Freedom’s blind spots

Religious choice lets us gather with only those who think like us

ROBERT M. THOMPSON

Special to the Observer (published March 29, 2008)

The widely publicized sermon excerpts of Barack Obama’s recently retired pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, illustrate the religious setting in the America he has condemned.

As Barack Obama said, Wright’s perspectives about America are “distorted,” “divisive” and “racially charged.”

Particularly surprising to those outside Wright’s congregation is the response of people in the audience. Did the same congregants who cheered Wright’s words in person wince when they stood next to neighbors and friends while listening to the same sermons on television? Impassioned speeches intended for a narrow slice of the culture do not seem as wise when broadcast to the whole world.

But Wright’s freedom to express himself and his congregation’s response are the logical result of America’s religious system.

It is easy to forget that America’s experiment in what Nathan Hatch called in a 1991 book “the democratization of American Christianity” was just that — an experiment — when it was embedded into our Constitution and culture.

Europeans found it strange that church and state should be separate, that varying religious ideas should co-exist, that the church should be supported by voluntary contributions, and that congregations should be accountable to and governed by members who chose to affiliate with them instead of choosing the competition.

With institutionalized religious freedom, we gather voluntarily in churches that share our spiritual strengths and insights, and that also share our blind spots and weaknesses. The larger and faster a church grows, the greater the danger of arrogance. When we find ourselves in a religious group that does not share our religious values, we are free to find another that does — which we do with regularity.

This process of free choice and free association builds our sense of religious self-esteem as we continue to assemble and associate exclusively with those who are as “right” as we are. We rarely stop to examine its consequences.

Religious choice also reinforces the walls that divide us outside the church. In spite of our public efforts at civility and cooperation, behind the closed doors of our meeting houses we name the sins of those “out there,” we ratify one another’s sense of victimization, we reinforce our collective fears, we justify our resentment and bitterness, and we overlook or even reinforce one another’s faults because we share them. When we leave that place of worship, we are more sure than ever we are better than those outside.

Dangers in the system

If this sounds like an indictment specifically of Wright, it is not. It is our American way of doing church. At times its effects have been disastrous. The anger that Wright expresses toward America is aimed at this same system that allowed my ancestors to kidnap his ancestors, enslave and abuse them, and, when forced to free them, continue to segregate and oppress them — using the name of Jesus Christ to justify and perpetuate these sins. White people gathered in white churches to find, misinterpret and proclaim scriptures that would rationalize murder, oppression, hatred and condescension. Religious freedom allowed them to do so without external accountability.

I do not advocate limiting the rights of free expression for Wright or anyone else. Neither do I promote the kind of “tolerance” that implies absolute truth does not exist. My own religious conviction is centered in the Christian faith of historic orthodoxy

But while embracing and proclaiming our faith, we need to counter the dangers of our system. Our shared American system of religious choice is not likely to change. So it will be up to us as individuals to learn and apply the right lessons of this most recent abuse of the system.

Listen to critics, admit faults

We all associate most closely with those who look like us and share our thoughts. We must also listen to and learn from our critics, even when they seem unfair or unkind.

We all prefer to preach about the sins of those who aren’t present, because doing so makes us feel better about ourselves. We must instead shine the light on our own failings, and those of our community. We must ask God to show us what faults others see in us that we cannot see in ourselves.

We all use words behind closed doors and in private communications that we intend only for those in our circle. We would all do well to imagine those same words broadcast on the nightly news or posted on the Internet, and adjust accordingly.

Rather than defending or accusing Jeremiah Wright, we must confess that he is not better or worse than any of us. He is a prototypical American preacher, confident of his message and unaccountable to anyone except those to whom he chooses to make himself accountable.

He is a man with strengths and weaknesses, a pastor with insights and blind spots, a leader who has made significant contributions to the world. But ultimately he is a man in need of the same grace, the same humble introspection, and the same resolve to grow and change that each of us must seek. We will only do so when we listen to more than our friends and allies.

The Rev. Robert M. Thompson is pastor of Corinth Reformed Church in Hickory. Write him at bob@corinthtoday.org.