Saturday, May 16, 1998

To be heard, religions must have something to say

By MICHAEL O'CONNOR
Abilene Reporter-News

Our editor recently passed along an interesting discussion on religion and the media. Though little in the piece was new -- someone figured out a few years ago that we in the media had been ignoring a huge aspect of American life -- one statement stuck with me and has haunted my thoughts for weeks.

One of the participants in the reported forum insisted that religious groups, mostly Christian churches but also other religious traditions, needed to help the media and secular society understand just why they insisted on making pronouncements about nonreligious issues. I don't remember if he gave specific examples, but I would assume that the primary issues involved would be abortion and the role of homosexuals in society, though religious groups often speak out about poverty, abuse, child care and other social issues.

The problem here is that we have allowed our thinking to be skewed to believe a separation can be made between the sacred and the secular. Our love for the doctrine of the separation of church and state has blinded us to the reality that all of life is ultimately about religion.

Those who are not involved in organized religions, or who are not "spiritual," don't understand this. But the person who declares unbelief is making a statement of faith as surely as the congregant who recites a creed in church.

All the religious traditions understand that what we believe and trust in -- our faith -- impacts how we live in concert with others. Belief in God -- by whatever name we use -- demands certain actions, whether those actions are the oppression of the poor mandated by the caste system or the liberation of the oppressed called for by Christianity. That the traditions do not agree does not mean they should be denied the opportunity to speak to society.

Nor does it matter that some segments of society deny the importance of any tradition identified as religious. At the least, the same amendment that guarantees freedom of religion also guarantees free speech -- the right for anyone, "religious" or not, to make pronouncements on just about anything.

What religious traditions and their spokesmen need to do is make reasoned statements free of inflammatory statements, especially when dealing with the "nonreligious." Christians seem to be the worst about inflaming an argument. Given the conservative understanding that they hold absolute truth, this hardly seems surprising.

Few other religions are as confrontational with society as Christianity is, from the conservative crusade against abortion to the liberal concern for the poor. But it needs to realize that simply decrying sin will not affect much of the change it seeks.

Christians could learn a lesson from their founder. What we know of Jesus from the New Testament shows a man who saved his harshest and most inflammatory comments for the leaders of his own religion. Though he often helped sinners to understand their plight, you would be hard pressed to find him being as harsh with them as he was with Jewish leadership.

Religion needs less to convince society it should be allowed to speak as it does to convince society it has something worth listening to.