The Proper Role for Religion in State Affairs

I have always been wary of those who claim to be sure of the truth about the biggest questions. If God has a plan, it will be carried out. That is heaven's jurisdiction, not ours.

 

If, however, one believes that Creation has given us both life and free will, we are left with the question of what to do with those gifts. That is both a practical challenge and a moral one.

 

Religion concerns itself with the hopes and fears of all the years; the terms of American presidents are not so expansive. The policies of the U.S. government have to be based on what we might hope to accomplish in a finite period on Earth, not on post-millennial expectations.

 

At the same time, what we can accomplish on Earth is mixed up with the different understandings people have of God. As I travel around the world, I am often asked, “Why can't we just keep religion out of foreign policy?” My answer is that we can't and shouldn't.

 

Religion is a large part of what motivates people and shapes their views of justice and right behavior; it must be taken into account. Nor can we expect our leaders to make decisions in isolation from their religious beliefs. There is a limit to how much the human mind can compartmentalize. Why should world leaders who are religious act and speak as if they are not religious? We must live with our beliefs and also with our differences; it does no good to deny them.

 

This does not mean, however, that we should inflate the importance of those differences. It is human instinct to organize into groups. For most of us, this sorting process is largely passive. The groups to which we belong are part of our inheritance and culture--a consequence of where we were born and how we were raised.

 

My family's heritage was Jewish but I was raised a Roman Catholic. If, as a child, I had been sent to temple instead of to church, I would have grown to adulthood with a different group identity. I was born overseas. If not for the Cold War, my family would have had no cause to immigrate to the United States and I would never have become an American.