This article was first posted on my Facebook page January 21.
Don Lemon’s violent intrusion/raid of an ongoing church service is going to be covered and analyzed for years. I will forego commenting on the many outrages here to make just one point.
Some people see literally everything as essentially political–every group, every belief, even every action. In this case, the political blanket was attempted to be thrown on a group of faithful worshippers. But believing in and worshipping God, no matter what Lemon and others of his ilk might think, is not only outside the bounds of politics, it reflects a reality far greater than politics. It is wholly other.
Like the Wicked Witch trying desperately trying to get Dorothy’s ruby red shoes off, anyone thinking that they can view Christianity through the lens of politics is going to be greatly mistaken, and painfully so. The church, in all its divisions and with all its faults, cannot, cannot be reduced to a subset of a worldview that holds all to be essentially political. The world of faith and its many expressions are apart from politics and will always resist being fundamentally interpreted as political. They are and forever will be above politics, and will always be found to reject the straightjacket of political analysis, much as the Witch experienced with her first attempt to steal the Dorothy’s footwear. The world of faith and the true believer will always be unable to be breached, or even truly understood, by all who choose to view the world through that clouded lens of politics.
Every action in this world can be interpreted as political if one chooses to do so. But as is demonstrated by Lemon’s actions–and the perspectives and actions of those who are infected with the same “politics is over all and explains all,” he has completely missed the mark. He and others can try to drag other people and groups into that contaminated thinking, but the world of faith stands above and apart.
This is not just a matter of ghastly behavior that goes against the law and what most of us would agree is proper behavior. It is the bad fruit of inaccurate, mentally shriveled, and wildly misdirected convictions.
Everything CAN be interpreted through a political lens. But once you get to true religious belief, that perspective will always yield distorted “understanding” and conclusions.
Yes, Virginia, there is a world that can’t be truly understood with an essentially political perspective.
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