Christian First, American Second
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Faith on Friday, October 03, 2008 4:00 PM
Taking advantage of the rare opportunity of an available television (we don’t have one at home), we watched the vice-presidential debate last night.
I should disclose right away that I have never voted for a Democrat for president, and will never do so as long as preserving legal abortion remains a part of their platform. I watched the debate rooting for Palin and finished feeling pretty good about her performance.
Nevertheless, for me the most memorable moment of the ninety-minute debate was something Joe Biden said.
Mike Mansfield, a former leader of the Senate, said to me one day — he — I made a criticism of Jesse Helms. He said, “What would you do if I told you Jesse Helms and Dot Helms had adopted a child who had braces and was in real need?” I said, “I’d feel like a jerk.”
He said, “Joe, understand one thing. Everyone’s sent here for a reason, because there’s something in them that their folks like. Don’t question their motive.”
I have never since that moment in my first year questioned the motive of another member of the Congress or Senate with whom I’ve disagreed. I’ve questioned their judgment.
As a passionate pro-lifer and a fiscal conservative, I question Biden’s own judgment on a lot of issues. But I think the theme he’s touching on here is something that all of us could do well to keep in mind.
Especially in election times, where things can become very polarized, it’s easy to demonize those on the other side of an issue. Some pro-lifers assume pro-choicers don’t care about babies; some pro-choicers assume pro-lifers don’t care about women. Some Iraq-war supporters assume its opponents don’t care about helping the Iraqi people or defeating terrorism; some Iraq-war opponents assume its supporters don’t care about peace or the lives of our soldiers. Some people who oppose the expansion of government-run programs assume those who support them don’t care about the fiscal freedom and well-being of Americans; some people who want programs like government-run health care assume that those who oppose them don’t care about the poor.
And so on, and so on, ad infinitum.
I have opinions on most of the issues in American politics and some of these opinions are very strong, so I’ll admit that I’ve been guilty of this on occasion. It’s easy to do: I get passionately caught up in an argument I that matters to me, and I forget to give my opponents on the issue the benefit of the doubt.
At those moments, I forget that I am a Christian first and an American second.
I hardly expected that I would watch the debate and get my foremost take-away lesson from Joe Biden, but I did. I’m not sure this is exactly the point he was trying to make, but he reminded me what is most important here.
It’s the paradoxical challenge of being Christians: we aren’t obligated to agree with our political opponents and we certainly aren’t obligated to vote for them. We are obligated to love them. This means starting by assuming that everyone - even those whose view are most divergent from my own - cares about those around them and acts from the best possible motives. And even if I have proof that this isn’t true for a particular person, I’m still obligated to offer charity to him or her to the best of my ability.
In some cases this means praying for them, because as Catholics we recognize that holding and acting on some views - such as the pro-choice one - can be morally quite risky. In other cases, where the issues at stake allow many morally-acceptable viewpoints, it means holding our peace and simply agreeing to disagree. In all cases, it means recognizing the humanity and dignity of all persons, no matter what positions they hold.
As things get more and more heated over the next month, I’m going to try to remember this every day.
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