One of the better reflections I’ve seen lately on our political process and its fundamental dysfunction:
The Idolatry of Politics and the Promise of the Common Good
by Jim Wallis 05-03-2012
Politics is a true American idol, and the 2012 presidential election will be a dramatic demonstration of that reality.
Simply put, we create an idol when we ascribe attributes or place hope in persons or things that should belong only to God. People of faith may be tempted to worship at the altar of politics, but make no mistake: The kingdom of God and the kingdoms of politics are never one and the same. Our worship of God rightly should shape our engagement with politics, but when politics shapes our religion it distorts our service (and worship) of the One True God.
Left and Right are political categories — not religious ones. Attempting to mold faith to fit those labels distorts its meaning and power. The purpose of the Religious Right — to identify faith with one political party, the Republicans — was a blatant act of idolatry from its inception. And when the much smaller, less organized so-called “Religious Left” tries to create a mirror image of the Religious Right for the Democrats, it makes the same theological mistake.
Rather than becoming ersatz chaplains and enablers of political idolatry, the faith community should confront it. Politics is anything but a monotheistic enterprise — its idols are legion. There are idols of money over democracy, of celebrity over leadership, of individualism over community, of ideology over civility, and of winning over governing.
When conflict arises in our society, each political side invariably does two things: Make us afraid of the problem, and then blame it on the other side. What they don’t do is work together to solve the problems — they are always running to win, rather than finding (or creating) solutions for the common good.
Read the rest here.
