"A true spirituality necessarily is going to be involved with the issues of the world, with the issues of society, of the poor, of politics. When you cut off the human issues, the issues of suffering and society, in fact, you have cut off the soul. Human issues hold the key to your own shadow, what you are afraid of, what you deny and what you hate. The mraginalized, those of other races, religions, ideolgies and gender usually hold a gift for us. That's why homosexuality is so threatening to people. In many ways it is the last taboo."(R.Rohr "Radical Grace" p.344)
As an American one of the great constitutional protections I enjoy is the seperation of a Church and state. I personally understand that constitional amendment not to outlaw religion, but to allow me to practice my faith, in this case Christian-Episcopalian, and others to do likewise. I really don't want the government deciding which religion is the officially recognized one.
That is not to say that I do not want people's faith to affect how they vote, how theey make decisions etc. What I believe cannot be seperated from how I interact with the world. There are no issues confronting us that my faith cannot inform.
What of course makes this hard is that there are others also using their faith in this way, and coming to very different conclusions. So who is right?
The other problem is that there are issues that people want faith to be the final word, and those same people wanting faith to be silent on other issues. Again I don't think that is possible for me.
I won't quote Bible verses when taking my stands, those verses are the foundation on which I build my argument. They are a part of my life blood.
Whatever your faith may be, ask yourself, how is it informing my interaction with the world. If it is for building up, then keep going. If it is for tearing down, I'd advise you to keep praying.
Blessings,
Ed
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