The Bible is not the Constitution
Nov. 12th, 2004 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ambitious_wenchThe Bible is Not the Constitution
By Kara Miller
Friday, November 12, 2004
On last Wednesday's "All Things Considered," while public radio types were crying into their Earl Grey, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks postulated the theory that America is less divided than we think. Most of us, he said, are part of a vast, moderate middle.
It was an interesting theory, right up there with "the Earth is flat" and "the Miss America pageant is all about personality."
Not surprisingly, in the days after Mr. Brooks' sunny musings, the middle completely fell out of our national discussion. Every anchor from Paula Zahn to Joe "Really? My own show?" Scarborough featured segments on America's deep cultural divide. Twenty-two percent of voters, we heard over and over, ranked "moral values" as their number-one concern.
But that much-bandied-about 22 percent figure is pure, unfiltered bunk, the product of a television universe that gives new meaning to the word "shallow."
The truth is that about 98 percent of Americans voted on moral values: health care, child care, a kinder world, an environmentally friendly legacy, an honest government.
Those of us in the blue states - and Massachusetts is practically indigo - are sick and tired of hearing about the God Gulf, about moral Arkansans and immoral New Yorkers, about Jesus-loving heartlanders and Camus-worshipping bicoastals.
Almost every blue state person I know (which, quite frankly, is pretty much the only kind of person I know), is a person of faith. Most of them have Bibles on their shelves and a set of deeply instilled beliefs in their hearts.
One of my most left-leaning friends - and I mean left - is a devout Episcopalian who attends church regularly and sometimes sings solo on Sundays. She is profoundly troubled by the greed of an administration which cuts capital gains taxes while allowing one in six Americans to go without health insurance.
Even in blue America - even if we are not Christian - we know that Jesus preached generosity, that he told his followers to embrace the poor and the peacemakers, to give freely of themselves, as he did.
But we also know that the Bible is not the Constitution, and it would be a grave mistake to confuse the two.
In the Bible, after all, God tells Moses not to "eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats" (Leviticus 7:22). So should we outlaw Mickey D's?
In the Bible, Jesus says that "anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery" (Matthew 19:9). So should we deny the option of divorce to abused spouses?
In the Bible, Jesus tells a wealthy young man that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:25). So should we repossess Vice President Cheney's $30 million farewell package from Halliburton? Or President Bush's $14 million Texas Rangers fortune?
The broad swath of Americans who favor a faith-based political agenda are being intellectually dishonest. They divorce but lament the decline of the American family. They amass wealth while decrying homosexuality. They blithely order a la carte from God's prix fixe menu.
Perhaps in the turquoise and cerulean states we have realized that using religion as a political compass is impractical, intolerant and untenable. Social policy has to be mapped out on a difficult, shifting, secular landscape.
In blue states, ethics come not from deities, but from ethicists, like The New York Times Magazine's Randy Cohen.
Cohen, who fields questions on everything from wearing fur to dealing with in-laws, has a regular segment on the weekend edition of "All Things Considered."
Recently, a man from Colorado phoned in to say he was a little queasy about buying popcorn from the Boy Scouts because the organization openly discriminates against homosexuals. The caller, however, felt bad turning away boys who obviously have no control over the Scouts' policies.
To Cohen, the ethics of the situation were clear as crystal: You can't give money, he said, to an organization that discriminates against a certain kind of person. You wouldn't give money to a group that excluded a racial minority.
Driving home to my blue apartment on my blue street in my blue town, I nodded my head.
Amen, brother Cohen.
Kara Miller is a regular Community Newspaper Company columnist.
By Kara Miller
Friday, November 12, 2004
On last Wednesday's "All Things Considered," while public radio types were crying into their Earl Grey, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks postulated the theory that America is less divided than we think. Most of us, he said, are part of a vast, moderate middle.
It was an interesting theory, right up there with "the Earth is flat" and "the Miss America pageant is all about personality."
Not surprisingly, in the days after Mr. Brooks' sunny musings, the middle completely fell out of our national discussion. Every anchor from Paula Zahn to Joe "Really? My own show?" Scarborough featured segments on America's deep cultural divide. Twenty-two percent of voters, we heard over and over, ranked "moral values" as their number-one concern.
But that much-bandied-about 22 percent figure is pure, unfiltered bunk, the product of a television universe that gives new meaning to the word "shallow."
The truth is that about 98 percent of Americans voted on moral values: health care, child care, a kinder world, an environmentally friendly legacy, an honest government.
Those of us in the blue states - and Massachusetts is practically indigo - are sick and tired of hearing about the God Gulf, about moral Arkansans and immoral New Yorkers, about Jesus-loving heartlanders and Camus-worshipping bicoastals.
Almost every blue state person I know (which, quite frankly, is pretty much the only kind of person I know), is a person of faith. Most of them have Bibles on their shelves and a set of deeply instilled beliefs in their hearts.
One of my most left-leaning friends - and I mean left - is a devout Episcopalian who attends church regularly and sometimes sings solo on Sundays. She is profoundly troubled by the greed of an administration which cuts capital gains taxes while allowing one in six Americans to go without health insurance.
Even in blue America - even if we are not Christian - we know that Jesus preached generosity, that he told his followers to embrace the poor and the peacemakers, to give freely of themselves, as he did.
But we also know that the Bible is not the Constitution, and it would be a grave mistake to confuse the two.
In the Bible, after all, God tells Moses not to "eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats" (Leviticus 7:22). So should we outlaw Mickey D's?
In the Bible, Jesus says that "anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery" (Matthew 19:9). So should we deny the option of divorce to abused spouses?
In the Bible, Jesus tells a wealthy young man that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:25). So should we repossess Vice President Cheney's $30 million farewell package from Halliburton? Or President Bush's $14 million Texas Rangers fortune?
The broad swath of Americans who favor a faith-based political agenda are being intellectually dishonest. They divorce but lament the decline of the American family. They amass wealth while decrying homosexuality. They blithely order a la carte from God's prix fixe menu.
Perhaps in the turquoise and cerulean states we have realized that using religion as a political compass is impractical, intolerant and untenable. Social policy has to be mapped out on a difficult, shifting, secular landscape.
In blue states, ethics come not from deities, but from ethicists, like The New York Times Magazine's Randy Cohen.
Cohen, who fields questions on everything from wearing fur to dealing with in-laws, has a regular segment on the weekend edition of "All Things Considered."
Recently, a man from Colorado phoned in to say he was a little queasy about buying popcorn from the Boy Scouts because the organization openly discriminates against homosexuals. The caller, however, felt bad turning away boys who obviously have no control over the Scouts' policies.
To Cohen, the ethics of the situation were clear as crystal: You can't give money, he said, to an organization that discriminates against a certain kind of person. You wouldn't give money to a group that excluded a racial minority.
Driving home to my blue apartment on my blue street in my blue town, I nodded my head.
Amen, brother Cohen.
Kara Miller is a regular Community Newspaper Company columnist.
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-12 09:22 am (UTC)Then again, I haven't read the Bible in a long time. And even so, it was the translation. The translation would have us believe that it *wasn't* Adam and Steve in Genesis.