FAITH AND VALUES

Dana Prom Smith

 

          As a Protestant with a conservative theology and liberal social and political inclinations, I fear politicians with a theocratic message.  They want to impose their religious ideas on me and everyone else, even though I may find their religious ideas abhorrent and repressive.

 

          When Paul Ryan used his Roman Catholicism as a justification for imposing his views on contraception and abortion on the rest of the country, I heard echoes of theocratic claims from the Middle Ages down to modern Islamist states, like Saudi Arabia. 

 

          When Willard Romney declared during a presidential debate that he believes in God, he implies that should be a reason to vote for him.  Just as patriotism has often been the refuge of scoundrels, so has a publicly proclaimed piety.  I’m not as interested in his faith as I am in his values.  Since the Republicans have redistributed income toward the rich, does he now believe in redistribution toward the middle class?  What does he think about advocating women’s dignity and freedom in the face of the oppressive powers who want to keep women in a subordinate status, that is, clear answers on contraception, abortion, and equal pay?   They’re the issues, not his faith.

 

          Since politicians lust for power, we should be wary of them, especially when they become publicly pious, their piety masking their lust.  It’s their values that count.  By the way, the word “evangelical” comes from the Greek word meaning the “good news” of freedom, not the bad news of theocratic repression.