What is a moral issue? In his acceptance speech for his Oscar winning documentary, Al Gore claimed global warming as a moral issue. I would be willing to bet many conservative Christians scoffed at such a suggestion; however, Gore is echoing what many evangelicals are beginning to realize - that our definition of moral issues is too small. Recently in American political life, what constitutes a "moral" issue has been questioned. Since the rise of the Religious Right and the political campaign for "Family Values," morality has played a key role in our elections. Unfortunately, the Religious Right has restricted values to include only beliefs about abortion, homosexual marriage, and Hollywood. This narrow focus has rendered the evangelical political voice mute on many other important moral issues facing our nation and world.
How we treat our environment is a moral issue. Whether or not one buys into Global Warming shouldn't preclude one from understanding our moral role as Christians concerning our environment. Pollution, conservation, air quality, water quality, treatment of life in our world, etc, are all examples of environmental concerns that we as Christians must address. Not from a Republican or Democrat opinion, but from a moral and ethical one.
How we treat those in poverty is a moral issue. In a country that was built by rugged individualism, we often assume that those who are wealthy must be good people, while those who are poor must not be. In fact, many religious groups, ie the "health and wealth" gospel, teach this very thing. The Religious Right views poverty as simply an issue for the individual - "pull yourself up by the bootstraps...stop being lazy... get saved." But I believe Christ approaches poverty differently and holistically. As Christians, we must approach the issue of poverty as a community rather than as individuals. What in our society (racism, sexism, education) is causing poverty? In the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world, the fact that 20 percent of children go to bed hungry is a moral issue, and one that we as Christians must address not just privately, but politically.
How we approach materialism is a moral issue. Politicians blab about needing to be for the poor, but then they build 29,000 sq ft houses or have electric bills that are twice the average American. We talk about the need to conserve and pass out awards for documentaries that address these issues and then see the celebrities wearing expensive clothing ride away in their gas guzzling limos to go to lavish parties where food will be wasted. Oil company execs make billions while their employees barely see any increase. The list can go on. Materialism is a moral issue that not even I want to address(because I too am a hypocrite), but it needs to be part of our political discussion.
How we fight the war on terrorism is a moral issue. While I am one of the remaining few who support the Iraq War, although many mistakes have been made, I believe our strategy against terrorism is a moral issue that we must consistently question and answer. How we treat prisoners or suspects is a moral issue. Secret prisons and torture of inmates are troubling moral issues that must be discussed.
These are a few of the moral issues we face. Abortion (and how we treat all life), homosexual marriage (and the divorce rate among heterosexuals), child abuse, poverty, materialism, war, etc, are all important moral issues and Family Values that we as evangelicals must address. This is beyond party politics. Neither party has all the answers. But as Christians, we can influence public policy by not being corrupted by either party. Hopefully, we can continue to find our prophetic voice in American life before it is completely drowned out by politics.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Be careful that you don't confuse individual moral issues and government policy. Don't be too eager to widen your scope of family values.
Global warming is not a moral issue. More government programs for the poor is not a moral issue.
Those who wish to place Global Warming and more government welfare on par with abortion and gay marriage as "moral" issues are generally trying to diminish individual morality and individual responsibility and replace it with socitetal or government responsibilities. They want to remove any thought of individual immorality.
Religous leaders who place their main focus on societal issues often forget their main calling of leading people to Christ and the individual responsibility to follow God. I know a minister whose sole focus for his church is to provide some food and clothing for the poor. In the process he has forgotten about the souls of the poor and his own congregation. Homosexuality is OK. ABortion is OK. Don't talk about individual salvation, everyone who is baptized as a baby is saved. Everyone is God's creation and we should let them live like they want.
As Christians we have a responsibility to be good stewards of God's creation. We shouldn't unecessarily pollute the water or air, but to claim that humans can control climate is trying to elevate us as equals or near equals to God.
