The Perils of Believing You Have Moral Certainty

I thought this was a very interesting article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

A CARDINAL RULE for a columnist, as for a preacher, is "Have only one subject, focus on one topic." I have a problem. I have three topics.

Topic 1: The revelations regarding Eliot Spitzer's little problem, a topic that has preoccupied front pages, talk shows, blogs and coffee-pot conversation all week long.

Topic 2: The anniversary (seems like the wrong word somehow) of the Iraq war. On Wednesday, it'll be five years since George W. Bush gleefully announced the "initiation of hostilities."

Topic 3: A new book about religion and politics by Washington Post journalist E. J. Dionne, who was in town this week, and with whom I spoke.

A trinity of topics, but one theme. The New York governor's fall, five years of war and Dionne's book all make clear how intoxicating, how politically useful, but how perilous it is to be absolutely certain that you are right.

All three point out the perils of moral certainty and the dangers of being sure of our own unassailable virtue. What a dangerous high is to be had by concentrating the mind on the evil of others, while being clueless about our own. (emphasis mine) If smugness isn't a sin, it should be.

I confident many of the readers here, especially the GLBT folks, have run across this type of person more often than they care to. These are people so buried in their own sin that they have to focus on someone they consider more sinful than themselves to try and create a level of self esteem. Many a gay basher has been found to have something in his or her closet that doesn't hold up to close scrutiny (often it's another gay person).

My experience has taught me that the louder someone condemns other people, the more sin he has in his life that he is hiding from or denying. The ones that focus on the latter part of "hate the sin, love the sinner" often hate themselves.

If someone claims higher moral authority, they are often one to run, not walk, away from. Judgment belongs to the Lord--those who try to claim that authority are casting themselves and/or their beliefs as idols, meaning they hold them up higher than God.

Romans 14:13 (NIV) Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.

The way many GLBT people have been judged by those representing Christianity has effectively slammed the door in their face and made them understand that God does not want them in His kingdom.

Fortunately, those people are wrong. They either substitute their bigotry for God's will or simply underestimate the reach of His love, going beyond people like them to ALL His children. If you have been ostracized by a church, please reconsider and give God, not people preaching hate, a chance to touch your life. You can listen to some teachings or search for an open and affirming church at my ministry website, Affirming Christian Network.

One more thing from the article:

And the words that stood out most clearly in my conversation with Dionne was his observation, "The culture wars (another sure and certain drawing of the line between good and evil) exploit our discontents, when the task is to heal them." Dionne thinks Americans are finally fed up -- or in his words "souled out" -- with the smugness and arrogance of the Religious Right. He sees a broad spectrum emerging, people ready to reclaim faith and politics from them.

You can only fool people for so long, and I hope the era of the Religious Right being portrayed as the public face of Christianity is coming to an end. They do not accurately represent the God who has baptized me with the Holy Spirit and who sent his Son to die and rise again in atonement for my sins.

You can read the entire article here.