Lie to me some more

I’m not the type of person who usually writes on the talking points of the Sunday sermon, but this one was _too_ good. It was about politics, power and religion and it was one of the best off-the-cuff sermons I’ve heard in years: theologically sound, pertinent to current events, and passionate. It’s about where we’re going wrong as a culture.

My pastor had a different sermon planned for Sunday, one about stewardship and Christian responsibility, but the one he preached was about outrage and hypocrasy. The gospel scripture was [Matthew chapter 22, verses 15 through 21](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:15-22&version=31;). In the targeted passage, pharisees approached Jesus with a question that was deceptively simple: “Should we pay taxes to Caesar?”. Jesus chides them for attempting to trap him with a political question and asks for a coin, then asks whose face is on that coin. The answer: Caesar’s. He then says to give Caesar his due and to give God what is God’s. A simple answer, but one that speaks volumes.

What Jesus was doing was encouraging a separation between religious and secular law, something that is fairly unique for the time. Why? Because he knew that things get messy when religion and state get mixed. My pastor quoted a few news stories that made him more than a little queasy, one being the story of Reformation Ohio, with its kickoff on the statehouse steps. Another being the issue of Harriet Meier’s religion and George Bush’s whole pious “struggle” over her nomination. His message was this: Jesus said to keep religion and state separate for a reason and that reason is being ignored at our own peril.

Think about it–if religious systems affect the law of government, what’s to keep the government from mandating elements of religion? It’s happened in the past, with polygamy and Mormonism (really, why is it a big deal?), it’s happening with abortion, it’s happening with gay marriage, gay adoption and just gay rights in general, and it’s happening every day that any religious leader seeks to push their own agenda on the government. Does any of this make our lives better?

How does having a Supreme Court justice who will rule according to her religious beliefs do any of us _real_ justice? The labors of W. aside, it makes me uncomfortable when a justice has to pass [James Dobson’s](http://www.family.org/) muster, and when she goes through an unofficial litmus test to judge her fitness to judge that is based on the flavor of her religious beliefs. The idea makes me nauseous, even more than the reality that she is too inexperienced to judge traffic court, let alone sit as justice in our high court.

“Religious leaders” like [Rod Parsley](http://www.breakthrough.net/), [Pat Robertson](http://www.patrobertson.com/), Dobson and all their ilk are only hurting their congregations, as well as everyone that they seek to “save.” When they demand legislation that fits their beliefs, they’re going against the scriptures they claim to support.

The people who want the government to agree with their religious beliefs are tricky. They mask their agenda behind a do-gooder facad. You have to ask yourself, _what is their motivation?_ They’re in it for the power and the notoriety — the very things that their messiah [refused](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=4&version=31). Why do I say this? Because they _all_ want to be the one leading on the dance floor. If you’ve done ballroom dance or, for that matter the the high school slow dance shuffle, you know that only one person can lead. What will eventually happen, and whose flavor of religion will win out? It terrifies me too much to even think about it.

So why is all of this rambling even topical? Think about last Friday’s “Reformation Ohio.” [Rod Parsley lead a rally at the statehouse](http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/1015rally.html) about it, which automatically combines political and religious issues into one messy little gumbo. Parsley can deny it all he wants, but he’s trying to put his religion in my politics. Parsley denies any political agenda, but take a look at the [press release for Reformation Ohio](http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/10-12-2005/0004166876&EDATE=) and tell me that there’s no politics involved in voter registration by a religious group among the newly converted. Tell me that, as a person who has had the experience of being on the “right,” these people won’t feel swayed to vote as instructed. Tell me how Blackwell’s public support and endorsement are keeping that separation in tact. Close your eyes and lie to me some more.

This is dangerous stuff, boys and girls. It’s dangerous as sharp pointy teeth at your throat, just waiting to snap. As a Christian, I tremble at this sort of thing, and it’s not the good kind of trembling. It’s the kind that Margaret Atwood dreams about when she’s coming out of a writer’s block. It’s the stuff nightmares are made of, and people like Parsley, Dobson, and the rest of them want to bring into our waking lives.