Author Joan Chittister says that if we do not see ideas as the voice of God in us, how can we even hope to know more of in this world – and ourselves?
It’s a great question, and ever since I read the quote a week ago, I’ve been lying awake thinking about it. Many people in our country say they believe in God, yet if they do, I wonder how they can accept lies, cruelty, harsh judgment, and helping the refugee. More and more, I see that God has become a screen behind which the Armies of Hypocrisy Can Profit and Hide?
I dislike hypocrites above all things. Yet I am coming to see that our whole system of life, politics, and commerce is all about hypocrisy, not God.
If one believes in God, doesn’t it follow that God made all of us, rich and poor, regardless of color, the refugee and the billionaire, the left or the right, the red or the blue? Is there any notion of God that he only loves people like us or people we like?
Almost every politician in the country swears allegiance to God and claims to be an intimate friend of the Lord – Governor DeSantis can hardly open his mouth without invoking God. The very powerful Christian Evangelical movement, friends to powerful people, claims to be all about God, but to me, a Jew turned Quaker, now confused, the movement wants political power and dominance more than anything.
Are political power and dominance what God is really about?
In insisting that our leaders and countless political ideologues be close to God and worship him (or her), we have enabled them to bear false witnesses against themselves. We insist upon it.
In fact, we have demanded that only hypocrites can seek political power. No one denying fealty to God would have the slightest chance of being elected President. And I can’t find a politician who evokes God without hypocrisy?
In fact, the hypocrisy we create makes it impossible for anyone who truly believed in God ever to get elected to a position of power.
Imagine Christ running for office in America and preaching the messages from the Mount. Both political parties would eat him alive and run him out of politics as a fruitcake. Does anyone think Christ would bow to Big Pharma or terrorize trans children or deny people the right to marry who they love, or preach hatred of the poor?
Yet the very people who invoke God the loudest wage war on the poor and the refugee and deny women the freedom of their lives and choices.
Does God want us to persecute children, frighten political opponents, or wage war against people who are different? Hanna Arendt said hypocrites are the lowest form of life, and I am beginning to understand what she means.
The hypocrites need all of us to be divided since together, united, we are the only force on earth powerful enough to change the system, save the world, and stop greedy men from destroying it.
Arendt, perhaps the most influential moral philosopher of modern times, argues that the hypocrite’s crime is that he bears false witness against themselves.
“What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one. Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.”
To me, this is the story of modern politics and of corporate greed. It is rotten to the core, a horrible truth to face, but more apparent every day.
The politician claims he or she represents the people. but we all know by now that he or she really means they love only of God the money they need to survive.
I go back and forth about God, but there is no presentation of him or her in which I see a hypocrite. Almost all variations project a presence or force that stands for love, empathy, compassion, and justice for the poor, needy, and refugees.
I’m losing my faith; I’m losing my religion.
I like that idea of God, and I share its values. But I have to separate myself from a system that is rotten to the core.
God does not seem to be the answer to our woes and needs.
The real God cannot and will not embrace hypocrisy.
Jon – I hear a lot iof preaching about religion but see very little of it practiced.
I think I learned from my mother to keep my relationship with the Divine (God, or whatever name one uses) private. Like the scripture that says to go into your “closet” and pray in secret. So different than the hypocrites who go around announcing what their God declares.
When asked what I believe by someone looking to tell me what I should believe, my response is “that’s between me and my God”. In my opinion it’s a difficult time to hold onto faith right now.
I have a sister who claims to be a devout Christian and who is full of judgment, hatefulness and ….. and what? Not love, that is for sure. She bestows these traits upon not only me, but her daughter, her daughter-in-law, even her grandsons. I tried for 75 years to bridge the abyss. No more. I am through. Finished. What are we to do, Jon?
Great and thought-provoking post, Jon. I have thoughts about God that are apart from the rotten systems, since those systems speak of Godly vengeance, judgement and punishment, oh yes, and God loves you. God would allow non-sinners to live, and sinners to die? Sure. Let’s take a world history course and see if that’s true. Funny how some of the systems ignore history completely, or, as you said, have canned answers for all of man’s inhumanity to man. Nope. I struggle with the suffering that is prevalent and our part in it, wondering why this supposedly all-loving God doesn’t intervene. I am told those are the wrong things to be observing; I should look for the good things, and accept the bad things. That’s not exactly a philosophy that works for me, either. So, that leaves me with a curiosity to continue to seek what works for me, rather than what the bloviates demand that I believe.
