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.