by Delwin Brown
4. Whenever possible, Christians must give as much ground as possible. In short, we must compromise. Compromise is the effort to allow room for our differences, to open space for as many alternatives as possible. It is a decision not to chisel our particular conceptions of right and wrong into the hard rock of law.
There is a Christian reason for valuing compromise. It is the realization that we are all fallible, that none of us knows the pure will of God, that each of us is prone to hubris and selfdeceit, and that the point of view of the other person, even if he or she is wrong, can perhaps provide a critique of our excesses, our short sightedness, our own insufficiencies. If politics is the art of compromise, compromise is the art of acknowledging that we are human. In Christian terms, compromise is a way of confessing that we are all creatures with partial perspectives; we do not know the absolute truth.
5. Christians should never press to outlaw conduct unless it directly undermines the common good. This abstract rule was implicit in the prayer I heard recently offered by a very conservative Christian. The prayer came at the end of a heated discussion on same-sex marriage, which he believes to be morally wrong but does not think should be outlawed. He prayed, "Dear Lord, we are thankful that we live in a country that allows people to do things we believe to be sinful." The underlying principle is this: Never seek to outlaw something because we think it to be immoral, or we find it to be offensive, unless it directly threatens the common good. In this case the common good was the institution of marriage. This conservative Christian said his marriage, and that of any truly mature couple, could not he weakened because of the marriage of gays and lesbians, even if he believed same-sex marriage to be sinful.
The law is for the purpose of extending rights, not restricting them, unless doing so is essential for the general welfare on which we all depend, as in the case of murder, malicious harm and exploitation, various forms of deceit, economic injustice, and so on. The Christian reason for defending the extension of rights, not their restriction, is the same as our allowance for compromise. Our ways are not God's ways, our thoughts are not God's, so a restriction on anyone's freedom requires special, careful justification based on what is broadly affirmed to be absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the common good.
6. Christians should deliberate in community. More precisely, we should deliberate in a community where enough unity exists to make conversation possible, and enough difference exists to make conversation valuable. Deliberate with others who understand even though they may disagree. We need to test our views, and that happens best with others who differ with us.
Christianity at its best is communal in character and diverse in the makeup of its communities. It is communal because only in community can its message be sustained over time. It is diverse because only in difference can its message be protected from the sinful presumption of infallibility. Do not deliberate alone; deliberate with others, in a community, where our convictions are shared openly and tested honestly in the fires of caring criticism.
When Rules are Not Enough, and Why
What if these rules don't work?
Of course they won't work, always. Many times they will fail, if failure means eliminating difference, always getting the errors of others replaced by what we believe to be right. And even if differences are resolved and agreements finally achieved, new disagreements will arise. Why?
An answer is suggested in Genesis 2. The human calling, we noted in chapter 5, is to "name the animals"-to continue the creation using human ingenuity, guided by the commandments to love. We have eyes for seeing the facts, hearts for feeling the needs, and minds for evaluating the alternatives. We do not have blueprints for deciding the precise ways that life should be ordered. In some cases there is no "right" way. In others, there are several imperfect but workable alternatives. In some instances there probably is a distinct "best" but we lack clarity about what it is. Searching together for the most appropriate way to order life, in light of all the relevant facts and moral concerns, is the slow and tumultuous process through which the incarnate God has chosen, in and through us, to continue the process of creation. This is how compassionate social structures are created and re-created. This is the human vocation.
It is not surprising, then, that our cultural processes, small and large, are tumultuous. Anthropologists used to think of a culture as a harmonious unity, much like a tree with single branches and limbs connected to a trunk and a single set of roots. Now they know better. A culture is not like a plant with parts that tit nicely together. A culture is an ongoing debatelike labor/management negotiations, or conservative/liberal political dialogues, or, as we well know, the painful struggles within our churches. Life together, in the church or outside of it, is a process of fallible creatures seeking ever more adequate ways of living with each other and with the earth. It is a turbulent process. That is what scholars who study cultural processes have come to understand. 'that is what Genesis 2 should have led us to expect.
Having differences is not a sign of failure, nor is our inability to resolve them readily or finally. The political struggles we have, in the church and in the broader culture, are part of the process of divine creation. In our differences we are, together, ordering and reordering the world.
Progressive Christians must be in the thick of this naming process, as one equal partner in the task, bringing our witness to current ecclesiastical and national deliberations, along with those of many others. We dare not be lulled into silence. Our Christian voice is vitally important. It endeavors to speak reflectively on behalf of justice, repentance, inclusion, and healing. the progressive Christian witness is "good news" for everyone.
POINTS FOR REFLECTION
• 'There are good reasons for urging that religion be kept out of politics. The only problem is that it is not possible. But not all "mixing" of religion and politics is equal.
• How can we properly advocate our point of view in a democratic society where that viewpoint is not shared by all? 'Ihe secular humanist should face this question as seriously as should the Christian.
• My grandmother used to say, "'the ground is level at the foot of the cross" 'I he ground is also level at the foot of the flag pole, or it should be.
• We need to hear the secular humanists' stories of the Enlightenment and science, the Muslims' stories of the Prophet, the Jews' stories of the Torah, the evangelicals tell how Jesus changed them and pentecostals how the Spirit filled them.
• We do not disagree on everything, and our actual disagreements become exaggerated because we lose sight of what we share.
• If politics is the art of compromise, compromise is art of acknowledging that we are human. It is a way of confessing that we are all creatures with partial perspectives.
• Our ways are not God's ways, so a restriction on anyone's freedom requires special justification, based on what is broadly affirmed to be absolutely necessary for the common good.
• Having differences is not a sign of failure. The struggles we have in the Church and the broader culture are part of the process of divine creation. In our differences we are together ordering and reordering the world.
Notes
1. Gregory A. Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2006).
2. 'Ihe authoritative history of liberal Christianity in America is now a trilogy by Gary Dorrien, The Making of American Liberal Theology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, 2003, 2006).
3. Quoted in Donald W. Dayton, Discovering an Evangelical Heritage (New York: Harper & Row, 1976), 31-32, which is an excellent discussion of nineteenthcentury evangelicalism.
4. For a brief; eminently readable discussion by an evangelical author, see Harry R. Boer, Above the Battle: The Bible and Its Critics (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1977).
5. Hannah Arendt, "What Was Authority?" in Carl J. Friedrich, Authority (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958
), 81- 112.
6. James A. Sanders, Torah and Canon (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972).
7. See Werner Foerster, "Exousia;" in Gerhard Kittel, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964), 562-74.
8. See "Rebellion," chapter 4, book 5, in Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (New York: Bantam Books, 1970).
9. In addition to their own writings, a good introduction to Process and Openness theology is provided by a book that John Cobb and Clark Pinnock co-edited, Searching for an Adequate God (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2000).
10. Augustine, Confessions, 8. 5., in Library of Christian Classics, vol. 7 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1955), 164-65.
it. Alfred North Whitehead, Adventures of Ideas (New York: Press Press, 1961), 286.
Table of Contents
Chapter I
Chapter 2
Chapter;
Chapter 4
Chapter 5)
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
