“Christianist baffled by an encounter with Christianity”

In an interview with CNN, Sarah Palin laid bare her misgivings about Pope Francis when she said that she was “taken aback” with his liberal interpretation of Christianity. She further expressed her fear the mainstream media may be influencing him. She told interviewer Jake Tapper: “He's had some statements that to me sound kind of liberal, has taken me aback, has kind of surprised me. There again, unless I really dig deep into what his messaging is, and do my own homework, I’m not going to just trust what I hear in the media.”

She continued: "I'm kinda trying to follow what his agenda is. You know he came out with a couple of things in the media but again I'm not one to trust the media's interpretation of somebody's message but having read through media outlets."

Here is the problem. Mrs. Palin, like many on both sides of the political spectrum have fallen prey to the temptation of idolatry where ideology has replaced theology and Christian practice. It also betrays much of what passes as “Christian” in our political debate for the “cherry picking” that it is.

It’s not unusual, for example, to hear political leaders, who loudly and publicly affirm their “Christianity,” proof text the Scriptures in an effort to justify their political ideology. How often do we hear how God finds this or that practice to be an abomination (usually focused on sexual ethics) but we almost never hear quotations from the prophets (which form the bulk of the Old Testament) when they rail against the rich and the powerful as advocates for the poor and lowly.

I am afraid that Pope Francis, who has impressed believers and nonbelievers alike with his humble and practical application of the gospel, has called the bluff of many political ideologues on the use of the gospel as a pretext for their political agenda. As one social commentator wrote over the Palin flap, “If Sarah Palin's this shocked by Pope Francis, she'll be catatonic when she finally gets round to reading about Jesus in the New Testament.”

When the clear implications of the gospel are articulated in action as well as words, all human ideologies falter. What should matter to us as the baptized of God, is not whether we are politically pure on the right or on the left, but how we measure up to the plain teaching of Jesus n ALL of our social relations.

*The title of this blog post is a quote from Tom Sutcliffe of Radio 4