{"id":15,"date":"2010-05-18T12:52:16","date_gmt":"2010-05-18T12:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/christianityfortherestofus\/2010\/05\/representative-mark-souder-the-hypocrisy-of-the-hypocrite.html"},"modified":"2010-05-18T12:52:16","modified_gmt":"2010-05-18T12:52:16","slug":"representative-mark-souder-the-hypocrisy-of-the-hypocrite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2010\/05\/representative-mark-souder-the-hypocrisy-of-the-hypocrite.html","title":{"rendered":"Representative Mark Souder: The Hypocrisy of the Hypocrite"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

Although I grew up in a Methodist
\nchurch in Baltimore, my grandfather had rejected religion and was quite vocal
\nabout his freethinker (that’s what we used to call atheist) views.  One
\nday, when I was about eight, I asked him why he hated the church.
\n “Because it is full of hypocrites,” he replied.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Given today’s spectacular resignation
\nof the Christian pro-family congressman Mark Souder (R-IN), I can’t help but
\nthink my grandfather is looking down from the heaven he didn’t believe in and
\nsaying, “I told you so.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Souder confessed to an affair<\/a> w<\/font><\/span>ith a part-time staffer and resigned his
\noffice saying, “<\/span>To serve has been
\na blessing and a responsibility given from god. I wish I could have been a better
\nexample. I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual
\nrelationship with a part-time member of my staff.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 With surprising maturity, Souder took
\nresponsibility for his actions and only placed a modicum of blame on the media
\nand “poisonous Washington environment,” stepping aside for his family.  <\/span>But what really makes this situation
\nodious is that Rep. Souder and his girlfriend-staffer made a YouTube video
\nabout abstinence<\/a>, complete with comments about how hard it is to stop teenagers
\nfrom having sex. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the hypocrisy meter, this one
\nranks right up there with the recent “rentboy” scandal involving George Rekers<\/a>,
\nanti-gay activist and member of the founding board of the Family Research
\nCouncil. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In some ways, Americans expect
\npoliticians to be hypocrites.  <\/span>With
\na famous quip, Adlai Stevenson summed up our cynicism with the nature of
\npolitics by saying, “<\/span>A hypocrite is the kind of
\npolitician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a
\nspeech for conservation.” 
\n<\/span>Stevenson’s remark certainly describes the Souder affair.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But it isn’t just about politics or our jaded
\nattitudes toward such.  <\/span>Souder’s
\nactions underscore something much worse–the use and abuse of religious faith to
\n1) manipulate and control others without having to submit the same standards
\nyourself, and 2) using religion as a cover for one’s own sins.  <\/span>Of such actions, the Jewish philosopher
\nHannah Arendt wrote that, “Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us
\nwith the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to
\nthe core.”  <\/span>These are the reasons
\nwhy so many people in contemporary America are rejecting Christianity–and why
\nthey are rightfully criticizing Christians for failing to act as Jesus would
\nhave his followers act.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hypocrisy isn’t just about a single individual–it
\nis, sadly enough, about a community. 
\n<\/span>The hypocrite not only embarrasses himself, but places all those who
\nshare his faith tradition in the awkward situation of having to defend
\nthemselves as well.  <\/span>It jeopardizes
\nthe whole of the church.  <\/span>As I used
\nto say to my grandfather, “But not all Christians are so bad!  <\/span>Surely some must practice what they
\npreach!”  <\/span>He’d look back at me,
\nwith a sad sort of winsome wisdom, and say, “I hope your church will be
\ndifferent.” <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, Rep. Mark Souder, I can’t particularly offer
\nyou forgiveness or let you off the hook. 
\n<\/span>Not only have you hurt yourself and your family, you have hurt me–even
\nif I never voted for you, never agreed with your politics, and don’t share your
\nversion of Christianity. Just because I am a Christian, albeit a progressive, mystical, social justice Episcopalian one, I have to bear the burden of your sin–and that of George Rekers and Ted Haggard and the current Pope…and sadly, on and on.  And I hear in my memory the voice of my grandfather and all the invective he’d pour out against the church because of the likes of you.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To all you fellows, <\/span>I can
\nonly offer you the insight of the 18th<\/sup> century British essayist,
\nWilliam Hazlitt: “The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The
\nrepentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although I grew up in a Methodist church in Baltimore, my grandfather had rejected religion and was quite vocal about his freethinker (that’s what we used to call atheist) views.  One day, when I was about eight, I asked him why he hated the church.  “Because it is full of hypocrites,” he replied.   Given…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-news","category-religion-and-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nRepresentative Mark Souder: The Hypocrisy of the Hypocrite - Christianity for the Rest of Us<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2010\/05\/representative-mark-souder-the-hypocrisy-of-the-hypocrite.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Representative Mark Souder: The Hypocrisy of the Hypocrite - 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She holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of seven books including A People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s History of Christianity: the Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009) Her best-selling Christianity for the Rest of Us (2006) was named as one of the best religion books of the year by Publishers Weekly and Christian Century, won the Book of the Year Award from the Academy of Parish Clergy, and was featured in a cover story in USA TODAY. Diana regularly consults with religious organizations, leads conferences for religious leaders, and teaches and preaches in a variety of venues. She regularly comments on religion, politics, and culture in the media including USA TODAY, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, CNN, FOX, PBS, and NPR. From 1995-2000, she wrote a weekly column on American religion for the New York Times Syndicate. She has written widely in the religious press, including Sojourners, Christian Century, Clergy Journal, and Congregations. From 2002 to 2006, she was the Project Director of a national Lilly Endowment funded study of mainline Protestant vitality\u00e2\u20ac\u201da project featured in Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Diana also serves on the board of directors of the Beatitudes Society. Diana has taught at Westmont College, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Macalester College, Rhodes College, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. She has taught church history, American religious history, history of Christian thought, religion and politics, and congregational studies. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia. She is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington, D.C.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/author\/dbbass"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}