Politics and religion

People often perceive religion and politics as absolutes, claiming their opinions to be undeniably correct with little willingness to learn from the contrary.

Although nobody should feel entitled to belittle someone of faith, people often wrongfully speak with declarative conviction and authority.

I can’t grasp the premise that an allegiance to “Republican” or “Democrat” is sufficient to define someone.

Very few of us unquestionably stand behind every issue on our parties’ platforms, yet we allow them to categorically speak on our behalf.

There’s a great scene in “The West Wing” when a Democrat White House official is lobbying a Republican senator for a vote on a bill.

After minutes of bickering back and forth about the virtues of the bill, the official asks, “As a gay senator, how can you be part of the Republic Party when the majority leader has denounced your way of life?”

After pausing, the senator says, “I agree with 95 percent of the Republican platform. I believe in local government. I’m in favor of individual rights rather than group rights.
“I believe free markets lead to free people and that the country needs a strong national defense. My life doesn’t have to be about being a homosexual. It doesn’t have to be entirely about that.”

We, too, don’t need to be defined entirely by our religion or political party. Nor should we feel the pressure to holistically inherit its every value.

Everyone should empower themselves to objectively evaluate each issue on its individual merits. Political candidates and religious leaders sometimes unjustly dictate how we should cast judgment.  

I subscribe to the notion that opinions are personal, and therefore, shouldn’t be deliberated in terms of right or wrong.

If popular opinion passed legislation, the Emancipation Proclamation wouldn’t have been created, women wouldn’t be allowed to vote and civil unions wouldn’t even be up for discussion.

Progressive initiatives are sometimes found in the voice of the minority.

The religious teachings of my upbringing have, at times, provoked intolerance.

However, my seemingly candid heresy shouldn’t constitute my need to remove myself from the church, just as my decision to not vote straight-ticket isn’t sufficient reason to leave the party.

Like the senator said, my membership to both doesn’t have to be all-encompassing.

The bias of many still prohibits a society conducive to one’s public spiritual and political self-exploration.   

- jhollfel@indiana.edu
Follow columnist John Hollfelder on Twitter @jhollfelder.