On politics and religion

A worthy read by Byzantine Ramblings on the place of religion in general and the clergy in particular and politics. It seems especially apropos considering the passing of Archbishop Christodoulos who was himself very vocal on the government of Greece to the consternation of more than a few politicians.

Normally I'd post starter snippet of the aforementioned letter to the editor by the good Father, but it is best read in its entirety and defies cut-and-paste exegesis. That said, I thought these passages poignant and true:

The coherence between what a religion preaches and what it demands in practice constitutes its internal integrity. The charge of hypocrisy is rightly laid at adherents of a religion when their practice and behavior betrays an incongruity with what the religion believes and proclaims. When a religion itself is discovered to be fully incongruent in its practice versus its belief people rightly deem it a cult and a scam.

Inevitably, what at the micro level is the province of ethics is at the macro level a matter of politics. The principles that guide my interactions with others inform my views on decisions that relate to the larger community in which I live and the state and country of which I am a citizen. Thus if my faith informs me that a particular practice is sinful or harmful to an individual, I will also deem it harmful to the community. If a particular position holds true for my interaction with individuals I will likely also consider it valuable for the larger society. It is the natural outcome of my adherence to the way of life that is part and parcel of the religion to which I subscribe.

Imagine someone hands you a book full of pronouncements. Without any reference to the origin or authority by which the words were fashioned. To you every sentence seems a jumbled mess or worse a silly fabrication devoid of merit.
In essence this is what is expected of the believer in the public square. He can speak from his belief system but not of his belief system. There are extremes on the other side of course - liberation theology forced the Latin Church to establish firm rules on clerical speech related to local politics. Some issues rely on authority, however. Issues such as abortion and euthanasia require firm grounding in natural law to argue against relativism.
When a religious speaks from his position of authority to whom does he speak? When St. Gregory the Theologian spoke out against Eunomians was it solely to them that his discussion on Jesus or the Godhead was pertinent? Obviously not as we still read his works today. The words of the priest in homily are as valid to the world at large as they are to his parish in particular.
To make the assertion then that priests because they are priests should be excluded from speaking publicly is ridiculous. Tell the man who picks up trash that he can't talk on camera about recycling. Tell the politician he can't discuss the political freedoms of another country. Tell the priest that he can't speak about natural law. Ridiculous.