The Village Square

With bold humility: Meet Luke, Part 1

June 18th, 2009

Luke is a Florida State graduate student in Political Science and an intern with the Village Square. I’m sure you’ll agree, whatever side of the aisle you fall on, that with 22 year olds who think as deeply as Luke, we’re probably going to be OK…

There is an old saying that goes: mixing the church and state is like mixing ice cream with cow manure; it may not do much to the manure, but it sure messes up the ice cream. Over 70% of Americans claim Christianity as their religious affiliation. The second group most common religious belief, at nearly 15%, consists of nonbelievers or agnostics.

What role does the church play in our lives? Certainly for me, as for so many Christian Americans, it is a guiding light. What then do we say about other religions? When compared to all the religions of the world Christianity makes up about 33% with Islam close behind at 25%. Is the Christian way necessarily the right way?

When discussing issues that evoke serious emotion on both sides of the aisle, I believe it is very important to consider our faith. Abortion is still one of the most contentious issues of our time. In some ways, personal beliefs on a question like abortion are deeply rooted in tradition, morality, faith, and science, and may be essentially unchangeable. It’s certainly plausible though that we can find common ground in believing that stopping pregnancies before they happen is a goal everyone can live with. What is so wrong about loving someone of the same sex? Why can’t evolution and science coexist?

Religion certainly can provide a basis for many of these answers, but religion alone cannot answer them. We must attack these questions, in the words of David Bosch, with “bold humility.” Bold humility shares as well as receives, speaks as well as listens, serves as well as accepts hospitality, and transforms as well as modifies all things for sake of the extension of our glorious world.

Entry Filed under: Religion and politics