Reticent Moderates Aren't Limited To Islam

The following was too good to just post an excerpt. It is because of people that ask questions like these that I believe we here can be successful in terms of being a helpful part of the whole.:

Reticent moderates aren’t limited to Islam
Saturday, July 23, 2005 The Columbus Dispatch
ANDREW BARNES

With each horror perpetrated against civilians in the name of Islam — from New York to Madrid to Beslan, Russia, to London — one question for many Americans is why there hasn’t been a stronger reaction from within the Muslim community condemning the attacks. Why don’t moderate Muslims call on religious leaders to condemn Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and their ilk and reclaim the mantle of Islam?

Before concluding that Islam is truly a violent religion and there really aren’t any moderate Muslims, American Christians should look at how those who speak for their religion in the political realm have changed in the past 30 years. In the Southern Baptist household and churches where I grew up, I learned that the world was a sinful place and often not a good model to follow, but I also learned that the solution was personal salvation through Jesus Christ. I was taught to live a godly life in an ungodly world, to be "in the world, but not of it," always recognizing that I would frequently fail but receive forgiveness and try again. Organized religion, then, was about providing social support for a lifestyle that was ridiculed (or tolerated as quaint) by the mainstream.

To the extent that Christianity was outward looking, it was about showing others in your daily life or convincing them through conversation that the path you had chosen — made possible by turning your life over to Christ — was a good one. It was decidedly not about using the power of government to remake society and change others’ behavior so that it would be easier to live an overtly Christian life.

Yet the loudest voices of Christianity in America today are the ones that advocate using the state to further God’s will. Organized conservative Christian groups openly endorse candidates they believe will "return morality" to public life. They support policies and judges who will make it easier to use public money for religious education and charity, reintroduce prayer in school, regulate personal relationships and teach a theory of creation and evolution derived from the Bible. The Texas Republican platform "affirms that the United States of America is a Christian nation."

Furthermore, they seek to foster a particularly narrow view of God’s will. They want the Ten Commandments in public places, but not the beatitudes or Jesus’ own first and second commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart," and, "Love your neighbor as yourself" with the understanding that neighbor includes even those who seem least lovable and least like you. They oppose abortion and euthanasia in the name of protecting life, but they support the death penalty and resist public support for people who are alive.

While the methods of conservative American Christians and radical Islamists are dramatically different, their goals are quite similar. They are not arguing that religion should inform their support of particular policies that could then be negotiated with others who do not share the same view. Indeed, such compromise is dangerous, dilutes the true teachings of God, and undermines the moral fabric of the country. Both groups argue that there is one correct set of policies and that, for the good of all citizens, the state should implement them.

Where, then, are the Christians who emphasize the loving, peaceful aspects of their religion and who think it is first and foremost a guide to personal behavior, rather than government policy? Are they invisible because there are no moderate Christians or because Christianity cannot coexist with other worldviews?

No. Many American Christians are nervous about the direction their country and the public face of their religion are heading, but there are several reasons their voices are not louder at the moment. Especially important, they are not well-organized, they fear being branded as traitors or as un-Christian, and they see some truth in the conservative Christians’ arguments. Maybe a healthy dose of biblical teaching in public life wouldn’t be so bad; it certainly couldn’t make things worse for moderate Christians.

I don’t know how many Muslims in the United States or abroad are dismayed at the actions taken by those claiming most loudly to speak for their religion. But the fact is that obstacles to political organization, fear of reprisals from peers and ambivalence about whether religion and politics should be separated are all likely to be more pronounced for moderate Muslims than for American Christians. Where are the moderate Christians in American politics? If we can answer that question, then maybe we’ll be closer to understanding why moderate Muslim voices usually are quiet, too.

Andrew Barnes is an assistant professor of political science at Kent State University.