Sin vs. human need

I used to participate in a Christian bulletin board that was populated mostly by fairly right wing folk who tended to be close to libertarian about the cold sins and very authoritarian regarding hot ones. They thought the government should not be involved in educating children or restricting business activities and certainly shouldn't be taking taxes from them but it was the governments business to restrict with whom or how you had sex. Sin was a big word for them but it only had to do with individual behavior, never corporate or systemic issues.

Whenever the discussion of entitlement programs came up, invariably someone would argue that the government should not be forcing them to help others... that indeed, were it not for the onerous tax system, they would take care of those in need. Now, these are folk who have more than a healthy respect for the fallen nature of humanity but they seem to forget their own theology when helping those in need comes up. Suddenly the better nature of human beings comes into play and we can count on good Christian people to do what is necessary to take care of those in need, providing food, shelter, education, etc.

Sin is not as important a word in my theological vocabulary as it is for them. Indeed, I rarely use the term. In this instance I would be more likely to use the terms selfishness, greed, and lack of a sense of community responsibility. I have no expectation that good Christian folk either could or would meet the needs of those in their communities if suddenly the government programs disappeared. For those of us who live in our comfortable suburban settings, it is all too easy to ignore the needs of those across the tracks. For those of us serving the needy, we know the needs are overwhelming. For those of us struggling to keep our heads above water, our children fed, the heat on... our needs are too immediate to have resources to help others.

Yes, I have seen and experienced the sacrificial love of many good Christian (and non-Christian) folk. As government funding for programs for the needy has shrunk, I have seen many good people work and give to pick up the slack. I do not believe that generosity is strong enough to overcome human greed or selfishness. I do not believe that enough good folk are open to the needs more than a few blocks away in a sustained way to meet those needs. I do not believe that without government intervention that there would be adequate resources to make a difference. The power of human sin is just too great. And I am always surprised that my brothers (they are all men) on that forum think otherwise.

How the Mighty Are Fallen

By now everyone has read or heard about the fall of Elliot Spitzer, governor of New York. Spitzer was State Attorney General while we still lived in Albany and I have to say that I was impressed with him. He was a staunch defender of the rights of the general population and went after power people who were abusing their power. He made tons of enemies in high places. He was elected to the governorship with 69% of the vote on promises to reform the ethics of New York State politics. The people were behind him. He ran smack into the state legislature with both parties opposing his reforms and his agenda stumbled causing public support to sag. Still, he was charismatic and principled and some still spoke of an eventual presidential bid.

Then this. He is caught with a telephone trail of interactions with a prostitution ring. A politician whose career was based on standing against corruption and pursuing law breakers in the highest of positions with relentless determinism is caught breaking some of the very laws he had worked so hard to enforce. New York City papers are calling for his resignation with Newsday saying he "is either viciously self-destructive or pathologically arrogant, believing he wouldn't be caught."

I find myself wondering about that. In the church, we have more than once heard of very prominent church leaders being caught in similar sins and just like with Spitzer, they are often issues against which the preachers have railed long and hard. They cannot but know that getting caught would not only deeply damage their families and destroy their careers, it would damage, perhaps beyond repair, the work they have committed their lives to. Spitzer has just added one more reason to not trust politicians or the political process. All of those preachers have added one more example of the hypocrisy of people of faith. Any hope of reform was completely derailed.

What was he thinking? What were they thinking?

I suppose he'll need to resign. If he doesn't, accomplishing anything through the rest of his term will be next to impossible. Re-establishing trust with the populace would be the key and doing that would involve public contrition and public acknowledgement that he had betrayed not only his family but the hopes and dreams of the 69% who had voted for him. It wouldn't be pretty and would hurt his family even more.

Ashes

This morning I went outside to get the LA Times and saw that everything was coated with ash. We've had ash off and on in the mornings since the Zaca Fire began. It is burning about 45 miles from where I live, on the other side of the Santa Ynez mountains. When the winds are coming from the right direction, the fire, which has burned over 38,000 acres, drops ash on Santa Barbara.

We are far from the fire. Its immediate consequences do not impact us here in SB. Indeed, the local newspaper isn't even providing its own coverage of the fire. They run the Associated Press stories! But today, if you have breathing problems you don't want to go outside. The ash lying on auto finishes has an impact. It touches us far away in unexpected ways that are only related to the fire itself in peripheral ways.

A few weeks ago, William Lobdell, told of his loss of faith in column one of the LA Times. He had the religion beat for a number of years. As he worked there and experienced, time after time, the sins of different faith leaders and groups, he lost faith. None of those leaders gave any thought to William Lobdell. They never imagined that abusing a little boy in a Catholic church would cause a writer for the LA Times to lose faith. A group of Mormons never imagined that shunning a fallen church member would so impact this stranger miles away. Like the ash falling on us in Santa Barbara, their actions and the actions of others left a mark on this man who they may never have even met and eventually killed his faith.

I think it was courageous for him to share his story and I pray for him. I hope that some day he is able to find faith again and feel the joy and peace it obviously gave him at one point in his life. I thank him for sharing his story that reminds me that my actions touch the lives of people far away and there may be ashes that mark someone whom I've never even met. I pray for myself that my actions and words will be reflective of what I claim to believe, of the loving Prince of Peace whom I try to follow. Thank you William.