Of Third Cousins Thrice Removed

In this corner, Jeremiah Wright, retired pastor of the church home of Barack Obama, a principal contender for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Pastor Wright has said the U.S. government created then injected the AIDS virus into people of color, and that the attacks of 9/11 were as much a product of American imperialism as Islamic fundamentalism.

And in the other corner, John Hagee, pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, whose endorsement John McCain, the presumptive Republican Party nominee, sought and accepted earlier this year. Pastor Hagee has linked the Catholic Church to the “great whore” mentioned in the book of Revelation, and said that Hurricane Katrina was God’s retribution for a gay pride parade held in New Orleans.

These two pastors have been in the news recently, not so much because of what they said, but because of whom they know. Yes, there was a significant outcry when each one’s comments became public, but absent association with a major public figure, neither would have stirred widespread attention.

Pastor Wright’s confrontational theology would have wandered off with him into the ministerial sunset had not one of his former parishioners been running for president. Pastor Hagee, a more public figure because of his television ministry, would have pursued his fundamentalist agenda in the protection of our beloved separation of church and state had a presidential contender not sought his political assistance.

As a result, we’re not talking about the substance or nuance of Pastor Wright’s “God damn America!” nor are we exploring the biblical veracity of Pastor Hagee’s aggressive opposition to Catholicism. We’re instead talking about two presidential candidates and the alleged character flaws their associations with these pastors expose. The controversial pastors are little more than means to an end that these days is commonly labeled “gotcha politics.”

None of the mouthy political operatives who have spouted off in the last month or so really cared about Wright’s or Hagee’s beliefs. They only cared that using those beliefs provided another day’s campaign leverage, or another gem to bank away for use in a precision-targeted media blitz.

And also as a result, in this election year we’re not talking about the economy, or the war in Iraq, or the high cost of gasoline, or the breakdown of the American family, or the...whatever you can think of that actually matters. We’re rather running opposition background checks, seeing who in his or her past did something, said something, thought something, or once met with someone who did, said, or thought something we don’t like but can use to our side’s political advantage.

This is McCarthy-era guilt by association updated for the 21st century. We’re in a season in which we don’t care about candidates’ stands on issues or ideas for the future; we care about whom they knew, when they knew them, and what cheap, tawdry political advantage we can make from the mistakes and misstatements of those confidants. It’s 21st century McCarthyism because modern technology allows us to store, discover, and disseminate these political hand grenades in the flash of a mouse click.

Because his former pastor said something controversial, said things many find troubling, Barack Obama’s candidacy is questioned? Because John Hagee holds unpopular and unconventional beliefs, John McCain is to be doubted? Since when are Obama and McCain their pastors’ keepers?

What a sad surprise awaits any of the kids who have been part of the church I’ve served for 23 years, should they ever run for president. Some devious political hack will explore the record, discover a connection to me, wend his or her way to a few BillExpress pieces archived in some dank Website cavern, find out that I hugged a lot and encouraged others to do so, then will publish a three-part expose on the mysterious and cult-like community in which the candidate was raised, effectively sinking an otherwise worthy candidacy.

Martin Luther King dreamed of a day when society would judge children by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. In today’s slimy political climate, I have to hope King would dream of an election in which we judged candidates by the content of their competencies, not the purity of their associations.

There’s also a biblical problem with guilt by association – and on this you may be way ahead of me. With whom did Jesus spend most of his time? Prostitutes, tax collectors, and the socially outcast – none a great addition to his personal resume. And did people in Jesus’ day think less of him because of his associations?... I guess we haven’t changed much, have we?


Let’s pray:
God, politics is a rough and tumble business, but we want to believe it doesn’t have to be the way we have made it. May something change in us and in our society, to make us aware of the dangers of this current path, to call us to unearth the political implications of your command to love our neighbors. First step: Remind us who our neighbors are. In the name of Jesus, Amen.