Commentary –

Thoughtful Issues Are Lost As Lieberman Hawks God

By Chris Powell

In the last three weeks, since he became the Democratic nominee for vice president, Connecticut Sen Joseph I. Lieberman has mentioned God in his public statements more than he had done in his previous three decades in public life.

A certain amount of this may have been necessary to take the edge off his being the first Jewish candidate on a major national ticket. Not every state is as cosmopolitan as Connecticut; there are many places in the United States where most people have never met a Jew, or, for that matter, a Muslim, a Buddhist, or even a Catholic. As he received the nomination, Lieberman’s “gee-whiz” manner meshed well with his suggestion that the various forms of worship should not be so divisive if they all have God as their objective.

Some of Lieberman’s public religiosity might have been enjoyed as an exquisite turnabout, the creation of a sort of religious left as a counterweight for the Democrats against the Republicans’ longtime ally, the religious right.

But now it seems that Lieberman can’t open his mouth on the campaign trail without turning to God, and it is getting tedious and cheap. Worse, it may be dangerous, as a national Jewish organization, the Anti-Defamation League, warned Lieberman in a letter the other day.

The ADL wrote that while candidates do nothing wrong to explain their religious convictions, there is a point “at which an emphasis on religion in a political campaign becomes inappropriate and even unsettling in a religiously diverse society such as ours.” The ADL asked Lieberman to stop making “overt expressions” of religious belief while campaigning. An ADL official said Lieberman now is “almost hawking” his religion.

Lieberman has not been alone in this, even in the Democratic Party. President Clinton may remain the worst offender, having leapt into the arms of various preachers and having hastened to be photographed going to church, Bible in hand, to try to cleanse himself of his sex and perjury scandal.

Of course in recent years government sometimes has gone to silly extremes to stamp out from public life even the acknowledgement of religion or the possibility of a power higher than man. Religion often has been a crucial component of political struggles for social justice. Lieberman has been noting that religion sometimes has insight into current issues. But he has gone beyond that. In Detroit the other day he said, “As a people, we need to reaffirm our faith and renew the dedication of our nation and ourselves to God and God’s purposes.”

That is, Lieberman was advocating collective action in regard to God, rather than individual action. And the problem with constantly invoking God in political affairs and invoking Him in a collective sense is that it requires knowledge of God’s will. Who can be relied on to know that? Exactly how shall the national rededication to God be manifested? Through the Old Testament, or the New? Through the Torah or the Koran or the Tripitika or something else?

In any case, if this course is pursued, eventually some people will be encouraged to take what they consider God’s will as absolute license, superseding constitutions, laws, and personal liberty and conscience – the very things that keep society civil and decent. As a persecuted minority throughout history, Jews know this better than anyone. Hence the ADL’s concern.

The election campaign is just beginning and has a long way to go. But Lieberman may be at a crossroads in it already. For the sake of Democratic Party unity he quickly was forced to dissemble on some of the thoughtful positions that gained him his national reputation for independence and integrity and thus put him in consideration for the vice presidency. His trading that reputation for one as a Bible thumper would do worse than squander his chance for a place in history; it would cheat all of American politics.

(Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester.)