c. 2004 Religion News Service
(Tom Ehrich is a writer and computer consultant, managing large-scale database implementations. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. Visit his Web site at http://www.onajourney.org.)
(UNDATED) Happy birthday, America! Where are Washington, Madison and Jefferson when we need them?
Where I live, government is paralyzed by bickering among officials. Schoolchildren are held hostage by grown-ups’ racial hostility and obsession with testing. A nearby school board chair plagiarized a speech, lied about it when challenged, but still seeks re-election.
That is just this time, in this place. Step back, and you see a leadership crisis of disturbing proportions.
Corporate executives claim big salaries as buck-stoppers, then punish underlings for poor earnings and chase mergers that hide weak fundamentals. Corporations lobby for preferential treatment, then abuse public trust and their own workers, and throw waves of lawyers against the free market’s accountability procedures.
In the corridors of power, lobbyists roam freely, checkbooks in hand. Eager ideologues try out favorite theories, undeterred by civil liberties. Leaders respond to terrorist attacks with public relations campaigns, bureaucratic turf-warring, juicy contracts for cronies, intrusions on privacy, and not a shred of enhanced security.
This bipartisan everyone-does-it venality won’t appear on political platforms. Thinking that voters are easily distracted, candidates will look for “wedge issues,” mainly in personal morality, and ways to sound stern, impassioned and patriotic, while dodging government’s actual duties and the greed that feeds the beast.
In higher education, leaders fret over athletics and fund-raising, while inculcating an attitude of entitlement among students, not a commitment to service.
In religion, ideological bullies have taken over denominations and seminaries, the hottest issue is sex, clergy are frustrated, and the people starve for spiritual food.
In medicine, the United States ranks highest in health care expenditures and lowest among industrialized nations in actual health. Tort reform stirs more passion among leaders than insurance availability, patient care or secret drug company payments to physicians.
Is the leadership crisis really this bad? No, it is probably far worse. Leaders are bailing, and our democracy and free-market economy are at risk. Nothing will get better until we talk about it. Not on the campaign trail, where little of substance is said, but in our homes and communities, where attitudes of greed, entitlement and life-as-entertainment are formed.
They say we get the leaders we deserve. OK, then it is time we examined the leaders we have _ with an eye to performance, not just to posturing that flatters _ and ask if they are all we deserve. If not, then we need to expect better, starting with ourselves and then, refusing to get sidetracked by showboating, pushing accountability higher.
Should the faith community take a role? Yes, but we need to be careful which role. We need to ignore smug cant about ours being a “Christian nation” and remember that it was religion’s abuses in Europe and in Colonial life that shaped our founders’ perceptions of religion’s proper role _ namely, separate and not in charge.
We need to watch out for ideological bullies who exploit angst for franchise development and partisan gain. We need to be reading our Bibles, not tossing Scripture-grenades at each other. We need to be saying our prayers, not getting sucked into arguments where victory means license to exclude.
We must lead the way by winning the battle that our nation’s leadership cadre isn’t winning, namely, the battle against pride and greed.
Jesus sent his disciples out to serve, not to rule. They were to be laborers in the harvest, not profiteers. They went as “lambs” among “wolves,” that is, to love among the hateful, to pursue peace among the warlike, to be generous among the greedy, to serve among the selfish, and to be humble among the proud.
Where we don’t agree, let the manner of our disagreeing be an example for overheated partisans to follow. Where we fail, let our confessions inspire contrition among the powerful. Where we succeed, let our humility give true credit. Where we cringe at the beliefs of others, let our tolerance and magnanimity show the way to grace.
We don’t have to be perfect. God help the Republic if we ever thought ourselves close. But we do need to be good and faithful servants because that, not strident triumphalism, is our gift to the nation.
KRE/PH END EHRICH
