Weeks ago at the very end of the presidential debate at Dartmouth College, Tim Russert pulled a fast one. To the nine sweaty, self-righteous Democrats: What is your favorite Bible verse? And like maddeningly precocious children, they were only too eager to answer. It was like watching the von Trapp children crash and burn, like sheep to the slaughter. Each sang the praise of the Bible, and none questioned. Instead of notes of the solfege, we got The Sermon on the Mount. Twice. I wish one of them were godless. Then I’d have someone to vote for.
When we were kids, our parents told us not to steal, punch or engage in relatively idiotic behavior or they’d ground us. In addition, we were warned of karma, hell, eternal damnation or some form of posthumous unpleasantries depending on your particular denomination. Maybe Mom wasn’t watching, but God was! And many continue to trot along in general bliss with that in mind. And that’s why people never steal, kill, rape or pillage in this country – because we are so godly.
False! Everything in this country has, and will continue to, move in a downward spiral until we chuck God out of the political sphere and bring back the cause of humanity. By this, I mean “because God is watching “is not a good enough reason to tell your kid why stealing is bad. If you can get your child to believe fantasies like that, you can no doubt teach some basic economics: “Johnny, if you steal that toy, Target will have to raise the prices of all the other toys to pay for the item. Mommy won’t be able to buy you more toys.” You can also instill some good old human guilt: “If you cheat on that homework, Ignatius, you’re cheating yourself.” Practicality resonates stronger than God.
You can be ethical and moral without religion. You can give money to the poor not because Jesus did it, but because it will keep them from starving, and because it’s a good thing to do. Don’t avoid killing bugs and animals because you think karma will have you reincarnated as a spider that gets stomped on by a four-year-old’s heelies. Let it live because it’s cruel and a waste of time to kill for no reason. What if a fly has been buzzing around your ears for a good while and you can’t concentrate on finishing a good Diamondback column? Swat it, because it’s worth it. It’s better to make your decisions based on practicality, rationality and reason.
The decisions get bigger and bigger, from stealing Tater Tots at The Diner to abortion. Stem-cell research. Terri Schiavo. The only decision that matters is the godless one. Politics is about keeping people alive, happy and not killing each other. You may have a relationship with God, but you also have a relationship with humanity. Politics is based on humanity, the here and now.
So I say to Barack Obama, who spent close to a minute (for a 10-second question) relating God to humanity to political goodness and stumbling the whole way, that yes, we have lost a “sense of empathy towards each other.” We have been “governed in fear and division.” That is all you can expect when God is strung so tightly together with American politics.
When you look at things in terms of God, there needs to be an enemy. There needs to be a black for the white, and a yin for the yang. And obviously, we think we’re the good guys. John McCain was wrong when he said last weekend, “the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.” That’s historically inaccurate. As John Meacham said in a New York Times op-ed yesterday, “[The founding fathers] wanted faith to be one thread in the country’s tapestry, not the whole tapestry.” If our country falls apart under the watch of an agnostic or atheist president, it will certainly come back together. Abraham Lincoln proved that.
Pull your head out of the prayer books, people! Don’t let politicians bullshit you all the way to the voting booth. Be faithful to one another, first and foremost. For those who care to, keep God in your hearts and out of politics. He shouldn’t mind.
Nandini Jammi is a sophomore English major. She can be reached at jammin@umd.edu.
