When Is It Politics and Not Religion?

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A recent article in the New York Times reports on Gustavo García-Siller, the Catholic archbishop of San Antonio, TX, and his advocacy for gun control in a state where “guns are woven into the culture.”

Uvalde, TX, where an 18-year-old gunman massacred 21 students and teachers at an elementary school, is in the archbishop’s diocese and even before that horrific event, Garcia-Siller had been outspoken on the need for the country to “overhaul its gun laws.”

“The reaction to Archbishop García-Siller’s position on guns among Catholics in South Texas,” says the story, “has been colored not only by long-held political beliefs and their horror at the Uvalde shooting but also their views on how and when it is appropriate for church leaders to wade into such a heated and seemingly intractable debate.

An Issue for Politics?

“’That’s an issue for politics,’ Carlos Zimmerle, 54, said after a recent Mass at a Catholic parish in San Antonio’s west Side. ‘Not for religion.’”

So, what about abortion? Is advocacy for or against abortion politics or religion? How about immigration? “The Great Replacement theory?” Racism? Equal pay for men and women? The treatment of gay people? The death penalty? Help for the poor?

In my opinion, all of these issues are a matter of one’s religious faith, even though they may also be hot political topics. That’s because religion, contrary to what many believers practice, is not just about attending church or believing a church’s or synagogue’s teachings but of putting those beliefs into practice.

I believe that idea is well-founded in the Bible, and for me as a Catholic, in my church’s teachings.

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The Letter of James in the Christian Bible, for instance, says that “religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

“Visiting orphans and widows” means caring about and helping people in need, and that could be unborn children, immigrants and people of color who need help, the unemployed and under-employed, people who are discriminated against because of their gender or sexual orientation, people at risk of being put to death by the state, the poor, and of course, all others not in these categories.

And for me, keeping oneself “unstained from the world” means being faithful to God and my faith no matter the political or social climate. 

The psalms in the Hebrew Bible are filled with references to our treatment of others.

“Because the poor are despoiled,” says Psalm 12, “because the needy groan, I will now arise, says the Lord; I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” And God acts through us.

This poverty isn’t just about lack of money, but about being marginalized, bereft of power or influence, about being among victims of what Pope Francis calls “the throwaway culture.” And if one is serious about the call to help others, it has to be done not just from our own resources, but also through taxes, our common purse.

Can't Be Indifferent

So, if you’re religious, you can be a conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, but you can’t be indifferent about people in any of the above categories of need.

Most Christian denominations attempt to teach “what Jesus taught” and/or what the churches see as relevant from the Jewish Bible. Obviously, there were no guns in Jesus’ time so we need to project from his teaching about peace and justice, from his teaching about “turning the other cheek,” instead of arming ourselves and allowing others to do so, a recipe for the kind of violence that occurred at Uvalde.

It’s true that this upends many of our cultural values but in my mind, Jesus’ teaching requires advocacy for peace and justice. Our politics should reflect our religious beliefs and practices, not the other way around.