The recent election and inauguration of
a new president south of the 49th parallel has got me thinking a wee
bit about church and state—or religion and politics—and Canada-U.S.A.
relations.
I, like a lot of people in the U.S., Canada, and around the globe am
rather upset about the election results and inauguration of the new U.S.
president. It still seems rather surreal to me that our American neighbours
would choose the person they did to be their president for the next four years.
Someone who has no political experience, and his moral-ethical standards are at
best questionable and controversial, and at worst downright dangerous.
For example, there have been folks who have monitored what he has said
publicly on social media claiming that he has lied a lot; and there have been
alleged incidents of sexual abuse. Yet, his agenda to “make America great
again” seems to have appealed and still appeals to a lot of Americans.
What disturbs me most and perhaps others is the polarization of
Americans, and of everyone really, into “us” and “them,” and the blanket
demonization of “them,” so as to feed the fires of fear, hatred, xenophobia,
sexism, and religious discrimination, etc. Civilized political debate seems to
be abandoned, and the value of the common good: that we as human beings are all
in this together, and I may disagree with you adamantly, yet I still respect
you as a human being and want to continue to dialogue with you, and remain your
neighbour, friend, fellow citizen—which is a bedrock principle of any healthy
democracy seems to alarmingly be in grave danger of becoming an extinct
freedom.
Where is the church in relation to what is going on in the state these
days? Well, as a follower of Jesus I cannot in good conscience be an open
promoter of any particular political party or candidate. However, like Jesus,
like the Hebrew prophets of old, like those who signed the Barmen’s Declaration
during the Nazi regime in Germany, like such leaders as the Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., and a host of other less famous people of faith, I am
compelled by conscience to speak out against whatever powers and principalities
that would divide every human being into either an “us” or a “them.” Jesus the
Messiah of all humankind and his gospel, along with the Hebrew Bible prophets
give us our marching orders. As God’s people we are: forgiven sinner-saints,
called and gifted, graced and freed to speak truth to power, to transform
division into unity, to see every human being as a sister and brother created
in God’s image, to, in the words of Micah, “do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God,” to in the words of Jesus, “love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,” to boldly proclaim with Peter and the
other apostles our ultimate allegiance to the highest authority, saying, “We
must obey God rather than any human authority.”
Therefore, it is with all of this weighing heavy in the minds, hearts
and lives of many that I, along with a host of other members and advocates for
Amnesty International appealed to our Canadian prime minister to speak out for
justice and peace, unity and the common good, and respect for the human rights
of everyone when he meets with the U.S. president.
I shall
also be remembering them both in my prayers.
