Dive Deeper: Faith, Politics, Social Media

Now I know that both faith and politics bring out strong opinions in others, but today's blog post is in response to a social media conversation I ended up becoming a part of.

Context:

A Facebook page for Church Leaders posted a journalistic article their organization had written. The article covered public statements and responses to the current president's recent photo op at the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church, by both religious and political leaders. In summary, the article stated different people have different views of what happened and went through each person's view.

What Happened:

The post popped up because my pastor had commented on someone's response to the article who had stated they were leaving the Facebook page and how horrible sharing this article was. When I looked at the thread I saw many comments that were in the same vein so I decided to write a response (the first one below) and you can see the responses of my Pastor (the second response) and two responses from strangers who tagged me in their posts.  (I did note they did not tag my Pastor, just me)

Analysis Comment #1:

I found the first stranger's comment to be confusing because of the idea we are not supposed to hold government leaders accountable. In a country where government officials are elected, we have the right and the duty to hold them accountable and express when we disagree with actions we think are wrong.

Or as a close friend responded when I shared the response with them: "because we're supposed to elect people and then do nothing? lol they're in public office, it's a part of their job to be held accountable."

I also note the confusion that according to this stranger's post I am supposed to hold my church pastor accountable (I am not sure what the commentator meant here, in general, or because my pastor agreed that we should hold elected officials accountable) but not my government officials.

Analysis Comment #2:

I found the second stranger's comment that "Learn proper interpretation of the Word ... don't fit ur own narrative to the Word of God" to be interesting considering this individual was doing just that. There are many interpretations of the Word of God and biblical texts are complex, confusing, written to fit a particular historical narrative, and often self-contradictory.

While I do not know the background of this individual: If they are a pastor or not, I find it fascinating how strongly they feel their own interpretation is right and the interpretation of others (My interpretation which my own pastor said they appreciate) is clearly not right.

I have heard many different interpretations of each and every event and conversation in the bible. I struggle with those who think they totally understand what was meant or what god meant in this complex collection of narratives, genealogies, laws, parables, and culture myths which has been interpreted over and over again throughout history.

Summary:

This Facebook conversation heightened how different people see different roles for both Religion and Politics. It was interesting to see how many commentators on the sharing of the original article felt that it hit a nerve and that they felt uncomfortable. This blog post is not to say I have the right interpretation but to simply highlight how many hold views that are different from me. It is too easy for us all to think everyone agrees with us and forget the diversity of opinions.