"Moral Questions" by Rev. Tom Schade

Minister's Memo
FIrst Unitarian Church of Worcester, MA
January 15, 2011
Rev. Tom Schade


"Moral Questions"

Jared Loughner is another case study in a long-running theological debate in American religion, a debate about good and evil, predestination, free will and human nature.

It was Sarah Palin who reminded me of this debate when she called Louchner "crazed and evil". The religious conservative understands human nature to be is, by default, sinful or depraved. God, however, chooses to save some people, either because of their personal effort, their religious identity or simply by grace.

Therefore, a person's virtue or vice reflects the state of that person's soul and its relationship to God. Good and evil are individual.

Jared Loughner according to this worldview, was a human soul given over to evil, and thus, completely at odds with people who were in right relationship with God. It is possible for him to be both "Crazed" and "Evil", and as dangerous as a rabid dog.

Liberal religion, on the other hand, now understands human beings to be the result of an endlessly complex network of mutual conditioning. Why Jared Loughner shot 20 people is impossible to say with any certainty. Was it because he was mentally ill? Is mental illness the result of bad parenting, defective brain chemistry, drug use, social isolation? What are the cultural influences that would cause a young man to want to go out in a blaze of gunfire, perversely heroic? Does the political rhetoric of the day aggravate paranoia in some people?

The questions are endless and in the end, unknowable.

A religious liberal commented recently that there is no such thing as a "lone gunman." Everybody and everything is interdependent and interrelated. By the same logic, there is no such thing as a lone saint, either.

To a religious conservative, this is crazy talk. There are people who are evil and they will do evil things. Some do evil things for explainable reasons: greed, jealousy, rage. Others do evil things irrationally; those are "crazed and evil."

When liberals suggest that the tone of political rhetoric may have contributed to Loughner's actions, what conservatives hear is an accusation that they are co-conspirators: an irrational indictment. It would never stand up in a court of law. It is a libel.

On the other hand, liberals hear conservatives accusing them of enabling crime by trying to understand why people do evil actions, and the accusation drives us crazy. We feel libeled.

Hence, two worldviews contend with each other. One, religious conservatives, divides humanity into good or evil individuals. The other one imagines humanity as a huge network continuously creating, shaping and influencing each other. No one is ever completely the "other", or "not us" or outside the human family.

There are blind spots in each position. Conservative Religion has trouble understanding that different is not necessarily evil. It has trouble getting beyond the first reaction to rivals, outsiders and antagonists as morally depraved.

Liberal religion has trouble in recognizing evil in the world. Evil exists, for whatever reason, and we must deal with it. We may never understand why The Jared Loughners, the John Muhammeds, the Timothy McVeighs, the Ted Bundys do what they do. In the meantime, we have to stop them from causing more suffering.

Neither side is willing to acknowledge how much they are creating each other.

I try to imagine myself into the thought world of conservative religion, a world of spiritual warfare and where Satan is not a metaphor. I try to imagine a world where people are good or evil by choice or by fate.

But I practice Liberal Religion.

I believe that Liberal Religion is more accurate about our common moral state. People are not good or evil by choice or fate. Self-possession drives moral development. A self-possessed person is not driven by social conditions, psychological compulsions. Knowing himself or herself, they can separate themselves from others, allowing healthy compassion and reciprocity to develop. Knowing the self is the necessary precondition to living within the social network with virtue.

Conservative Religion approaches good and evil with the aim of sorting the good from the evil. Liberal Religion is more investigative and speculative.

Returning to this moment in time, Liberal Religion should not back off from our curiosity about why Jared Loughner shot 20 people. Saying he was "crazed and evil" doesn't actually explain anything. While he is responsible for his acts, we are responsible for finding out all the factors or why and how?  I know that doing so will further embroil us in a theological and moral conflict in our culture. Unfortunately.

But that conflict has being going on for a long time and will continue for a long time. We live in the middle of the story. I sincerely think that Liberal Religion is right, and I am willing to speak up for it.