Are you going to let your faith influence your decisions in public office?

With the 2011 municipal election coming up in three weeks, I am taking a break from my theological ramblings (that's the nicest thing I can say about them as a near theological illiterate) to talk about my views on faith and public office on the basis of my 24 years as a public school trustee, and a general interest in the topic.

I and many other politicians who make their faith a matter of public record are often asked the question in the title of this post. John F. Kennedy, the first (and thus far, only) Roman Catholic president of the United States, was hounded with queries about whether his religious beliefs would affect his presidency. A major speech he gave in 1960 to the Greater Houston (Protestant) Ministerial Assoc. more or less put an end to the controversy:

For contrary to common newspaper usage, I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.

Whatever issue may come before me as president — on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject — I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise.

But if the time should ever come — and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible — when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same.

But I do not intend to apologize for these views to my critics of either Catholic or Protestant faith, nor do I intend to disavow either my views or my church in order to win this election. (See the entire speech at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600).

First of all, where might one's faith even have an impact on the kinds of decisions that school trustees make? The number of instances is actually very small.

The characteristics which people of the Christian faith might see as part of being a faithful follower of Jesus are true of most of the world's religions, and widely held in pluralistic society generally; e.g., goodness, kindness, self-discipline, mercy, love, patience, respect for others, avoiding doing harm, respecting authority, and so on. This is what I would expect, given the Christian teaching that all of humanity is made in God's image. Whatever sinfulness may have eroded our humanity, there is much residual character in the human race.

Consequently, when first our Abbotsford Board of Education and later our city decided to pursue a "Communities of Character" initiative, there was no difficulty coming to consensus on the traits we hoped to promote, regardless of the adherence, or non-adherence, of any of the politicians and senior administrators to a particular faith tradition.

When we as a Board consider creating or revising policies, or hiring a new employee, it is such character traits as these that help guide our decisions. From the point of view of faith, there is little or no controversy.

Not that there haven't been controversies, particularly along moral lines. But did they have anything to do with faith? I'll look at these next.

Is there accountability in the life to come? - Old Testament indications 2

The Old Testament (a seminary professor of mine preferred the term 'Less Recent Testament' so as not to undermine its present relevance) contains endless admonitions to God's designated hitters (hey, the World Series is starting), the descendants of Isreal, to either stick with the programme or face certain ruin. I gave you a lengthy passage from Amos in my last post, but it is representative of similar warnings in all major sections of the OT--the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.

That is not to say that God enjoyed this method of keeping his people accountable. Having laid another whuppin' on his ne'er-do-well children in the prophecy of Hosea, his essential love and long-suffering are revealed in this anguished exclamation:

Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows (Hoseah 11:8).

It was because of this incredible patience and mercy displayed so often by God that even in the midst of traumatic times, the prophets held out hope that God's eternal covenant with his people would endure:

Lamentations 5:19-23 You, LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

Hosea 6:1-3 Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

We do have this solemn warning, nevertheless, that while God may restore his people even when they have tried him almost beyond endurance, individual members of his people may chose to forfeit that mercy, grace, and love. This indication that God will, in the final analysis, achieve his purposes without overriding an individual's free choice is found in the book of Esther. Queen Esther, Jewish queen to the Persian King Xerxes who was intent upon ridding the kingdom of Jews (not knowing that Queen Esther herself was Jewish), quails at the request of her cousin Mordecai to intervene on behalf of her race.

Mordecai, clearly referring to God's covenant of grace with his people, responds in the strongest possible terms:

Esther 4:12 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish.

The Old Testament speaks very little of eternity, heaven, the afterlife--whatever term you prefer. David speaks of being in the house of the Lord forever. The people of Israel longed for 'Jacob's rest'. But it is far and away an earthly book, a book of commands for living rightly, and ethical views of life. Accountability is discussed with reference to the here and now, not with the there and later.

But does God hold people accountable? Yes indeed. Does this change as we move into the Christian era?

Read on.

Is there accountability in the life to come? - Old Testament indications

We know that God is big on accountability. The Old Testament is replete with incidents of God's exasperating homies, the children (with all of the maturity that word entails) of Israel, blowing their privileges, and God, as it were, calling in the loan.

Consider, for instance, the prophecy of Amos. He looks at the perversion of Yahwehistic morality that had come to characterize the Israelites of the northern Kingdom, and notes that God had done everything to draw them back to himself, including the provision of a taste of what life is like without his love and protection. At last, he gives them up to their own choices:

Amos 4

1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,
you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”
2 The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness:
“The time will surely come
when you will be taken away with hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks.
3 You will each go straight out
through breaks in the wall,
and you will be cast out toward Harmon,”
declares the LORD.
4 “Go to Bethel and sin;
go to Gilgal and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three years.
5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering
and brag about your freewill offerings—
boast about them, you Israelites,
for this is what you love to do,”
declares the Sovereign LORD.
6 “I gave you empty stomachs in every city
and lack of bread in every town,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the LORD.
7 “I also withheld rain from you
when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
but withheld it from another.
One field had rain;
another had none and dried up.
8 People staggered from town to town for water
but did not get enough to drink,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the LORD.
9 “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
I struck them with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the LORD.
10 “I sent plagues among you
as I did to Egypt.
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the LORD.
11 “I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the LORD.
12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”

Big time accountability. There are dozens of examples like it. But does it end with the Old Testament?