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Dear America,
All my life I have striven to understand how conservatives could believe what they did. I could not see how they could validate their overarching principles if they were in touch with the real world, and the inability of progressives...my inability...to persuade them of the fundamental, logical error of their belief system has baffled me. Certain truths have seemed to me to be "self evident" all my life, and I have been unable to comprehend how such axiomatic precepts could be ignored by the other political pole. But I came to realize over the course of the current political dialectic-- the argument between the two main political schools of thought aimed by each at wresting control of the American political process from the other-- that the disparity between what I consider compellingly rational-- and more importantly, moral-- and what the conservatives in this country do is not a matter of recognition of the truth or of the facts as they are. What's more, it is not just a matter of differing opinion on the salient issues. It does not matter whether consumption creates jobs or suppliers create them leading to consumption. It does not matter whether more people receive food stamps today than received them ten years ago, nor is the shape and form of welfare, Social Security or Medicare really the issue. It is rather a matter of the most fundamental orientation of the psyche of each of us. I have both thought and said that the next election will be a determination of what kind of a nation we are, and I still believe such to be the case. But the nature of the outcome will actually be even more fundamental than that.
I would posit the notion that there are two kinds of Christianity. There is the kind that begins with a capital C and then there is the kind that begins with a small c, and while the two coexist in many people, it is not necessarily so for just as many, if not more of us. I recognize that you may find the distinction I am about to make sanctimonious and unacceptable, but to me it is an epiphany, and it has helped me not just to understand the variegation in the American polity, but to come to terms with it and accept it as expository of the polarity in our culture that has revealed itself so clearly over the past three years. The Christians are those for whom the tenets of organized religion are mandatory and irreducible. They proudly call themselves advocates for "family values," which they associate with the churches to which they belong, at least most of the time. They put money in the collection plate, say grace before they eat, refrain from swearing, don't indulge in premarital sex, or at least don't talk about it openly, and they respect their elders, which includes the nation as expressed in a certain kind of chauvinism...the kind that supports country without question unless those running the country are themselves asking questions about it. And they are proud of who they are, which is somewhat paradoxical in itself. They are not bad people, though I have to admit that I have gone through periods in my life during which I thought that they were. They are not even misguided. They are just conservative. They do not believe in situational or relative morality. To them, morality is an absolute, and when they have trouble determining what is moral in particular circumstances, they pray to the heavens for guidance in deciding rather than examining the world around them. They do not accept variance from their theism as a moral choice, and therefore find the rest of us lacking...so much so that they would enforce their attitudes as a matter of law if they could. Belief in God is a fundamental and necessary element of virtue for them, and in fact is the first qualification, the sine qua non for any claim of virtue. Apostasy can be forgiven so long as the apostate begins and in the end returns to his belief in God. Sin can be tolerated as long as forgiveness is sought, and return to the values of God and church are ultimately manifested in the sinner. Lapses in judgment, unkindness, lack of charity, depravity, prevarication and outright lying can all be overcome by demonstration of religiously defined virtue in the aftermath. Even pride-- the first of the seven deadly sins according to the Book of Proverbs in The Bible-- is acceptable if it is in the right thing. Capital C Christianity is doctrinal...like coloring between the lines.
On the other hand, there is christianity with a small c. That is what I am: a small c christian. We are more interested in what I refer to as secular humanism than in what capital C's call "values." To us small c's, the issue is not whether God approves of a thing, but rather whether we think it is right. Of course without some God to advise us, we may be lacking the kind of certainty from which capital C's seem to take great comfort. We writhe over our perceptions of injustice and inequality without much consideration of who deserves what and whether "free will" is what gets us where we are rather than the collective effect of all the circumstances of our lives, many of them-- as we perceive them-- with ineluctable effects on us that vitiate any will that we might muster, free or otherwise. To us, the question is not who qualifies for what, but whether everyone has enough, and accretion of wealth is something that we would love to accomplish, but not at just any price. We believe in reward for work, but we do not believe in reward for ownership of capital, especially when that ownership is a result of birthright rather than earned right. And ironically, we small c's believe that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is rich man to enter the gates of heaven, at least for a rich man who covets and accrues more than he can ever use just so he can have it...something wholly acceptable, even laudable, to many capital C's. We believe that what people do in the privacy of their lives is their business as long as no one gets hurt by it, and that even the capital C's have the right to be who they are without interference as long as they leave us un-interfered with.
When I speak in terms of Christians, or christians if you prefer, I include us all: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Gnostics and agnostics, even atheists. And I chose Christians for small and large c's, but I could have chosen Jews for large and small j's or Muslims for large and small m's. It's all the same. The question is, do we believe in dogma or doctrine, in ritual or practice, in rites or rights, in the pride of sanctity or in doing what sanctity requires of us. We are at a crossroads, America, and I must confess, I am afraid.
Your friend,
Mike
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