I Fought the Law and the Law Won (I should have had God on my side)

I love The Daily Show. Jon Stewart is a stitch, and a very clever one at that. I can't get a good laugh when I'm watching the news on any of the network news broadcasts. I barely feel as though I've actually come away with any useful factual information after watching one of their programs. That's never true with The Daily Show, though. I always get a good laugh and still have a pretty clear idea of what kind of tomfoolery our leaders have been up to.

Speaking of leaders, many of those in charge of running the Bush administration have been in the news recently. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is in hot water for either overseeing the firing of eight US Attorneys, or for not having any idea how this process was going (which one?). Former CIA Director George Tenet has a new book out in which he accuses the Bush administration of going to war with Iraq without first giving serious consideration to all other possible options, not to mention possible outcomes. Jon Stewart and other comedians definitely have no shortage of material thanks to this crew.

However, a recent Daily Show report on the number of Regent University Law School alumni employed by the Bush administration somehow struck me as less-than-humorous. (By way of information, Regent University is Pat Robertson's "preeminent Christian university" in Virginia Beach, VA. It was formerly known as the Christian Broadcast Network University School of Law.) I could only bring myself to offer a half-hearted laugh in response to this piece. Now, don't get me wrong, Stewart was his usual hilarious self. I just hope that he'll forgive me if I don't happen to think that it's actually funny when he reports that over 150 Regent Law grads work for the Bush administration. It isn't funny when a presidential administration deliberately and brazenly substitutes hiring criteria based upon professional qualifications for ironclad adherence to a specific set of ideological and religious beliefs.

Case in point: Monica Goodling, a 1999 Regent Law graduate, ascended to a position of serious decision-making authority within the Dept. of Justice before she was scarcely able to distinguish herself as a jurist. No matter: AG Gonzales apparently had so much "faith" in her Regent credentials that he authored (another) secret memo empowering Goodling, Chief of Staff D. Kyle Sampson, and other similarly inexperienced staff to make highly consequential decisions in the hiring and firing of US Attorneys.

This is all very timely stuff, the juxtaposition of the ever-growing scandal at the Department of Justice, and the President's 2007 Law Day proclamation, in which he states that, "Generations of Americans have served the cause of justice and shaped our legal institutions to ensure that the blessings of liberty extend to every citizen. The men and women of America's legal community have worked to defend the Constitution, protect the innocent, and secure the rights of their fellow citizens."

Amen, Mr. President. This is an important sentiment to espouse on this Law Day, May 1, 2007. However, with all due respect, it becomes very difficult to take pronouncements like this seriously, given the partisan malfeasance and skullduggery taking place at the Dept. of Justice and other federal agencies. How can you square your pronouncement with this behavior?

At this point you might be asking yourself, what in the world does any of this have to do with interfaith issues? I'm glad you asked that question. It is a fact that matters of public policy and personal faith often intersect, for better or for worse, and I can think of at least two reasons why these issues might matter to the interfaith community (and to many other Americans in general):

1. The common thread running through this narrative is fundamentalist Christianity. The triumphalist mindset of this particular sect within Christianity is diametrically opposed to everything that the interfaith movement represents: inclusion, an open-minded attitude toward exploring the teachings of faith traditions other than one's own, the kinship of the world's faith traditions. The most extreme elements of this movement see the United States as a wholly "Christian nation", where God's law (or one interpretation of it) supersedes the Constitution. Never mind the fact that this notion of the American republic is historically suspect at best. Even if this was true, how could such a nation make room for true interfaith dialogue and cooperation? Is this the America a majority of Americans want to live in?

2. It is a safe bet that the majority of us representing the Christian portion of interfaith households do not belong to fundamentalist Christian denominations. As such, we have basically seen Christianity hijacked by extremists who willfully pervert the Gospel message in service of an agenda radically different than the teachings of Jesus Christ. Church-going or not, do we have any obligation to speak up in defense of the Gospel, to defend Christianity from this usurpation by radical political interests?

If any or all of this sounds so extreme as to not be believable, here are some further examples of how intertwined religion, politics and law have become in our society:

* National Day of Prayer Task Force. Evangelical Christians dominate this seemingly ecumenical public event. But on the subject of public prayer, I believe it was Jesus who advised his followers thusly: "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

* The Annual "Red "Mass" in Washington, DC is a tradition dating back to 1928, but held annually in Washington since 1953. Now that five of the 9 US Supreme Court Justices are Catholic, this event is more star-studded than ever, a very cozy blend of secular and ecclesiastic power brokers.

One of the more reasonable voices in the debate over the proper relationship between church and state is that of nontheistic Americans. In response to the National Day of Prayer, a group of nonbelievers has established a National Day of Reason. This day has been established to "celebrate reason - a concept all Americans can support - and to raise public awareness about the persistent threat to religious liberty posed by government intrusion into the private sphere of worship." It is also a day of civic action, where citizen groups are called to participate in public service activities that benefit all citizens, believer and non-believer alike. Sounds more like an interfaith event to me than the N D of P, if you ask me. What a nice example of bringing together a diverse group of people to serve the shared good of all citizens. Seems much closer to the motto E Pluribus Unum than any notion of the United States as a singularly Christian nation. Shalom.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.
("With God on Our Side," by Bob Dylan, Copyright 1963)

-Doug L.

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE (Links Updated 05/27/07)

How Monica Goodling Played the Gender Card and Won (Slate.com, May 25, 2007)

How Pat Robertson's Law School is Changing America (Slate.com, April 7, 2007)

Chris Hedges, former New York Times reporter, author of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America- Interfaith Voices, April 12, 2007

National Association of Evangelicals Office of Governmental Affairs