While doing a bit of blog-layout research, I went to the WP-support forums and found someone who sounded like they’d done what I’m thinking of doing: converting a 2-col site into a 3-col site. I clicked the link and it led me to a page that had a bullet-point asking ‘why the Left feels threatened by Christian Faith’. I couldn’t pass it up. Here’s my response:

Here’s the thing: the Left (as it were) isn’t threatened by faith so much as it feels threatened by the righteousness of faith brought into the political sphere. Why is that something to fear? Because, by its very nature, faith tends to be uncompromising. Once one believes something, and the strength of that belief becomes the defining factor in one’s search for ‘truth’, there’s not much left to talk about and, in a narrow sense, there probably shouldn’t be. But when ‘character’, as defined by faith rather than acts, becomes the primary attribute of political success, its only a small step for most people of faith to look around and say “since I and my peers in faith are of good character - due to the nature of our faith - how can anyone not of (our) faith also be good?” Unfortunately, it seems many of faith in the US today focus on the particular sectarian nature of their faith, rather than on the character that faith brings forth in people generally, whether Muslim, Jew, or Christian. This is probably the biggest distinction between the so-called Christian Left, and the Christian Right: an acceptance that the character borne of faith is more important than the particular name assigned to that faith. Why is that important? Because that realization leads one beyond the tribalistic tendencies of sectarian group-think and into the realm of shared values across beliefs. Once that happens, then the power of the “we’re right, they’re wrong” argument is diminished without diminishing the *personal* value of one’s relationship to God.

To be sure, the politically-active Christian leadership pays lip service to the idea of multi-denominationalism, but when it comes to politics and policy, it is often a hard line. What does this all have to do with the ‘Left feeling threatened’? Well, faith, by definition, has nothing to do with facts, figures, and outcomes - you either believe, or you don’t. And the Left is nothing if not driven by the idea that empiricism in public policy is the hallmark of the separation between Church and State - even if you are, in fact, a person of faith personally, as many on the Left are. It’s just that their faith informs their character without it necessarily being the center of their politics. The goal of politics is consensus toward the solution of problems. Maybe not everything today, or even tomorrow, but at least something better than where we’ve come from.

But everywhere the ‘Left’ turns in the political arena, they are faced with an energized, politically-active, Christian leadership that seems to substitute the give and take of political compromise, for the righteous tone of Christian political activism. So they’re left wondering ‘on what basis can we do business, if the other side is fired up with an all or nothing attitude rooted in ‘values’ informed by faith?’ In fact, to the Left, it sounds very much like ‘those who do not have faith as we do, do not have a voice at the table’. It is this that the ‘Left’ feels threatened by, a political attitude of exclusivity based on the strength of one’s faith.

Now, I’m sure many politically-active Christians don’t actually subscribe to this attitude, just as the Left never actually ‘disrespected’ religion or faith. But the political parties and the media they pay for encourage this kind of inflammatory rhetoric and thinking. And when the Left looks at the problems of the nation that need solving, and they look at their counterparts across the table, they are too often not dealing with people who give much weight to facts, figures, and outcomes. “That is the playground of the secularists”, says the other side. “Faith is enough to see us through our problems”, they seem to say. And when the facts are difficult to square with a ‘faith-based’ policy, too often the response is to banish the inconvenient and probably suspect ‘facts’.

So, does the ‘Left’ feel threatened by faith? I guess they do, but not because of faith per se, but because history shows, time and again, a lack of faith has never been, and will never be, the reason why mankind continues to act against his own self-interest. Rather, mankind - even faithful mankind - finds it irresistable to believe that faith alone is enough to do the work of God. But the Good Lord, in his infinite wisdom, will show us all once again that a mis-interpreted faith is as destructive (if not more so) as having no faith at all.