Aliens in America: Day 15

Think 

‘As aliens, live in reverent fear’ (1 Pet. 1:17) 

‘I’ve come to know more and more the profound this-worldliness of Christianity.’ Deitrich Bonhoeffer 

Just over a week till Election Day. This is not just about the presidency but a host of other choices. Some of us, like all Missourians, face critical choices on the rights of prenatal persons. 

It may be helpful for every citizen to weigh carefully the dignity of all persons, including the unborn: migrants, Europeans living in the shadow of Putin, little Taiwan and big China, Israel and her retaliation…how Americans vote impacts the whole world.   

It helps to be thoughtful. That gives us no pat answers for any one candidate but lends scope and urgency to our considerations. God-inspired dignity guides us here.  

I love what Pope Francis wrote last year in Dignitas Infinita: ‘Our dignity is bestowed upon us by God. It is neither claimed nor deserved. Every human being is loved and willed by God and thus has an unalienable dignity’ (11).  

We who love Jesus have a special responsibility to act ‘in the power that flows from the Risen Christ, who has fully revealed this integral dignity of every man and woman’ (Dignitas Infinita 66). Jesus enlivens us to reflect His glorious advocacy of persons in how we love. And vote.  

OK, not as simple as it may sound. But we must weigh issues to vote as wisely as we can. It helps to go deeper than speed-reading a newsfeed. The Internet helps and hinders thoughtfulness. ‘The soundbite and the slogan don’t matter. Real freedom demands an ability to think, and a good deal of modern life seems deliberately designed to discourage that,’ opines ever-wise Archbishop Chaput.  

The DSM staff got together over the last several months in our free time to talk through candidates and issues. We selected 10-15 good articles each time and discussed them together. Despite different opinions, we grew in our understanding and learned respectfully from each other and incisive sources.   

It helps to draw from sources deeper than yourself (People Magazine profiles are fun but JLo’s next re-marriage/comeback/self-help rap doesn’t really inform the election…). It may be too late before Election Day, but sooner than later, read a book on the topic of American faith and politics. Best book choice I made this summer? A careful read of Render unto Caesar by Archbishop Charles Chaput.  

He urged me to take seriously my faith in the public square: not to shirk it for fear of violating the secular/spiritual divide that, wrongly understood, can disempower us as aliens in pluralistic America. For example, he points out the difference between France and America’s Revolutions: simply put, the former encouraged freedom from faith (a Catholicism deemed corrupt), and ours resulted in freedom for belief (a myriad of primarily Protestant expressions). Such vibrant, highly individualized spirituality fueled a government founded on the dignity of each citizen who could support a moral society without insisting on a monotone state religion, as did many European nations.  

Think. Consider well the complex issues. Neither candidate has a corner on the right answer, nor does the weight of the world rest on our votes. Jesus alone bears the unbearable. Aliens in America can exercise both detachment and thoughtful agency.    

‘Thank You God for the gift of reason and pangs of conscience that direct us to deeper consideration. How happy are those who cry peace when there is none! We forego bliss for the fair and just responsibility as citizens given a small share in America’s laws and lawmakers.’   

‘Jesus, You are the King, and we are first citizens of Your Kingdom. Would you free us for You in this election season, not to hide but to shine? You’ve always asked nothing less from Your elect whom You have made ‘strangers in a strange land’ (Ex. 2:22). Here we are, a people who don’t know what to do but who look and listen to our King.  

“Father of all holiness, 

guide our hearts to You. 

Keep in the light of Your Truth 

all those You have freed from the darkness of unbelief. 

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son.”’ 

Amen