Fearleading

Imagine, after serving your church as a deacon for twelve years, you’re shown the door because you refused to sign forms supporting the Republican political views of your pastor. You ask yourself, Does God really want us to use the pulpit this way? From a pragmatic standpoint, how can the church ask the state for a tax-exempt status when it’s obviously being used for political purposes? What is happening to my church when nine of us have been expelled for simply being Democrats?

Meanwhile, here in Texas, we’re seeking ever creative ways to control bad behavior. Take the “sexy cheerleading” bill. Sexy dance routines, says the bill’s sponsor Al Edwards, are “not conducive to good, healthy, moral cultural development.” Maybe he’s right. But what would ordinarily be at the bottom of legislative priorities is strangely at the very top–despite almost no public outcry for such a bill. Why is cheerleading considered such a pressing, urgent matter?

Tolerant Austin is guilty of expelling bad behavior too, as evidenced by yesterday’s passing of a smoking ordinance that “bans smoking almost everywhere in Austin, including bars and live music venues,” according to the Statesman. The anti-ban web site, Keep Austin Free, claims that of the 46,000 businesses in Austin, over 99% are smoke free. Over 2000 restaurants are smoke free, while only 6 allow smoking.

There are fresh examples every day: from the expanding regulatory reach of the FCC to mobilized oppositions to cancer vaccines for fear of increased premarital sex among young women. Andrew Sullivan claims that with Ratzinger’s elevation to pope, “not even moderate, calm, balanced and respectful examination of Church doctrine or Church government will be allowed in future.” He believes a purge of moderate Catholics has begun with the firing of Tom Reese, a the editor of the Jesuit Catholic weekly America.

Some would suggest that a confluence of issues, events, legislation, and war has resulted in a shifting zeitgeist. We’re asking important questions about the role of religion in the public sphere. Or reassessing long-held assumptions about key interpretations of the Constitution. These kinds of discussions are good. But something troubling is also happening. Faced with an unpredictable, chaotic, modern world, many seek the false sense of stability, and rush of power, that comes with regulating other’s behavior.

May 8th, 2005