I saw a wonderful sight on CNN last night. Two ex-Presidents from different parties joining together to speak about Haiti and to raise support for the emergency and rebuilding efforts. One was President William Jefferson Clinton the other was President George W. Bush. One of the questions to them was even about the polarized politics that has risen up in the wake of Haiti. They both agreed that politics need to be kept out of the Haiti tragedy. Both talked about being friends with each other. President Bush even called President Clinton his step-brother. As President Bush said, he found out that “there is life after the Presidency.” President Clinton said that it is both OK and good that people have different convictions. In fact, he said that it is good to be strong for your convictions. But, he said that whatever our convictions we must remember to treat each other as our neighbors.
Both Presidents agreed that President Obama has done a good initial job in the Haiti issue. And, I found myself wondering why we cannot relate to each other as the Presidents are now doing. I know; I know; I am naive. You get votes by ginning up the hate. You get votes by convincing people that you are their only salvation. But, in the process, something of your humanity is lost. Even worse, something of the humanity of each and everyone of us is lost because it is hard not to buy into that mode of behavior.
The Presidents together remind us that hate is not an option for us. Or to put it another way, it is an option. But, should we continue to choose that option, as both left and right, we are on the road to a country that will begin to resemble what it was right before the Civil War. And, that is not an option that we wish to exercise again. We have gone through nearly two decades of destructive rhetoric. Open lies are being told. Conspiracy theories abound, to the point that many people on both sides of the political spectrum have begun to believe things that are logically not probable. In fact, they are not only not probable, they are even logically impossible. Unfortunately, logic has gotten a bad name for the last few decades.
As a country we have a couple of choices. Choice One is to continue on the route we have been walking for nearly two decades. Our current politics is leading us to rhetoric that is both extreme and untrue. Way too many Christians have bought into the culture war scenario from both sides of the political spectrum. Logical analysis and fact checking has gone out the window. Among those who are Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic there are too many who are deliberately ignoring the writings of both Patriarchs and Popes. They are justifying their deliberate rejections of the pastoral calls of their hierarchs to the point that their Eastern Orthodoxy or Roman Catholicism is based only on their agreement with some of the precepts of Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. The problem is that partial agreement does not make you a good Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic. It only makes you a poor excuse for one.
Now let me repeat again, both the strong left and the right of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic are ignoring part of the calls of their hierarchs. And each side tries to justify their deliberate ignorance of part of the calls of their hierarchs by essentially positing that their bishops are wrong. But, in order to do this, they are ignoring Holy Tradition and the whole concept of apostolic succession. I do not mean that each and every bishop is correct on everything they say. But, when entire synods of bishops make a statement, when a Patriarch makes a statement, when a Pope makes a statement, that is a very serious matter and those who individually refuse to listen or to consider seriously whether they need to change their minds are not either good Eastern Orthodox or good Roman Catholics. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence in the USA.
Inevitably somebody is going to set up a straw man by arguing that it is not necessary for every Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic to agree with every pronouncement of every synod, Patriarch or Pope. That is true, but it is used as an excuse to disagree with major pronouncements of synods, Patriarchs, and Popes. And as long as American Orthodox and American Catholics refuse to listen to the full counsel of the Church, so long will they be a party to a horrendous progression of rhetoric that may lead to justifying extremely sinful events. And, we really really do not want to go there.
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