POUNDING THE JESUS DRUM

In Iowa recently, in one of what seems like an endless series of debates among the Republican Presidential candidates, the question came up: "Who is your favorite political philosopher?" George W. Bush led the chorus by answering: "Jesus Christ." And no, he wasn't swearing bitterly about the difficulty of the question. The other candidates couldn’t pass up the opportunity to not only duck the question, but to score points with the Religious Right as well, so they quickly fell into line: "Oh, yeah, Jesus." "Me too! Me too! I like Jesus too!"

It's not the profession of religious faith that bothers me. I firmly believe everyone is entitled to believe as their heart tells them. But what bugs me is the glib insincerity of someone who'll shoehorn the name of Christ into a topic by describing him as a "political philosopher". George Bush could no more come up with the name of an actual political philosopher than he could name the Prime Minister of India. Besides, invoking the names of Hamilton, Jefferson, or John Adams would have sparked an actual debate about the proper roles and uses of government, which I suspect Dubbya was completely unprepared to handle. So, with the facile panderer’s instincts that are the hallmark of the true politician, he grabbed at the name which would most quickly please the crowd. I mean, really. Who can debate against Jesus? Even I’M not that good.

The naming of Jesus as a "political philosopher" particularly offends me. You see, while Jesus was a great moral philosopher, he didn’t have a whole lot to say about politics. In fact, from the Biblical narrative of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, you could make a pretty good case that it was politics-- maneuvering between Herod, Pilate, and the Pharisees trying to suck up to the Romans-- that got Him killed in the first place.

Consider this: Christ's most famous utterance on the subject of politics was made to a person trying to trap him into a risky political argument by inquiring whether people should pay taxes to Rome. He took a coin with Caesar's image on it and said "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and render to God what is God's." In other words, leave Me out of the political arguments, and get your heart right. Jesus' message wasn't about politics, but about a radical restructuring of the relationship between man and God--something which, to my way of thinking, is much more important than politics. But just try fitting that into a sound bite.

Of course, it's not just the Republicans jumping on the Jesus train. Al Gore, in a recent "60 Minutes" interview, felt compelled to tell everyone he's a born-again Christian. And in an earlier interview with The Washington Post's Sally Quinn, he said he often asked himself "W.W.J.D. -- for a saying that's popular now in my faith, 'What would Jesus do?' Great. We now have a Democratic front-runner who takes his religious philosophy from Sunday-school T-shirts. And he wonders why Bradley's gaining on him.

Al, of course, is trying to distance himself from the guy in the White House, who I'm willing to bet never asked the W.W.J.D. question in regards to certain staff members. (If he did, he's weirder than even I thought, considering how he must have answered it.)

But let us not forget, Ol' Slick Willy was and is no slouch when it comes to pounding the drum for Jesus. Remember his campaigns in black churches in '92? Remember the invocations of scripture in the series of Monica mea culpas? And surely you recall the frequent photo ops of Bill and the world's most dysfunctional First Family attending regular Sunday services. One reporter has described Clinton's knowledge of the Bible in awe-struck tones by saying "it's like talking to your Sunday-school teacher." (She obviously had a different Sunday-school teacher than I did, for which I am profoundly thankful.) Think about that the next time some politician begins piously declaiming about his religious faith.

But, just for the sake of argument, let's follow through on Al's question: what WOULD Jesus do if he were a Presidential candidate? Well, unlike some, I don’t claim to have any insight into the Divine mind. But I do remember this quote from the Gospel of Matthew: "And when you pray , you shall not be like the hypocrites: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. I say to you, they have their reward. But when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly." Sound advice, and I wish all the candidates would take it.

© 2000 BY JERRY D. RHOADES, JR.