Karla, you absolutely nailed it. I’m in the same dilemma, trying to rise above the stench of the religious know-it-alls, who can justify anything that points out the inconsistencies in their viewpoints.
Seems to me that truly good people don’t stand a chance in today’s world and so, I build my faith, such as it is, on things I read/observe/hear/see/feel that speak to my heart, soul and gut. Those are things I gather into my personal philosophy. And that’s what I do to survive outside the collective cesspool that humanity is becoming.
Hello Jon,
When you were at school, did no-one ever advise you to “question everything”. It’s the best advice you could get. That, and to define “truth” as verifiable fact.
It seems that you are now beginning to realise that ALL “gods” are simply human artifacts, created to enhance the status and power of their creators. “You may argue against what I say, but how can you contradict what “God” says?”
It’s painfully obvious that many (most?) politicians and religious leaders understand this very well.
We all are, after all, but “naked apes” as Desmond Morris pointed out many years ago. We are successful in the world by virtue of a superior intelligence which has enabled us to kill off all of our competitors. Unfortunately, we have retained the predatory habit of hunting in tribal packs, which has led us into the curses of inter-national and inter-racial warfare.
Whether the human races will survive our changing climate long enough to unite is at present an unanswerable question.
Anyway, the truth is that “God” was created in the image of man and not vice-versa. Humans have clearly evolved without divine direction – the details are now quite clear.
Thanks for the post, Allen, nobody taught me much of anything at school, I enjoy learning on my own. I’m not sure we humans are worthy of keeping the planet as it is. Nature may finally be sick of us.
Well Jon, you may put it that way, but its probably more accurate to say that the earth’s climate will change, as it always has. Remember your farm would have been under many meters of ice 15.000 years ago: humans were nearby, and they probably invented gods to rule their lives and explain their landscape.
We’re overdue for another change, and I suspect all we can do at best is to delay it for a lifetime or two.
I have no idea what it is more accurate to say, Allen, I have no reason to believe you know anything about it, nor do I; I go by what I see, not by what strangers on Facebook tell me. You must be much wiser than I am.
Well said! I share your distress. Especially appreciate your observation that united, we can change our world. Thank You.
God created man, gave him the rules and paths to follow, then gave him free will to choose how he lives. God doesn’t cause bad things to happen; humans choose whether or not to follow the rules, then they must deal with the consequences.
I appreciate what you are saying Kaaren and thank you. I think I am looking for a kind of God who takes more responsibility. We don’t seem to be able to do it ourselves.
Jon, your posts are thought provoking as usual. When people ask my religion I say I am sort of a Pagan, because my idea of God is “love” or the “life force of the universe.” I can’t imagine a God who has rules the way dogma has rules. It just seems self-defeating, like trying to use a formula and graph to appreciate something of beauty or a poem. I enjoy reading your thoughts because they are sincere and thoughtful. Thank you for sharing them with us.
Thanks, Arah, I enjoyed reading yours. I wish I could persuade people that this is the purpose of blog comments, intelligent and thought-provoking responses, not pompous or unwanted lectures and whines. Please feel free to post any time here, and thank you again. This is what dialogue could look like.
“If one believes in God, doesn’t it follow that God made all of us, rich and poor, regardless of color, the refugee and the billionaire, the left or the right, the red or the blue? Is there any notion of God that he only loves people like us or people we like?”
That, as my father (of blessed memory) would say, will preach. And it should be proclaimed in every place of worship. God loves the world: no exceptions.
Great news, I’m eager to see him show it..
Exceptional post, Jon. I felt validated after reading it because it spoke to exactly what I’m feeling and thinking about the existential crisis we’re living through. In fact, I’ve replied to Karla above in full show of how I’m trying to protect my Owen foundation.
Thanks for opening this door. It needs to be said.