The carbon footprint of humans is a minute blip in creation. Long before the automobile and greenhouse gases Greenland was a warm fertile land, not the ice incrusted land it is today. Scientist tell us the Rocky Mountains were made by glaciers and that ice covered most of North America. Those are 2 extremes that man had nothing to do with and we're fooling ourselves if we think we can make an earth changing difference in climate.
We can make an earth changing difference in the lives of individuals by leading them to Christ, and that should be our focus. That is our main moral obligation. Individual churches should provide help the poor, but we should not demand that the government do it for us.
Redistribution of wealth by government edict is not the answer for problems of the poor or the world. Allowing the rich, a la Al Gore, to buy carbon credits so that they can claim a zero carbon footprint while denying the less wealthy a car or electricity is certainly not the answer.
Be careful how much you expand your definition of "moral issues". Don't lose focus on the main moral responsibility of Christians - showing others Christ.
Dad
In response to your comment:
I am not confusing societal issues with government policy. Those are quite different things. I think we can clearly look at scriptures, both old and new, and see that issues pertaining to society are important to God. Yes, I would agree that individual morality is still important, I never argued that it wasn't, but I think we are fooling ourselves if we don't think that God cares about how we treat the poor, how we treat creation, how we confront injustice, etc. in our community. We are missing half of what the Bible says if we strictly only focus on individual morality. We have let politics, and the Religious Right, limit our thinking to only abortion and gay marriage. And yes, I think serving the least of these, or not serving the least of these involves the unborn and the poor, and the oppressed. Jesus ministry shows us this. Don't let politics distort or limit what you would consider a moral issue, just so you can 100% agree with a certain party. The Republicans and Democrats are lacking with all the answers.
Additionally, I have never argued that we should not focus on the salvation of the individual. Obviously, I think personal salvation is very important. But our life as Christians doesn't stop there. But just because some people focus on society with disregard for the individual shouldn't mean that we can't focus on both.
Also, as you can see in my post, I was not arguing for or against Global Warming. I was simply saying that we, as Christians, should discuss and act in responsible and moral ways in concern with the world that God made.
My admonition to be careful was not a condemnation of what you had writen or anything that you had done. It was simply a warning of what I've witnessed in others. When they expandded their definition of moral issues they began to focus more and more on those things in the periphery and lost focus on their primary tasks.
I thought your posting was quite well spoken and balanced.
Dad
i think dad needs his own blog.
i agree with both. as individuals, we certainly need to do our part in taking care of the environment and feeding the poor. but just as i dont think government should establish religion, i also dont think government should force taking care of the environment or giving to charity upon us. it's our moral obligation to do those things ourselves. i think it's fine to provide incentives. giving to charity can help with taxes. companies who control their pollution are also given credits. that's fine. but i agree with dad that global issue is not a moral issue. it's a theory. a moral environmental issue is when i have some trash that i don't want. i can do the easy thing and litter or i can find a trash can and throw it away. i can choose to recycle and conserve or i can be wasteful. those are moral decisions. politicians can try and talk up environmental theories or whatever but that's not the place to do it. i read today that leonardo dicaprio has mandated that all the trashbags put in trashcans around the set of his new movie be fully recyclable. that's a good moral decision. he's putting his money where his mouth is.
as far as helping the poor, that too is our own moral choice. i shouldn't have to give up my hard-earned money to help a lazy bum. note i say HAVE TO. i should WANT to help. in theory, that's how it should work.
sadly, not enough people want to help or conserve, so the government feels obligated to step in. and then people get upset that their own money is being taken away from them . . it is a never-ending cycle because we are humans.
that's why i try and stay out of real world issues and concentrate on sports and television. it doesn't hurt my brain as much. that's why i'd rather enjoy the madness of march than think about what is a moral issue and what isn't. and now i'm just babbling. if this post didn't make sense it's cause i have rick majerus yapping in my ear about santa clara v. gonzaga. forgive me.
Post a Comment