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A Test of Faith
By Rabbi Brad Hirschfield
April 9th, 1968 was the
first time I remember seeing adults cry. My family, including Mary Lee
Marshal, an African American woman who helped care for me and my three
siblings, gathered around the television in my grandparents’ living room at
their home in Palm Springs, California, as we watched the funeral of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. I don’t remember how they explained their tears, or
even if I asked them why they were crying, but it left a lasting impression
on my toddler mind. I became fascinated, like so many other school children,
by Dr. King’s life and impact, but at no time has his work seemed more
crucial to our nation’s future than it does today.
The combination of faith and politics, of political and religious identity
is more powerful right now than perhaps at any time since the Crusades, and
unless we find better ways in which to think about this new/old reality
soon, all of us will suffer, regardless of whatever side of whichever divide
we find ourselves. As we face an election year in which candidates compete
to prove that they are both animated by deep faith and committed to the
religious dignity of others, Dr. King’s legacy of uniting his most deeply
held beliefs with a vision that served even those who did not share them is
something from which we all could learn.
Beyond the specific issues of racial equality, social justice, and the
economic empowerment of the disadvantaged, Dr. King’s method of integrating
deep faith and his political agenda was fundamentally different and far more
constructive than the typical footnoting in which most contemporary
politicians and activists engage. Today’s leaders choose those religious
texts and ideas which just support their positions and policies, while
ignoring those that could be used to prove the opposite.
If they are liberal, they teach their audiences about the sacredness of
choice, the dignity of living a gay life, the necessity of economic
equality, and the value of prayer as a private experience. If they are
conservative, they choose those passages that prove the sacredness of life
at conception, that gayness is an abomination, that economic success is
individually earned, and that we are a Christian nation that ought to pray
in public. In each case, religion is invoked to prove the goodness and the
Godness of their particular position. And the success of the argument is
based on how many people are convinced to advocate for those positions.
Success is defined by how those who already share a specific faith are
served by the implementation of those policies in which they already
believe.
Dr. King offered an alternative model, one in which religious ideas and
imagery were offered not as ammunition toward narrowly defined practices,
but as inspiration for all Americans, including those who were deeply
divided about how best to build a better nation. Success for Dr. King was
not a function of sharing his dogma or doctrine, but of seeing all Americans
engaged in enhancing the dignity of every citizen. I know of no example in
which he claimed that those who did not share his views were condemned to
hell or that only those who did would be saved.
His litmus test was not the extent to which a specific group of people,
united by a particular faith, skin color, or ethnicity would be better
served because of the triumph of his vision -- his test was the extent to
which all people, regardless of those things would be better served. His was
not a vision in which America would be better when all of us looked or
sounded like him, but when all of us were freer to look, act, and live as
the people we most yearn to be.
In the Biblical story, God blesses Abraham as he sets out to found a new
tribe who would be known as Israelites. Abraham is told that he will be
successful not when his new tribe achieves victory over other tribes or when
they get everyone to join their tribe. They will be successful when they are
a blessing to all people in the world, when non-Israelites feel fortunate
that this new tribe exists. As with Dr. King, the biblical story shows that
religious ideas and communities are not successful until they serve even
those who lie beyond themselves.
There is room for faith in the great debates which animate our society, but
only when it is used like it was by Dr. King -- when those who follow it
view success as a function of the good, not only of the faithful, but of
everyone affected by the debate.
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