaning of “Spiritual Poverty”

• Assessing the “War on Poverty” on its 50th Anniversary

• The Metaphysics of Money

• Capitalism, American Democracy, and Catholicism

• Portrayals of Poverty in Art and Literature

• Poverty, Catholic Education, and Social Mobility

• Poverty and Health Care

• Poverty, Human Dignity, Inequality, and Justice

• Poverty and Abortion

• Poverty and Race

• Poverty, Marriage, and the Family

• Distributism and Catholic Social Teaching

• The Catholic Worker Movement

• Private Property, Poverty, and the Common Good

• Crime and Poverty

• The History of Poverty

• Globalization and Poverty

For those who believe that a separation between theology and economics is unnatural, this conference is worth checking out.