Religion and Politics

A rarely contested truism is that politics and religion do not mix and that religion should not interfere with one’s political decisions. President George Bush was savaged not so long ago for not keeping God out of his politics. Tony Blair while in office was not particularly forthcoming about his faith. His advisers, in fact, went out of their way to make sure the public did not identify him as a practicing Christian. It was only after he left office that Blair finally declared himself a convert to Catholicism.

And he has been making waves ever since. Islam is a “very beautiful religious faith,” said, Mr. Blair [who now is special envoy for the Middle East] and that he read the Qur'an “practically every day.” And just last week he came out to challenge the Pope [the Catholic Church] to “rethink entrenched attitudes” toward human sexuality and [urged] “religious figures everywhere to reinterpret their religious texts to see them as metaphorical, not literal.” It appears it did not take Brother Blair long to move from being merely a politician to a theologian of sorts. Here then is the verdict: Bush did not want to risk losing elections by not bringing God into politics; Blair, on the other hand, kept God out of his politics until it was safe to do so.



The West prided itself on establishing a system of governance that separated church and state. That in turn led to unparalleled prosperity and advancement in the sciences. The mixing of religion and politics, we are oft reminded, is the preserve essentially of undemocratic and unenlightened societies like ours.



With Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, heralding morality from the pulpit of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, we may be entering a post-globalization era where politicians are allowed to dabble also in religion. [How different it will be this time from that of Bush or Blair only time will tell.] Now that Mr. Brown has made his case for minding the poor of this world and for bringing traditional virtues of hope, trust, fairness and faith to the marketplace [quoting sacred texts and Adam Smith] a time of crisis may have once again birthed the mixing of religion and politics. The problem is that hardly anyone trusts politicians. In almost every case, statements of this sort have come up as an excuse to remain in office a little longer—not to mention that Mr. Brown as the ex-Exchequer was one of the architects of the economy over the past decade and a half; his statements from a pulpit is simply his way of offering religion as a palliative to calm the colicky market.



Unfortunately, whatever catch phrases are current in Europe and North America the same are sure to be echoed by leaders in Africa. Remember “globalization,” “war on terror,” “multiparty democracy,” “privatization,” “renaissance?” And now it is time to play the morality game!



A major difference of course is the context within which such statements are made. In poor nations, unlike in affluent ones, the rule of law and politics are personalized to a degree that disallowed trust, hope, or fairness to flourish. The similarities are that politicians everywhere tend to think of themselves as invincible and indispensable. Leaders would do anything to hold onto power even if it meant consulting a witch doctor, declaring themselves Christian, or simply operating under the cover of rule of law.



Religion has of late become the new currency for political discourse in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Prime Minister finds time to go on air to excoriate ‘politically motivated clerics’ and at other times, to dole praises on faith groups individually. The outgoing president of Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus is waiting for the green light to bring together leaders of the Oromo Liberation Front and the ruling party in Ethiopia. The talk of the town most recently was the Christian conversion of ex-Prime Minister Tamrat Layne who has been out on the speaking circuit [perhaps too soon and unwisely] and the use of magicians by Ethiopian ruling elite from the Prime Minister’s household on down.



And local media are taking on the manner of a religious tract. “Religious Tolerance: Ethiopians’ Holistic Culture” runs one editorial. “Religious tolerance crucial for stability” goes another. “People and government to Guard our proud asset of Religious tolerance,” was the gist of a radio broadcast.



Rampant corruption at the highest levels of government is fought with no evidence of moral fortitude or an exemplary guide at the helm. It is interesting that the subject of corruption until the early 1990s was discussed only in relation to developing nations! What we have known all along is that corruption in developed nations is rather institutional and handled in a refined manner. Captains of industry are forever searching for legal/ethical loopholes and seeking ways to bend the law in their favor. The unstated motto in many cases, so it seems, is to pile up riches without getting caught. All it takes to efficiently run a corporation these days is to have a legal scholar, a PR wiz and a theologian at one’s side. What society needs, however, is the “fear of God” and not necessarily more laws. One can cheat the law but never God.



“I the LORD search the heart …to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings …Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.” [Jer. 17: 10; Ps 44: 21]



Some, however, are not satisfied to cheat just society and in their intelligence have willed to convince themselves that a God to whom one is ultimately answerable does not exist or is disinterested any way in such things. What we have instead are new gods who bless the fittest among us to survive at everyone’s expense.



Officials in Ethiopia are at present being instructed to not abuse their offices by benefiting own religious constituency. No matter how long one ponders on the issue of religion and politics the well of compassion is drying up faster than we would like to acknowledge.



So what do we make of Mr. Brown’s speech? For one, politicians seem to have no qualms about going back on their promises. Only few years ago we were told ‘free market’ capitalism is the great leveler and self-regulation the way to efficient economies and that governments have no business interfering. Well, we are back to government bailouts and handouts, to roundly condemning greed that continues to rear its ugly head and wishing fairness and honest labor were here. The problem is many are losing their livelihood and many more possibly their very lives. Moralizing sounds good but in the end it is one “bed is too short and a blanket too narrow.” The same tongue that preached “free” market is good for everyone is back lashing out at pervasive corruption that freedom engendered. Truthfulness, trust, compassion, fairness and similar virtues are not a spigot one turns on at will. They need to be lived out in real life with consistency and stashed away for times like we are in. Anything less is deceitful and hypocritical.



Here is then a chance for the believing and practicing church to supply society with morally upright and courageous citizens who speak truth to power. Such a citizenry would vote out of office public servants who lie, cheat and steal public funds and see themselves as masters.



In the meantime, let us not deceive ourselves that religion and politics do not mix. They do. It just depends who does the mixing and with what consistency.



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