The Sin of Self-Righteous Surety In Politics and Religion: Beware

"You're just absolutely right. And I'm absolutely wrong. It must be nice to always believe you know better; to always think you're the smartest person in the room." --from the 1987 film "Broadcast News"

 Five days. Twelve votes. Twelve “nays.”

That’s the news this week from the three-ring circus called Washington, D.C. as California Representative Kevin McCarthy vies for the House of Representatives Speakership in the most contentious battle for that post since 1859.  There’s lots to mine here for editorial fodder. McCarthy is like the punch drunk prize fighter who just can’t seem to leave the ring. Not one piece of federal government business that needs any House approval can happen until this fight is over.

But what most fascinates and depresses me in this drama are the twenty or so naysayers, members of McCarthy’s own party, who just keep voting no. Many of them, when asked why they are so anti-McCarthy, and what they want in return for their votes…they go mute. They obfuscate. They prevaricate. They misdirect. This they do know and declare: they are absolutely, positively, completely right and everyone else in the chamber, heck in the whole world, who does not agree with their beliefs…well they are just wrong.

Isn’t that obvious?

The pompous self-righteousness on display in the capital this week, heck this millennium, makes me heartsick about the state of our democracy and the state of our culture.  Our world right now seems filled with so many folk, leaders and followers, especially in politics and religion, who are totally convinced that they are no doubt right and even on the side of God, and that anyone who opposes them are on the side with evil, or even the devil. This is the real rhetoric of our politics and religion right now. UGH!

There’s politics…now take the religion part….PLEASE! Ba-dum-bum!

But seriously: just days before Christmas, the Christian evangelical singer Amy Grant, whose talents and gifts are such a positive witness to her faith—she was taken down in public by Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, America’s most famous preacher of the 20^th century.

Graham regularly spews hatred against Islam and Muslims, heck against anyone who is not Christian, well, because the religious way that Franklin follows is absolutely right and any other way to God is absolutely wrong. Got it?!

Back to Grant, who was just feted with a Kennedy Center honor for lifetime achievements. She has multiple Grammy’s and has raised millions of dollars for charities. She’d a good soul. In a December 20^th newspaper interview Grant revealed that she would be hosting at her Tennessee farm, the wedding of her niece, who is marrying a woman. In the Christian evangelical world, the response was quick, sharp, and, of course, self-righteous.

Tweeted Graham, “…if we love God, we will seek to obey His Word. Jesus told us, ‘If you love Me, keep My commandments’ (John 14:15). God defines what is sin, not us; & His Word is clear that homosexuality is sin.”  Not a lotta wiggle room there. Graham is absolutely right, and Grant is absolutely wrong, apparently. This is what Grant said about our LGBTQ neighbors. “Honestly, from a faith perspective, I do always say, ‘Jesus, you just narrowed it down to two things: Love God and love each other.’ I mean, hey — that’s pretty simple.”        

Preach it Amy!

The person whose life forms the center of Christianity got really, really angry about very few things. One of the behaviors that he abhorred was self-righteousness from religious folk, especially leaders. You see, Jesus tended to hang out the most with folks on the fringe, the powerless, the invisible, the sidelined. The poor. Women. Children. The sick.  He had no time for sinful surety nor power hungry priestly publicity hounds.

As a world neither should we. Self-righteousness stretches from liberal enclaves to bible belt suburbs, from the ivory towers of academia to the halls of Congress and to voters and citizens, like me and you, if we are not careful. It is so tempting to imagine that we are absolutely right, and that “they” are absolutely wrong.

But the truth? The truth is almost always somewhere in between the poles of self-righteous declarations.   

Of that I am absolutely sure.

The Reverend John F. Hudson is Senior Pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn, Massachusetts (pilgrimsherborn.org). He blogs at sherbornpastor.blogspot.com and is a resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. For twenty-five years he was a columnist whose essays appeared in newspapers throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He has served churches in New England since 1989. For comments, please be in touch: pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org.