Should We Be Pacifists in the Culture Wars?

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Martin Luther King, whose holiday we celebrated recently, is said to have been a pacifist. So was Mahatma Ghandi, the famous leader of Indian nationalism, and in his later years, Nelson Mandela. Some say Jesus was, too, and many Christian churches have promoted pacifism or resisted the use of violence and opposed war.

So, should one who is searching for God be a pacifist in the culture wars?

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, “culture wars” are generally taken to mean the “wars” between those who are conservative/traditionalist/rightists and those who are liberal/progressive/leftists. The “battlefields” include abortion, same-sex marriage, assisted suicide, and to some extent, the “welfare nation,” “big government,” and gun politics.

The term “Christian” has, unfortunately, become synonymous with the right. I write “unfortunately” not because I would prefer that it be identified with the left, but because it shouldn’t be identified with either.

In my view, people of faith shouldn’t base their ethical/social views on whether they conform to liberalism or conservatism. In some areas they may happen to conform to one or the other - may happen to lean toward Republicans, Democrats or Independents - but what defines Christians, and many of our Jewish and other cousins, is the extent to which their opinions and actions conform to their faith.

We may use the terms liberal and conservative easily when talking about the relationship of faith to issues of the day, but are they really applicable? Religion is not an ideology, let alone a political faction or movement. As has been mentioned in this blog before, it’s a relationship – to God and others.

“Too political?”

People who look to their political parties or cultural-war affiliations for guidance on moral issues have a hard time being believers. They can be heard to complain that religion is being “too political” when it weighs in on social justice issues or issues surrounding human sexuality or reproduction, as if Christianity should be excluded from some aspects of human life. Christians should have views on these issues based on what they believe Jesus taught or their religious tradition teaches, not on whether they meet the approval of President Obama, John Boehner, Ted Cruz or Harry Reid.

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What’s more, believers can’t harbor the hostility for opposing views that is currently on display. For Christians and like-minded people, love trumps everything, no matter how feckless that may seem.   

Rather than being a military headquarters for hostilities, in fact, Pope Francis believes the church should be a field hospital in the culture wars.

“I see clearly,” he said in “A Big Heart Open to God,” an interview published in America magazine, “that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful….

“I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars!” he said in a reference to such issues as abortion and same-sex marriage. “You have to heal his wounds.”

Christian obligations of citizenship

This approach to the cultural wars doesn’t mean believers should decline to have opinions on the issues of the day or stay out of the political fray. On the contrary, the tenets of our faith apply to virtually every aspect of our lives, including politics. It’s impossible not to have opinions based on faith. And based on our faith, we must vote, try to influence our representatives and do whatever we can to move the public in the direction indicated by the tenets of our faith. (See “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” at http://usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/forming-consciences-for-faithful-citizenship-document.cfm.)

It’s true that the efforts of religious people to influence public debate are often seen as “cramming their beliefs down the throat” of the public. It’s as if your views are motivated by faith, you shouldn’t have a voice. If our efforts are strident and bullying, of course, we can expect no less a reaction.

So yes, we should be pacifists in the culture wars if that means we refuse to be combative, instead making our faith-based views known only with respect and love and avoiding self-righteousness. We shouldn’t be pacifists if it means being silent.