It is time for religious leaders to stick to actual fulfilling their mission to attend to the spiritual needs of the people, and to stop misusing their pulpits to broadcast their often-ill-informed political biases. From Pope Francis to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to local Episcopal bishops in Washington, and hucksters like the “Reverand” Al Sharpton, there seems to be no limits to their ignoring the example Jesus Himself set to distinguish the temporal from the heavenly. Yes, there are also pastors on the Right who cross that line too, but not to the extent of their leftist counterparts.
Famously, despite the deep crises facing the Israel of his era, Jesus himself, the founder of all Christianity, refused to take part in the politics of the time. As noted in one group that discusses the topic, [In Jesus’ time] “the common farmer, fisherman, or craftsman’s family lived through a highly volatile political period. Overbearing religious leaders who despised and oppressed them, wealthy elites who ripped them off, racial and ethnic tension with neighbors, and sporadic violent outbreaks between an oppressive occupying army. So where was Jesus in all of this? Did he align with the religious elites? With the wealthy and powerful? Or did he start an uprising to overthrow them? None of the above.”
Compare that to Church leaders today. The New Statesman writes: The list of issues Justin Welby [Archbishop of Canterbury] has intervened on since becoming Archbishop of Canterbury is long. He has railed in the Church Times against Remainers “whingeing”. He has come out against payday lending sites, Universal Credit and tax avoidance. He has told everyone he thinks Brexit is dividing the country. More recently, he has consistently condemned the government’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. In 2022, he said the plans were ‘the opposite of the nature of God.'”
Writing for U.S. News, Michael King reports that “I have read the Bible cover to cover and never once did I see a story of Christ or his disciples getting involved in a political campaign. They were one hundred percent focused on spreading the Gospel. I’m sure that’s true of other religions as well.”
A New York Post story describes one outrageous example: “A Catholic charity that receives billions in government funding has stirred controversy for a video teaching migrants in the country illegally how to evade US immigration law. In the video, distributed by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Refugee & Immigration Services Program, immigration attorney Barbara Graham outlines step-by-step instructions for how migrants can thwart authorities conducting lawful investigations at their workplace.”
Pope Francis has not been shy about his criticism of American border policy, economic system, criminal justice practices, and more. Indeed, he has even been blunt in his criticism of U.S. Catholics. As discussed in YouGov “Shortly after Pope Francis began his papacy in 2013, he was unknown among 44% of Americans. Those with an opinion of him — including roughly equal shares of Democrats and Republicans — were far more likely to hold positive views of the pope than negative ones. Today, Americans continue to view Pope Francis in a positive light, though views of him have become politically polarized: More Democrats than Republicans view him favorably, even as more Republicans than Democrats view the Catholic Church favorably…Pope Francis is thought of favorably by more Americans than the Catholic Church is, though Roman Catholics view him somewhat more negatively than they view the Catholic Church overall. More Americans have a very or somewhat unfavorable view of the Catholic Church (43%) than have a very or somewhat favorable one (38%). But Pope Francis is viewed unfavorably by just 26%, while 43% view him favorably. Majorities of Roman Catholics have a favorable view of the Catholic Church (77%) and of Pope Francis (66%).”
Miranda Devine describes the sabotage of what was supposed to be a unifying Inaugural Prayer Service at Washington’s National Cathedral. “Jaws dropped throughout Washington’s National Cathedral when an egomaniacal female Episcopal bishop sabotaged the Inaugural Prayer Service with a left-wing rant from the pulpit about illegal migrants and LGBT issues, aimed directly at President Trump, who was sitting politely in the front pew. What the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, 65, was supposed to do Tuesday, at the historical interfaith service, was to bless the incoming administration and pray for God’s guidance and protection for the nation.” Instead, she abandoned this vital task and replaced it with a political tirade.
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