Morality

This past weekend, I was taking a survey on spirituality, church, and culture, and I was particularly troubled by a question that asked me to rate the importance of the following issues in the church (what I felt should be emphasized): Bible study, prayer, worship, fellowship, evangelism, saving souls, moral issues, and social concerns (homelessness, poverty, war, environment, etc).

Now these types of questions disturb me tremendously for a number of reasons. First, I pretty much have my own lexicon of faith and very often my definitions don’t match anyone else’s I know (like Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass, “when I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”). For example, I know that when I am talking about evangelism, a word I have struggled to reclaim and reframe in my faith vocabulary, I am talking about, as my profile states, “sharing the good news that life – and the world – can be radically different”, and for me evangelism is lived out by helping people to discover what brings meaning and purpose to their lives. (this is definitely an oversimplification for I could write an entire essay on my view of evangelism, yet that is not the focus of this posting). I also know that some people define evangelism as “saving souls”. So, while it was probably safe for me to assume that the surveyors did not have my unorthodox definition of evangelism in mind, I don’t know what they mean since “saving souls” was listed next.

Secondly, and more importantly, I have no idea what the surveyors mean by moral issues. And I was even more distressed that issues of homelessness, poverty, the war in Iraq, and the environment, plus the myriad other issues that could be included in the perfunctory “etc”, did not fall under “moral issues”. Is war not a moral concern? And aren’t issues of economic justice and care of the earth moral imperatives for people of the Christian faith along with people of other faiths?

Morality, in public discourse, has come to mean two things: abortion and homosexuality. Occasionally, pornography sneaks in there to form what I have heard called, the “unholy trinity”. Interestingly, these issues all deal with sex on one level or another (a topic for another blog?). Now, don’t get me wrong, I think sexual ethics are issues of moral concerns. What bugs me is the assumption by much of the media and the public that these are the ONLY moral concerns. They are not.

I am a person of faith. I am a minister of the Christian faith. And I am person who strives to live a moral and ethical life. And let me tell you, when I go to the polls tomorrow, I will be making moral and ethical choices, informed by my faith and my faith tradition. And I will be voting for candidates who will work for economic justice, the elimination of poverty, equality in health care and marriage, and the dismantling of systemic racism. I will also be voting for candidates who seek to find non-violent resolutions to conflict and who support basic human rights for all people, including “enemy combatants”. And I will be voting for candidates who tell the truth.

It will be my moral vote, and I know it will be heard.


Note: This morning, as I sat in my kitchen finishing this blog entry, a news story came on NPR, talking about Protestants for the Common Good, and they interviewed my colleague Rev. Jennifer Kottler, who serves as Deputy Director for the organization. Rev. Kottler spoke of affordable housing and other issues of justice (and not just charity) as being concerns, indeed “moral concerns”, for people of faith. This moment of synchronicity (the interview coming on as I prepared to post) confirmed my need to share these thoughts. And it also made me proud to have a Disciple colleague doing such powerful work in the world. Check out http://www.thecommongood.org/; they are good folks.