Dream Baby Dream
Passion & Politics…and church???
I’m currently reading book called Passion and Politics by Michael Walzer. It’s about equality and the state. How do we, as a governmental organization and as citizens, help those around us obtain equality in rights, in money, in jobs…all of the areas that make people feel unequal? We say we live in a country where you can choose your destiny. We live in a land where you should be all that you can be, and because we’re in America your wildest dreams can come true. We have people flocking to get in so that they can live the American dream. But is the American dream really all it’s cracked up to be? Can you really achieve equality in all areas of life?
We are all in associations that are involuntary. We are all categorized by race, gender and religion. Those are things that, for the most part, we can’t change (or don’t choose to change). Does being associated with one or more of those groups automatically make you less of a citizen; does it make your vote count less? In some ways, yes. If Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN) is elected to the United States Senate in November, he will be the first black senator elected from the south since the Reconstruction. African-Americans, for example, are grouped by race before anything else. Their involuntary association with a particular race pre-determines, for the most part, who they are and what they will become. It seems as if they don’t start out equal because of something they can’t choose. There is a line in Hustle & Flow where DJ is talking about his daughter and he says that one day his little girl is going to grow up and he’s going to lie to her, he’s going to tell her that she can be president if she wants to. Given our current political situation, the odds of this happening are slim, but that doesn’t stop people from believing and hoping. Everyday people try to instigate change.
Walzer proposes that this feeling of alienation and isolation from involuntary associations often times results in feelings of anger and bitterness towards the people who hold the power. In his discussion of these groups, he says that women are a unique group because although they live and function among in all of the different associations, voluntary and involuntary, in everyday society, in many ways they are just as separated and alienated as people who find themselves classified in a minority racial group.
I think this theory has some weight to it, and that it should not escape the attention of the church for many reasons. First of all, I think that if we are seeking equality, then we should be helping others who are less fortunate than ourselves. If we reach out and provide education, monetary assistance and good jobs to people who are stigmatized by something that they cannot choose, we are choosing to help them become part of the greater society, American or otherwise. We should be actively seeking to help people feel as if they belong in both our communities and our churches.
Which brings me to my second point, if a political theorist can see and address the fact that women, of any race or religion, are treated as a minority and he can address the fact that this has serious implications in both home and religious life, why can’t we? Why can’t the church realize that inequality in the church, for anybody, breeds feelings of resentment against those in power? The same way that inequality in politics leads to frustrations that express themselves in anger and bitterness, inequality in the church has potential to do the same. I know many women who, out of frustration, have left the tradition we grew up in so that they could use their gifts to God’s glory.
Perhaps the church can learn something from liberal political theory.
I’m currently reading book called Passion and Politics by Michael Walzer. It’s about equality and the state. How do we, as a governmental organization and as citizens, help those around us obtain equality in rights, in money, in jobs…all of the areas that make people feel unequal? We say we live in a country where you can choose your destiny. We live in a land where you should be all that you can be, and because we’re in America your wildest dreams can come true. We have people flocking to get in so that they can live the American dream. But is the American dream really all it’s cracked up to be? Can you really achieve equality in all areas of life?
We are all in associations that are involuntary. We are all categorized by race, gender and religion. Those are things that, for the most part, we can’t change (or don’t choose to change). Does being associated with one or more of those groups automatically make you less of a citizen; does it make your vote count less? In some ways, yes. If Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN) is elected to the United States Senate in November, he will be the first black senator elected from the south since the Reconstruction. African-Americans, for example, are grouped by race before anything else. Their involuntary association with a particular race pre-determines, for the most part, who they are and what they will become. It seems as if they don’t start out equal because of something they can’t choose. There is a line in Hustle & Flow where DJ is talking about his daughter and he says that one day his little girl is going to grow up and he’s going to lie to her, he’s going to tell her that she can be president if she wants to. Given our current political situation, the odds of this happening are slim, but that doesn’t stop people from believing and hoping. Everyday people try to instigate change.
Walzer proposes that this feeling of alienation and isolation from involuntary associations often times results in feelings of anger and bitterness towards the people who hold the power. In his discussion of these groups, he says that women are a unique group because although they live and function among in all of the different associations, voluntary and involuntary, in everyday society, in many ways they are just as separated and alienated as people who find themselves classified in a minority racial group.
I think this theory has some weight to it, and that it should not escape the attention of the church for many reasons. First of all, I think that if we are seeking equality, then we should be helping others who are less fortunate than ourselves. If we reach out and provide education, monetary assistance and good jobs to people who are stigmatized by something that they cannot choose, we are choosing to help them become part of the greater society, American or otherwise. We should be actively seeking to help people feel as if they belong in both our communities and our churches.
Which brings me to my second point, if a political theorist can see and address the fact that women, of any race or religion, are treated as a minority and he can address the fact that this has serious implications in both home and religious life, why can’t we? Why can’t the church realize that inequality in the church, for anybody, breeds feelings of resentment against those in power? The same way that inequality in politics leads to frustrations that express themselves in anger and bitterness, inequality in the church has potential to do the same. I know many women who, out of frustration, have left the tradition we grew up in so that they could use their gifts to God’s glory.
Perhaps the church can learn something from liberal political theory.
posted by Jessica @ 8/02/2006
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