Quid Est Veritas

Theofacists
By Patrick Weadon
Generations of my family attended Blessed Sacrament Grade School in Washington D.C. My aunt and mother graduated in 1940 and 1945, respectively, (yours truly was in the class of 1970). I remember them telling me that in the 1940s; the Sisters of the Holy Cross would tell them if you weren’t Catholic, your chances of going to Heaven were slim to none.
By the time I got to Sister Helen Patrice’s religion class in the late 60s (she also taught my mother) Vatican II had occurred, and the party line had changed. We were told that if someone lived a good life and obeyed the golden rule, they would be eligible for the heavenly gates even though they might not have ever heard of Jesus Christ. That always made sense to me.
I never could understand why the Supreme Being would condemn someone for all eternity simply because they had been born in China rather than Ireland. I for one was glad the Catholic Church and society had moved beyond such nonsense.
With this in mind, I was a bit shocked last month when I read that Robert Bentley, the current Governor of Alabama, had publicly stated (at a Martin Luther King event) he could never consider anyone who did not profess belief in Jesus Christ as his brother or sister. I have come to expect such verbal ignorance and stupidity from unrepentant members of the Klan and wild-eyed Christian fundamentalists whose hate-filled speech and intolerance of others at times rivals that of Osama Bin Laden. But this was not some slack jawed yokel spouting off, but the chief executive of the sovereign State of Alabama.
The “Governor” would later apologize. But his knee-jerk attempts at mea culpa struck me as being akin to a husband asking his wife to forgive him for answering in the affirmative when she asked if she was gaining weight. Once you said such a thing, there is no going back.
Let’s examine the governor’s statement. “Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister.” If he really believes that, here are some of the people who would be exempted from his “family.” Irving Berlin, H.L. Menken, Muhammad Ali, Senator Lieberman of Connecticut, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Albert Einstein, Sandy Koufax, Moe, Larry and Curly of the Three Stooges, Milton Berle, Barbara Streisand, Jonas Salk, Mel Brooks, Adam Sandler and Steven Spielberg.
I don’t know about you, but I would be proud to be associated with such accomplished people. To reject them because they did not share my religious views would quite simply, be stupid and illogical. Those who use their faith not to unite us but to divide us have it all wrong. I am not an expert on the Gospel’s but I have sat through enough Masses to know that the man who the Governor claims is at the center of his life, at times hung out with prostitutes, Roman soldiers, tax collectors and members of certain religious sects (i.e. Samaritans), all of whom were, at least in terms of religion, diametrically opposed to everything Christ stood for and believed in. And yet, rather than reject them for reasons of bigotry and prejudice, he sought to engage them and change their hearts. It might be a good idea for the Governor to do the same.
It is true, as “Pudding Head” Palin and “Blowhard” Bachmann will tell you, that in some sense, America is a Christian nation. But, at the same time, it is also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, an atheist nation and most importantly, a nation of millions of good people who hold a veritable cornucopia of different views and philosophies on religion and spirituality. Religious diversity is truly one of our nation’s greatest strengths.
For this reason, Christians should avoid becoming theofacists. Jesus may be the end all be all for Governor Bentley, but while he is entitled to his own religious beliefs, it is wrong for him to use those same beliefs to publicly affirm his own superiority over others. Christ once said that” the last should be first and the first shall be last.” Rather than trying to tell everyone how special he is, Bentley should try being governor of ALL of the people of Alabama, and not just those who share his own particular faith.
Those who support Governor Bob’s twisted kind of thinking will likely conclude that I am dammed to hell for all eternity for writing this column. Perhaps they are right, however if you really believe that being a Christian makes you better than everyone else, I have a sneaking suspicion that you will be joining me!