The Problem Of Religion

The topic of religion is my on mind quite a lot lately because of my religious upbringing, and the fact that religion is now a nearly constant issue in the news of the day. I carefully worded the Title line. I have entitled this "The Problem Of Religion" not "The Problem With Religion". My meaning in choosing these words is to suggest that current political and policy decisions being made by government today are intersecting with religion in a way I haven't seen in a long while. The frequent intersection of these two facets of our culture is cause for some thought and reflection. A problem with religion would suggest that there is some issue with religion itself. I'm not arguing that point, as it is more about the dilemma that people face when the two worlds of religion and policy meet.
The issue of religion in public policy became an important topic in the Presidential primaries over the last few months when contraception became an issue in health care, and a particular issue in the last weeks as The House Budget Proposal (what is now called the Ryan-Romney Budget) has been discussed and reacted to. This is the federal budget proposed by Republican Paul Ryan and now endorsed by presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Please allow me to generalize about religion by discussing it in the context of Christianity. I know there are many religions practiced here, but for the sake of argument and convenience I'll stay mainly with the Christian tenets as a way to illustrate my thoughts-even though it applies to other religions too.. Besides, about 85% of all religious people in America claim Christianity as there basic faith. People of other faiths- please pardon me.

The basic problem of religion is how a person of faith participates as a citizen when the teachings of their religion conflict with the actions of their government. This is a real question is about us, not some obscure totalitarian dictatorship. It is relevant because as free citizens in a democratic society we choose our government and the people who operate it- it is not imposed on us without some exercise of our own will. So as we go about the task of selecting our government, what set of values do we heed when we cast our ballot? The question is about us as people- not about government. It is, after all, the government and the elected officials we put there.

The case in point that got me thinking of this is the above mentioned Ryan-Romney Budget. It is extremely complex, but it sets a direction that is fairly clear. It has been described by its authors as a deficit deduction budget. It features a multi-year plan to reduce our incredible trajectory of deficit spending. A few of the details include re-doing medicare to be a set amount given to an eligible person with which they shop the open market for coverage (a voucher system). It reduces social security and raises the age of retirement. It includes massive cuts to education programs- environmental programs, other health programs, other social programs, and most regulatory government functions- while it increases military spending and provides lower tax rates for high income earners and higher tax rates for lower income earners. Incidentally (by Ryan's own admission) it does not reduce deficit spending  for many years after if goes into effect-if that plan works at all.

Budgets are a not just financial spread sheets- they are a values statement. They reflect the things we value and they reflect the things we don't value. In many ways they are a picture of our conscience. And here is where religion gets in the picture. Last week the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the Ryan-Romney Budget as immoral because it removed or reduced programs that aid the poor while granting financial benefits to the rich. Paul Ryan, himself a Catholic, went to Georgetown University last week to discuss the budget in a forum. 90 faculty members of this prestigious Catholic University gave him a letter of protest, questioning the morality of his proposal. I applaud the stand taken by the Bishops and the Georgetown faculty on this issue, but I wondered where Catholic parishioners stood on this. It made me wonder how it is possible to be a politically conservative Christian. It made me wonder how the Catholic in the pew on Sunday can justify policies that violate the basic tenets of the New Testament- because we know there are many Conservative Catholics who will vote for Republican candidates because they believe in conservative politics. There is even a sizable voting block that call themselves Christian Conservatives. Mitt Romney seems a devout man of the LDS faith and a follower of Jesus' teachings- yet he is also firmly behind policies Jesus himself would not preach. In fact Jesus actively preached against (similar) elements now contained in the modern day Ryan-Romney Budget.

I do not practice a religion. I am secular. But many of my secular, human values fall in line with Christian values.

I realize it is difficult to discuss politics and religion, and they are often taboo in polite conversation. At the same time these topics collide in unavoidable ways. I'm not one to promote the idea that religious dogma should dominate (or even influence) public policy. For example, I would not agree with many people of faith about reproductive health issues. (note: it was very interesting to read about the wide variety of beliefs about abortion even amongst different Christian denominations)  But, that's easy for me to say because I don't practice any religion-my values come from another source. I can, however, appreciate how difficult it may be for those who do practice a religion to reconcile the very clear conflicts and the variety of issues where public policy and religion intersect. As another example: it is conceivable that a Catholic may be opposed to abortion but favor the death penalty. Both practices are forbidden by the Church- but some Catholics are perfectly comfortable accepting one practice and not the other. Even when discussing the Budget issue, some might argue that the proposed cuts are necessary to save the whole government (as the Republicans argue), but that supposes there is no where else to cut. My humanist values would suggest we can cut our massive defense spending, or stop corporate subsidies, and quit giving tax breaks to the wealthy to balance the ledger- just like the Catholic Bishops suggested. You see, the business of "values" in a complex world gets pretty complicated.

Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have said this coming election is a clear choice about the values we have as a country. I think they are both right. This is a very clear "values" election because the positions of the parties and the candidates suggest very different paths for our future. I don't have any answers about how religion can or should play a role in the minds of the voters. I just believe our decisions in the next year will be a matter of values- and religion informs values for a great many of us, so it is incumbent upon religious folk to carefully think through the conflicts between faith and governance. That is the problem OF religion- and I hope we will all consider our vote very carefully using all the resources our conscience (not our politics) allows to choose our path.

Thanks for looking in.