More than a mirror
I’ve been reading and thinking a good bit about Pope John Paul II’s life and legacy the past few days. It’s hard for me think of another public figure whom I both respect deeply and thoroughly disagree with on many issues. Not being Catholic, I was never directly affected by the Pope’s positions; I can disagree with him without feeling insubordinate or betrayed.
Rabbi Yoffie’s statement for the Union of Reform Judaism sums it up well for me:
"While we had our disagreements – on gender equality, reproductive rights, and the rights of gays and lesbians – we never doubted for a moment that he was a man of profound principle, courage, and vision. Even when our religious traditions led us to different conclusions, John Paul II always found new opportunities for reengaging in our common purpose of bringing justice with mercy into the human community."
I’m reminded of a passage from Stephen Carter’s book, The Culture of Disbelief, in which he comments on Americans’ tendency to create God in our own image — our habit of assuming that God supports all of our political and cultural positions (a failing equally prevalent among the left and right). He challenges us to allow religion to be more than a mirror that reflects back our own smug certainties.
April 4th, 2005 at 10:45 pm
E,
How great is that Carter quote! I can’t wait to read his book. I am curious about the specificity of his “Americans” idea. Don’t other Christian Countries do this, in Europe? If not why not?
We’ve been talking about religion on my blog in the last few days, your quote by Carter couldn’t have been more perfect fodder for keeping the conversation alive. I linked to you.
April 5th, 2005 at 2:01 am
I attended a Jesuit college, and the elections of both John Pauls in 1978/1979 are some of my very earliest “news” memories. And I felt a brief pang at John Paul II’s death. But I can’t say that I have any profound reaction to his death, nor am I consumed by respect for him. Intellectually, I can add up his achievements: anti-Communism, rapprochement with Jews and Muslins, some movement on ecumenicism with Protestants. But emotionally, I judge the man by the things he held most dear: “the culture of life,” his devotion to Mary (he was convinced her personal intersession in 1981 saved him), his refusal to countenance dissent within the church. All of those things, to a greater or lesser extent, are at odds with my own commitments and beliefs. (Lest you ask, the cult of Mary bothers me on historical and theological and feminist grounds, although I do know the pro-Mary Catholic feminist position. I’m a much bigger advocate for Mary Magdalene as the proper “first woman” of the church, myself. And I have no patience for the theory of Mary’s immaculate conception, or the idea that she’s the co-redemptrist, at ALL.)
So oddly enough, after my first rush of sympathy (and, let’s face it, regret for the passing of time in my OWN life, the way all things come inevitably to an end), I don’t feel much of anything about this Papacy. I almost feel irritated by the way nothing else has been featured on the CNN homepage.
Eh. I’m not sure what I feel. But something in me rebels against the hagiography. It almost seems part and parcel of the unthinking fawning approach to religion and religious beliefs that seems to typify US media coverage of religious issues these days. Political correctness extended to prevent critiques of religion in any form. I’d love to see how the German and the Spanish and the English press are covering John Paul’s death and his legacy.
April 5th, 2005 at 9:17 am
What’s really bugged me about the msm coverage is how selective it is; it’s focusing only on those aspects of JPII’s teachings that seem to support the religious right’s agenda. Nothing on his adamant opposition to the death penalty, to the Iraq war, nothing on his powerful critique of capitalism.
I personally don’t think god, if she exists, gives a hoot about these details. But given the power of organized, institutional religion, and given the positive values that can be read from Christian, and more specifically, Catholic texts, it’s just amazing how everything dealing with social justice is ignored. I’ve blogged on this issue recently so you’d think I’d be all ranted out, wouldn’t you… 🙂
April 5th, 2005 at 9:38 am
There is an old saying something to the effect that when God hates all the same people we hate, we have a problem.
The challenge of not letting our beliefs
simply be a mirror that reflects back our own smugness seems to me to be true of a number of things; politics, economics, ethical issues, and so on.
One of the things that really interested me about the Schiavo case was how so many people–on both sides of the issue– already had their minds decidedly made up on the matters involved, and so rather than being interested in thinking and dialoguing about what are complicated issues, they simply wanted to let their views be known and damn those who saw things differently…
April 5th, 2005 at 3:34 pm
Smashing the Mirror
(NOTE: One of my occasional Pagan spiritual posts follows. Some readers love ’em; others are only here for the poop jokes. Scroll down if you want the funny stuff.) I haven’t said much about the Pope because – well, I’m not Catholic. Any opinion I’d of…