In a conservative online publication called Morning Call, an extraordinary claim was recently made:

“Jesus speaks through the Republicans
I hope the election of George W. Bush is seen as a wake-up call to all the liberal Democrats who oppose God's will. It is His doing that George W. Bush is still our president. Millions of born-again Christians helped win this election through our prayers and votes. Jesus speaks through the Republicans. The Democrats will not be able to win elections until they renounce their sinful ways and stop encouraging abortions, gayness, and trying to take away our guns.”

It is both intellectually and spiritually reprehensible to glibly equate membership in a political party in the world’s greatest democracy with sin. It is absurd and unfair to assume or imply that being a Democrat means that one is pro-choice and anti-life, is pathologically against guns and the Second Amendment, or is a promoter of homosexuality (as if sexual orientation were not something innate, but merely a behavioral choice that could be promoted). There is, however, something far more presumptuous and fundamentally more insidious in the assertions made.

For those of us who take seriously the theological premise that God, by nature and definition, is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, it is not preposterous to make the claim that God speaks through the Republicans. After all, if God is, in fact, omnipresent, then God is as present in the Republican Party as anywhere else. By that logic, the real question is not whether that is true, but in what way is it true? It is absolutely preposterous and downright blasphemous, to pretend that God speaks only through the Republicans, or any other group, including “Christians”. That is a limitation of both God’s omnipotence and omnipresence. For humankind to presume to limit God is nearly the definition of sin itself. It is equally untenable to claim to know with absolute certainty precisely what God’s intentions are, let alone how or why God chooses to make manifest the divine presence in any given person, group, or situation at any given time.

Another disturbing element about the Morning Call claim is the arrogance of implying that because God is present in the Republican Party, whatever the party or the Bush Administration does, it therefore does by divine fiat, as if infallible and beyond all possible reproach. This is tantamount to spiritual totalitarianism, and no matter what party lays claim to it, it is a contradiction of the fundamental premise of God’s universality. The very thing decried by many fundamentalist Christians in relation to the radical Muslim world, is thereby being mirrored in their own behavior in the name of both God and American patriotism.

The psalmist says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof”, and St. Peter proclaims in the Book of Acts, “I perceive that God shows no partiality”. In the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord states, “I am seated in the hearts of all”; and the Qur’an proclaims, “Unto Allah belongeth the East and the West, and whithersoever ye turn, there is Allah’s countenance. Lo! Allah is All-Embracing, All-Knowing.” We are faced with a great challenge: apparently, spiritual selectivity and exclusiveness runs counter to the divine Reality and is a sign of delusion. We need to exercise discernment in attempting to distinguish between God’s will and our own ego desires, for we should not mistake cultural bias or social preference for divine mandate.


Simplistic claims about God’s favor are a sign of spiritual immaturity and wishful thinking. I would not dispute that the fact that someone is president of the United States may be indicative of the divine will. But to theologically assume what the divine purpose in that is can be a risky business. As cliché as it has become, it is nevertheless quite true that God does work in mysterious ways, or that at least those ways are not necessarily as obvious as some might like to claim, and sometimes even seem to contradict all expectations. An illustration from world religion may be helpful to make the point.

In the Indian epic poem, the Ramayana, Ravana, the Demon-King of Sri Lanka, is given by God the option of whether or not to incarnate as a demon. He chooses to do so with the foreknowledge that if he takes birth as the Demon-King he will be killed by Lord Rama- one of Vishnu’s principal incarnations- and thereby be instantly liberated from his karma. So his choice, however voluntary, played into the greater saving purposes of the divine will. But this is not just a mythological tale. It has recognizable parallels throughout human history. For example, Hitler was unquestionably a monster, yet his existence may have been instrumental in uniting many people to stamp out the great evil of Nazism, and therefore might be seen as part of the divine plan and presence.

The point is that God’s omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience imply that the divine works in and through even the bad guys, and through the curious admixture of both good and evil found in human fallibility and frailty. Indeed this is a central theme in the Old Testament, where the very patriarchs and prophets we have come to revere as the spiritual progenitors of the religions born of Abraham, display severely dysfunctional and even abusive family behavior, even as God’s allegedly “chosen people”. God’s purposes cannot be thwarted by either human incompetence or sinfulness. This truth goes far beyond any attempt to draw the line of righteousness in the sand between “liberals” and “conservatives”.

The notion in the Morning Call statement, moreover, that the word “liberal” is rightfully a term of abuse, should be disturbing to either the politically or the spiritually inclined. This should be especially the case in a country whose very birth and existence has been a beacon of liberality and inclusiveness to the entire world. Those “born-again” Christians who are also politically arch-conservative would do well to remember that their supposed role model, Jesus, was seen as a radical, not a conservative, by his contemporaries!

The etymology of the word “liberal” is derived from the Latin word for freedom- the very right dearest to Americans, and by which both the most reactionary and most progressive of citizens are guaranteed the unfettered exercise of their opinions and their faith. To equate liberality with immorality, in the light of both American and Christian historical origins, seems counterintuitive and misinformed. Yet even in the Morning Call comment there is something upon which both conservatives and liberals might agree: What should in fact be a wake-up call not only to democrats but to everyone, is not that the Democrats lost the presidential election (whether for moral or strategic reasons), but that faith truly matters in civic life. That faith, however, should never be claimed as the monopoly of any political party or leader, whether secular or religious. This is a world and time in which deep faith, true nonviolence, genuine love for our fellow humans- all of them,- must be our goal and commitment. That goal will never be achieved so long as we remain in a “them against us” mentality. Evil does exist, but one of its most dangerous and pervasive manifestations comes in the form of self-righteousness, for it blinds us to the presence of the divine in those who differ from us. That is a sin more grievous than taking a political position on any legislative or partisan agenda in the name of God or religion.


Robert H. Stucky is the Executive Director of Faith In Diversity Institute.

Copyright © 2004 by Faith In Diversity Institute