Thursday, September 09, 2004

 

MY REACTION TO CLAIMS OF CHRISTIAN FAITH

It has been written that we liberals are uncomfortable when a politician expresses a deep faith in a religious belief. This is at least partly true in my own case. I have been wondering why. Is there something in my own background that leads me to have such a reaction? What is my reaction - is it simply discomfort or is it skepticism, disbelief, and scorn?

I have to compare my reaction to President (then candidate) Bush’s assertion that Jesus Christ is his moral philosopher to statements of religious belief made by the Rt. Rev. Desmond Tutu, the (retired) Anglican archbishop of South Africa. I have watched television interviews with Bishop Tutu. He expressed his faith in God, and I was not in the least bothered. I accept his assertion of religious belief as genuine. I also consider that his religious faith leads him to do things that are beneficial to other human beings. Why don’t I give President Bush’s assertions of his religious faith the same credence that I give Bishop Tutu’s?

I searched my memory and thought of a reason. When my grandfather died in 1924, my father inherited his business. The business was the sale of farm implements, such as grain binders, disks, plows, and the like to farmers who lived near our village in Michigan. My father had the franchise from International Harvester Company. A competing business, located across the street, had a franchise from another large firm. To compete effectively, my father had to provide good service. When there was a problem with an implement, my father would go to the farm, inspect the implement, and get it working again. He gained a reputation for repairing equipment that lasted the rest of his life.

My father told me once of a conversation he had with another business man in the village. This man was a partner in a hardware business. He was also a very public member of one of the local churches. He advised my father (my father said to me) to join a church because it would be good for business. My father thought that this man was a contemptible hypocrite to use such an important thing as religious faith for commercial purposes.

Obviously, during my formative years, my moral philosopher was my father. I accepted his condemnation of the hardware partner as a phony. When I see or hear Mr. Bush asserting his Christian faith, I am reminded of the hardware partner.

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