Progressive Wednesday

Clergyman Charlie: On Social Sins

July 29th, 2007 by Charles Lamb

In two previous columns (here and here) I have written have dealt more with personal misbehavior than with the grave actions that happen in society.  Some people would scoff at the idea of spending time with language or dress codes in light of war, poverty, greed, disease, corruption and bribery, pollution, global warming, and society’s complacency and lack of action to address these needs.

When we think of ethics, do we think just of personal behavior such as telling the truth, giving correct weights, not overcharging a customer, etc., or do we think about skirting our responsibility by refusing to deal with situations that threaten to bring about destruction of our planet or extermination of whole groups of people?

Some may not agree with the following comment, but during the Monica Lewinski scandal during the Clinton administration, I heard one talk show commentator say something like this: “Clinton is a scum bag but he really does care about people.  Many of his critics would never misbehave sexually but they care nothing about anyone but themselves!”

Which is more important? I think we make a major mistake if we don’t address the social issues.  Too many churches, and religious groups, confine themselves to personal morality and shy away from social or political action out of fear that it will be controversial, or cause the church to lose members.  If you stand for justice there is a cost.  Jesus went to a cross for taking stands; and Christians are supposed to be his disciples.  He told us to count the cost before we begin to follow him.  So let’s decide whether we’re his followers or not!

One of the Ten Commandments says that we should not take the name of the Lord in vain.  What does that mean?  Just not to swear?  Or do we take his name in vain when politicians say “And God bless the United States of America!” as part of a political speech while they have no intention of following God’s guidance.  Rios Montt was president of Guatemala, and supposedly also a minister, but under his administration Indian villages were massacred.  That’s a little more serious than saying a swear word. Think about the larger implications of the commandments.

If we really want to be a moral people, we have no choice but to get involved in working for mercy and justice in the world.  We are supposed to be “ambassadors for Christ.”  An ambassador is one who works for and represents the interests of his country.  We are to represent the Kingdom of God.

But as we do that, we can easily burn out with discouragement unless we have an underlying personal spiritual life.  To me, a key verse appears in James 1:27.  It says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Caring for the needy indicates action in the world to help those in need.  Keeping oneself unstained means keeping your own life correct in the eyes of God.  They go together like the two sides of a coin.

If we stay in touch with the Creative Spirit and open our lives to God’s guidance, we’ll live lives that reflect that by decency and honesty.  Then we can go into each day ready to stand up for what is right and struggle mightily to make this world a better place.

So don’t think just avoiding swearing or immodest clothing is what Christianity is all about. That would be like the person who came home and said, “I am really a good person. I went to the zoo today and I did not stick my hand in the tiger’s cage!”

Well, good for you.  That’s what you didn’t do. But what did you do to stand up for the needy, to work for peace and justice, to demand accountability from those in power?  The challenge to each of us is to do that, and the challenge to churches and religious groups is to start teaching that.  Then we can say we did something good.