Theology and Politics

Theology and Politics--ouch!

Read an article from USA Today (9/12/06) referring to the results of a study by Baylor University that has determined that "A person's image of God tells more about his or her social, moral and political views than religious denomination or other familiar measures." (That probably should be footnoted "in the United States.") The study finds that people (in the USA), based on responses to ten descriptions of "their personal understanding of what God is like", fall into four basic perceptions of God: God as 1) authoritarian; 2) benevolent; 3) critical; or 4) distant.

No wonder our social, moral and political view as a culture are such a mess. Only the Benevolent God (23 % of respondents nationally) appears to be capable of behavior that would be good news to anyone. As it has been said of Christianity (roughly paraphrased) "Great religion--too bad it hasn't been tried." With a majority of the respondents viewing God as authoritarian, criticial and/or distant, where's the hope for growth, for the future, for the life to come? And presumably one models one's behavior on that of the god one follows. Yep, that sounds like most of the politics I encounter: authoritarian, critical and distant. Also sounds like the way many people view our government--except for those who have good reason to view it as far too close to their daily lives.

The good news in this, I guess, is that theology is not just ivory-tower discourse. Theology actually has an impact on ordinary people's daily lives. Too bad so many of our churches, synagogues and mosques don't actually teach people to consciously reflect on what they believe, why they believe it, and how to decide for themselves what it -should- mean in their everyday decision-making. But then, people who are actually responsible grown-ups are so much harder to manipulate. And living an actual, responsible, grown-up life is such hard work. Maybe we should have a few words with God about that.