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May 14, 2008
Faith, Hope, Change and Pandering
John Hobbins may like being pandered to but I sure don't (like him being pandered to). I understand why Barack Obama is running ads that say things like, "My faith teaches me that I can sit in church and pray all I want, but I won't be fulfilling God's will unless I go out and do the Lord's work." After all, he needs to inoculate himself against abhorrent rumors and claims concerning his religion.
But holy cow, I sure hope he's getting his policy positions from a sober analysis of the facts and pragmatic options and not from some understanding of God's will. Too many people use "God's will" to cover a multitude of sins one of which is referencing God's will.
Why can't we have a politician who doesn't give me the heebie-jeebies. The odds are overwhelming that I will vote for Obama in the general election should, as seems likely, he be the nominee of the Democratic Party. By the way, Hillary Clinton isn't any better when it comes to this kind of stuff. But the alternative to either Obama or Clinton is far too worrisome and, in my view, has failed to address most of the issues that confront my country and our world in constructive ways. But I'm far from happy about these kind of ads.
I do wish that all religions would take up Mark Twain's suggestion and add one simple commandment near the top of their list. For the sake of clarity, Twain even offered a helpful, if short, interpretation of his suggestion.
"Ye shall be indifferent as to what your neighbor's religion is." Not merely tolerant of it, but indifferent to it. [Mark Twain, a Biography]
Following this simple rule would greatly improve much of our life, particularly our public discourse on really important topics. And if Mark Twain isn't your favorite philosopher, you might prefer "Why Tolerate Religion?” by Brian Leiter. You can read a working draft at SSRN Electronic Paper Collection or the real thing in the forthcoming issue of Constitutional Commentary [25:1 (Winter 2008)].
Posted by Duane Smith at May 14, 2008 3:29 PM | Read more on Current Events |
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Comments
write my name in. i'd be a great president don't ya think?
;-)
Oh, and i'm with you on the pandering thing.
Posted by: Jim at May 14, 2008 6:35 PM
Wow. Most of that I like - except for the Mark Twain quote. Polybius said that true democracy required a reverence for the gods based on the experiences of ancient Greece. This will never happen when a society has a Twainian indifference.
I listened to Obama's church's Easter sermon. It was Jesus crucified, but not Jesus resurrected. In spite of the religious pandering, it seems to me that Obama's church is much closer to atheism than Christianity. BTW: Mark Twain's pastor, Henry van Dyke, shared a similar theology.
Posted by: Looney at May 14, 2008 7:21 PM
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