A not-so-proud moment

U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that communists had infiltrated the State Department at all levels on this date in 1950. This was the beginning of "McCarthyism."

McCarthy saw communists hiding behind every rock and tree.  This was in the Cold War era when “communist” was code not only for a political system that was over against so-called “democracy.”  It was also a label that right-wingers hurled at anyone who did not agree with every aspect of their politics, religion, sociology and all other opinions. 

McCarthy targeted liberals of all kinds, gays, artists of any medium and almost anyone else to whom he could make his charges of disloyalty, subversives and even spies stick.  “McCarthyism” is a term that applies to witch hunts and hurling unsubstantiated accusations at ideological opponents.

The McCarthy Era is among the darkest days of U. S. history.  Strong-arm tactics, ignoring of due process and outright lies are the characteristics of the period.  The approach was “make your opponent appear to be evil, and the opponent’s position appears evil.”  It is a rotten way to do business and is the polar opposite of civil discourse.

The U. S. Senate censured McCarthy in 1954.  Although he stuck to his guns for the rest of his life (and remained a Senator from Wisconsin until his death in 1957), he was never a force in national politics again.

One would hope that we would learn the lesson of history.  But, in contemporary politics and in church debate I am afraid that McCarthyism lives.

The ticking of the clock is getting loud

We are less than three weeks away from the United Methodist Church’s Special Session of General Conference.  An important milestone for me is that there is one more weekend before the session convenes.  Next Sunday will be the last opportunity delegates have to assemble in their own churches.  Sometime that week the participants will make their way to St. Louis and the gavel will fall on Saturday the 29^th.

So, this coming Sunday will be (for most) the last regularly-scheduled service of worship prior to their historic meeting.  It will be the last sermon (preached or audited) before the crucial debates of the Conference.  It will probably be the last Communion for a portion of the crowd.  Sunday will be the final opportunity for encouragement.  There will be only one more gathering in a prayer circle.  Last handshakes and parting “Good lucks!” will abound.

It is coming so fast.

So, in these final days before General Conference, I entreat any who read these words to be in prayer.  No matter what your position on the issue of human sexuality, no matter which plan you support, no matter what your long-term vision for the United Methodist Church – please, pray.

There is so much violence to people and to the church that could come about.  Relationships could be fractured.  The delegates could make decisions that would take decades from which to recover.  As important as the issue before the Conference may be, I believe that our fellowship is more important still.  If people get hurt, if congregations and conferences splinter, can anyone truthfully say that this is the better option?

The clock is ticking.  The time is approaching.

Pray.

Please, pray.

Toe the Line?

In his book How to Read the Bible & Still be a Christian John Dominic Crossan says,

…in 621BCE, the high priest Hilkiah informed King Josiah of Judah that he had found the book of Deuteronomy, which he called the “book of the law,” in the Jerusalem Temple (2 Kings 12:8).  Thus began what today is called the Deuteronomic Reform under the slogan “one God in one Temple – at Jerusalem” (note, for example Deuteronomy 12:13-14).

WHAT IS MOST STRIKING¹ and even startling about the book of Deuteronomy is how it is dominated by covenant, with covenant dominated by Sanction, and with Sanction dominated by curses and blessings.²

These sorts of writings – taken out of both literary and historical context – prompt some modern-day folks to take the position that sanctions and curses are the appropriate response toward all with which they disagree.  Some of the horribly vindictive rhetoric coming out of the conservative camps in regard to the Way Forward and United Methodist General Conference that gathers later this month appeals to such passages as a rationale for their attitude.

This “second telling” of the Law (lit. deuteros "second" + nomos "law") surfaced at a time of great political and religious upheaval.  No matter what one’s view of the severity of sanction and curse in the book, Josiah and Hilkiah were of the opinion that it was only by imposing strict regulations and harsh enforcement that the Kingdom of Judah and the faith of the Hebrews was going to be preserved.  It is akin to marshal law or the declaration of a state of disaster.  Such things were not ever the norm in Israel.

I understand that some folks believe the situations to be analogous.  They see these times as a period of religious upheaval.  They see strict enforcement as the only way to preserve the unity of the United Methodist Church.  Things fall apart, though, with the realization that The United Methodist Church is an all-volunteer organization.  Even the highest-paid professional clergy, bureaucrats and agency workers joined the church by choice.  One can always walk away without threat to life or limb.  As a fellowship of believers who relish the doctrine of free will, the church as a whole ought to perceive vindictiveness as abhorrent. 

The Right masks its marshal law plan with words such as “accountability,” meaning that anyone who does not agree with their party line is wrong, even chargeable, and that those with whom they disagree must be identified and punished if the so-called offender refuses to conform with their definition of “the correct.”

Let’s be clear: The Right is not called of God or of anyone else save they themselves to be the Credential Police.  I have heard representatives of their position preach from pulpits about “love” and “grace” and “room for all of God’s children at God’s table.”  Until someone disagrees with them.  Then the vigor of their wrath knows no bounds.

Deuteronomy is not the whole of Scripture.  For every passage on Law there is a corresponding text extolling Grace.  I don’t know where all this will end.  But I trust that Self-Justification will never prevail.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

¹Capitals are the author’s.

²John Dominic Crossan, How to Read the Bible & Still be a Christian (New York: Harper Collins, 2015), pp. 89-90.