Over the past week and a half, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, my hometown newspaper, has printed a series of letters to the editor that debate the divine providence of President Obama. The first letter to the editor, printed on February 9, was printed with the title, “Another Moses Is Chosen.” The writer says,
The handwriting is on the wall. God rules and super-rules all in the universe - past, present and throughout eternity.
When Barack Obama announced in February 2007 that he was running for president, some had doubts. Some were skeptical that this first-term Illinois senator, a black man, could lead a successful campaign for the country’s highest office. The naysayers said America is not ready. But it was not about what America wanted or was ready for. This is what God wanted and was ready for.
What Obama accomplished this year wasn’t supposed to happen, according to some, but it did. Some people see things as they are, but I see things as they ought to be and ask, why not? God has chosen another Moses to lead His people out of bondage. God is raising up a new nation, a young generation. God chooses whomever He pleases to lead His people.
The vision that God has given Obama has to do with things that do not yet exist in this country. However, by faith, I know we can achieve them. Obama has been commissioned by God to develop and embrace spiritual, physical and economic needs for His people. Then we will be able to shoulder some of our responsibilities, take spiritual steps toward financial freedom and reduce some of the stress and tension.
America, let us stay focused and be reminded that this is a new vision, a new direction, a new attitude, and we will see new results.
One of the criticisms leveled at Obama supporters during the election was that they were too “messianic,” and my gut-level reaction was that the SHJ, in no sense of the term a left-leaning newspaper, could claim to be representing multiple viewpoints but was really inviting criticism and continuing to paint the supporters of the President as under a messianic spell (of course, this ignores the fact that President Bush actually did believe he was specially chosen by God).
While I recognize and respect the beliefs of every American, invoking God as a justification for our political persuasions proves inherently problematic. It ends debate, and if there is one thing that the President has shown during his first month in office, it’s that he enjoys debate and hearing from the other side (that is, when they actually want to talk). Of course, it also invites responses like the one that was printed on February 12, titled “Not Another Chosen One,” which reads,
Apparently, [the writer of the previous letter] believes that God thinks it’s OK to kill our babies since Barack Obama is a big supporter of unfettered abortions in this country. I don’t think God would anoint anyone with that viewpoint. In fact, he may have lifted his hand from our country because of the abortion issue.
Writers of both letters are mistaken. As a person of faith, I understand seeing God’s work in the world, but these letters suggest something beyond that. They essentially ignore the concept of free will (no small thing within Christianity). Claiming that President Obama is “another Moses” implies a divine right, which contradicts our democratic society and our understanding of government’s role within it. The writer of the second letter argues that God has “lifted his hand from our country,” which is an unfortunately passive way to condemn people without actively trying to engage them. At the same time, it suggests that any of society’s problems (although I have a feeling I would disagree with the second writer about what those problems are) are divinely appointed as punishment for ignoring what should have been God’s appointed choice.
The two letters also indicate a larger problem within our democracy: our tendency to turn our political parties and preferences into secular religions. A second response to the original “Moses” letter reinforced this idea. After spending two paragraphs Biblically dismissing the Moses comparison, the author writes:
Just for the sake of this argument, let’s say it is true that Barack Obama is ordained by God. How long shall we extend our precious gift of the benefit of our doubt? Four years or eight? Some of the kings in the Bible ruled for decades! And they, as I said before, were placed there by the Almighty Himself!
The best we could wish for is the Road to Damascus conversion. Saul gets elected to office, goes blind for a week or so and then starts the next speech after regaining sight with this: “The government is the problem,” as said by the last Moses of our days, Ronaldus Maximus.
Of course, this third letter is as easily lampooned as the first. Ignoring the internal contradiction of mocking the first writer for comparing a president to Moses and then doing so just a few lines later, the letter demonstrates a larger political problem. Our politics is far too often broken down into sides, Bush’s famous “with us or against us” mentality, and it’s something that the Republicans are attempting to maintain and exploit in opposition to the President. While many authors have written in defense of the two-party system and the hard-line positions that result, often with a critique of the Democratic Party for not being hard-line enough, this rigidity often resembles political fundamentalism. If for no other reason, President Obama’s own aversion to this fundamentalism and his focus on a pragmatic progressive agenda should serve as a model for our political process and remind us all that any adherence to a fundamentalist religiosity, whether it be Biblical or political, ultimately serves no one, destroys debate, and leaves us where we’ve started.
This country is a democracy that can be best served by active political engagement, not rigid ideology or passive religious indictments.
Cross-posted at http://filibusted.net