Religious Freedom Part III

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In my last 2 posts I have spent some time developing my thoughts on religious freedom; from what I believe were the intentions of our founding fathers  to the views of the Catholic Church in regards to Religious Freedom in the last several centuries.   In this post I am going to struggle to give voice to what should be our response as Catholics to the exhortation of Jesus that I have quoted above.  How do we become salt and light for the world?

First let us look at what Jesus said about Authority in his time:

And they sent to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying: Master, we know that thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou dost not regard the person of men. Tell us therefore what dost thou think, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? But Jesus knowing their wickedness, said: Why do you tempt me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the coin of the tribute. And they offered him a penny. And Jesus saith to them: Whose image and inscription is this? They say to him: Caesar's. Then he saith to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God, the things that are God's.

So Jesus is saying that we must follow legitimate authority “rendering the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar”.  He does not end there but goes on to make the secondary assertion that we must also follow God’s authority as believers. So the Christian has the unenviable task of being dual citizens, first of the Secular State and then of the Church.  Many times we feel at odds with this dual citizenship, and we struggle to live our Christian witness in the secular world.  Some people think that the answer to that struggle is to work towards a government that reflects our beliefs and so they actively step out with the mission of transforming the secular world into a reflection of their Christianity through political action.  Elections become more about checking off a checklist of policy positions then voting for the right candidate for the job.  Is the candidate Pro-life – check, is the candidate Pro-religious freedom, check, is the candidate Pro-traditional marriage, check. 

There must be a better way to choose our elected officials.  We must do the work not just work the checklist.  What do I mean by that – I mean that we need to know our candidates. Not just their positions, but who they are, how they live their lives, are they good citizens in their communities, and do they answer the call of the “least of these.”  We must know their message, not only the one that they speak on the campaign trail but, the one that they speak through the witness of their lives regardless of their religion..  We must answer for ourselves if that message resonates with the social message of Jesus and the witness of our Christian lives.  If we cannot answer that with a resounding “Yes” then we have a duty to vote no.  To do otherwise is to make a deal with the devil. Voting for candidates that do not reflect good moral values in their lives, because they commit to voting the way our checklist demands is wrong and we betray our Christian witness. 

Now we may not find a candidate that shares our faith, or every view on policy that we do, but we can vote for the candidate who lives a moral life and shares our commitment to that basic message common to all people of good will.

But choosing the right candidates for office is only one of the responsibilities we have as we live our Christian witness.  So let’s speak about some of the others. 

“A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

As Christians we are called to build the kingdom of God. In fact many of us pray for that every day when we say that beloved prayer the Our Father: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” But how do we do this?  The answer is simple we do this by truly following Christ and being like him, that is what it means to be a Christian. Jesus’ ministry was one of mercy, healing and forgiveness, he healed the sick, fed the hungry,  forgave sinners, and showed us how to love God and one another.  We are called to live this message every day of our lives by helping our fellow human beings, by recognizing the face of Christ in every one we meet.  As Christians we cannot pick and choose when we will be Christian.  We cannot turn our backs on those needing health care, better wages, education and justice because it may be inconvenient to us to work towards those goals or that the cost seems to be outside of our budget. 

Many on the Evangelical Right attach themselves to the message of Jesus when it comes to sin and its condemnation but forget the message of Jesus when it comes to Mercy and helping those who have little.  They stand in their temples and puff out their chests and pray like the Pharisee of old:  “God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I receive.”  But they do not feed the poor, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger or do any of the other works of mercy that Jesus himself said would open heaven to them. 

We need to come back to the true message of Jesus and remember that true citizenship in the kingdom is not about changing laws and forcing people to be moral.  It is about showing people love and mercy and drawing them to Christ through the witness of our lives and how we love one another.