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God for PresidentGod for President

2005-02-22 - 9:23 a.m.
In the absence of anything else to write, I'd thought I'd post an answer I gave to a question on a list about whether or not clergy and politics should mix.
Here's my response:
I think unless you want to live in a monastery away from the world, you have
to find a way to integrate politics and your faith. Different approaches for
this have been tried throughout the ages.

From at least the ancient Egyptians, it was understood that a society needed
two pillars to survive and prosper - a political one, in the form of a King
or head of state, and a spiritual one, in the form of a Priest, Pope or
Archbishop. This is why the twin pillars are seen as so important in the
Qabbalah, Ceremonial Magic, and Traditional Wicca.

The Priest of ancient Egypt would take the Pharoah into a temple at night
where he would undergo a secret ceremony that made him a God and King.

The Catholic church served as the Kingmakers for Europe for more than a
millenia. Henry VIII strayed from this and appointed himself head of the
Church of England, but future sovereigns were still crowned by a priest -
either Catholic or Protestant. Today the Queen of England has very little
political power, and yet she remains Head of State for 16 countries. As
Defender of the Faith, she serves as the spiritual pillar, while the
Presidents or Prime Ministers serve as the political pillar.

Most people want and need spiritual guidance - a moral compass in some form
or another. In a country or faith where there is no one spiritual leader,
they look to the political leader for guidance. This may be why so many
people feel adrift today. Politicians are not 'built' to be virtuous, they
are built to compromise, deal, horse trade, and look and sound good in
public.

People need a different place to look for their value system. They need
someone to say 'No, it is wrong to treat people this way. It is wrong to go
to war for this reason, or to invade peoples private lives.'. America is
very proud of having a political system that is full of checks and balances.
But it has no check and balance to the system as a whole - there is no
spiritual pillar. So people turn to tele-evangelists, or cults or a host of
other people that are happy to take their money and pat them on the head and
tell them which group of people to hate today.

There are some good, true, honest religious leaders out there, of many
different faiths. Perhaps not surprisingly, you will find that despite their
different faiths, these leaders will agree more than they disagree - they
will celebrate their differences and bask in their similarities of faith,
rather than villifying and ostracizing those who are different.

As part of our local community, we know who these people are, and as clergy
we can reach out to them, work with them on local projects, find
similarities in our faiths and share that with the community at large - and
give them back their moral compass.


Have a nice day.

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