Christian wisdom on the campaign trail

Christian Century, July 16, 1997 by Richard H. Lowery

BIBLE PROFESSORS usually don t run for public office, but I couldn't resist trying to unseat the Christian Coalition incumbent who represents my district in the Oklahoma legislature. I believe that faith perspectives are important to political conversations, and I wanted Oklahomans to see that in politics the word "Christian" doesn't have to be paired with "Coalition."

Though I lost 56 to 44 percent in the Republican tidal wave that swamped Democrats in my part of the state in 1996, the campaign was a profound experience for me and my family. It confirmed my faith in U.S. democracy and deepened my conviction that political campaigns have spiritual significance. Karl Marx once observed that while philosophers seek only to interpret the world, the point is to change it. For me, the point of Bible study is to help us live more faithfully and build a better world. I see my political activities as an extension of my biblical scholarship.

For my campaign I sought to develop a political language, rooted in my experience of church and neighborhood, that reflected my understanding of the gospel and made sense to voters. My goal was to foster hope and a sense of common interest between the politically influential middle class and the politically disenfranchised poor. As a Bible scholar, I wanted to counter the harmful public use of scripture as ammunition in politically and spiritually dangerous "culture wars." But I also wanted to avoid the moral absolutism that often accompanies left-wing religious politics and marginalizes its progressive agenda.

The key, I thought, was to ground my rhetoric in the increasingly difficult experience of middle- and working-class families. I focused a variety of issues around the theme of "better paying jobs, with wages you can raise a family on." I advocated more money for public schools and vocational-technical training and campaigned for universal health insurance. And I supported more and better-funded crime prevention programs, especially job training, youth recreation, and early intervention and support for the victims of domestic crimes.

At the outset, my chances seemed slim. Our region of Oklahoma is heavily Republican and my opponent was a first-term incumbent--he had had neither the time nor the legislative clout to get very many voters mad at him. And I was a novice at electoral politics, an unknown professor labeled as a "liberal" Democrat. In our first televised debate, the incumbent took little note of me. He declared he was running against "the liberal leadership down in Oklahoma City." A month later, when he joked that I was "impersonating a conservative," I thought I was making him a little nervous. By the end of the campaign, he was running against me.

I did shave my 20-year-old beard for the campaign. "Gosh, Dad, you look like a Republican!" my daughter exclaimed, disgusted at this compromise of principle. But it wasn't my new look that made it hard for my opponents to pigeonhole me. Rather, it was because I talked about the religious roots of my political vision and cited "strengthening families" as its motivating concern. For some time now, the Religious Right has defined the terms of public religious speech and has monopolized the language of "family." This has been a victory partly by default, as mainline churches and synagogues have fled politics and avoided talking about family issues.

The Religious Right's crusader image gives it a lot of media exposure in a time when reporters tend to fit political news into a combat model. Political actors willing to throw hard punches get coverage, while consensus builders do not. Consequently, moderate and progressive religious politics are likely to be invisible, incomprehensible or suspect. When I spoke about faith and family, people who had heard such talk only from religious and political conservatives were confused.

AS THE CAMPAIGN went on, however, a large and diverse group of people were attracted to the inclusive, religiously based political vision my campaign offered. Union members, moderate Republican businesspeople, and Democrats frightened by the tactics of the Religious Right began to support my candidacy. As a minister and seminary professor, I didn't have to prove my Christian credentials. That allowed me to challenge Democrats and moderate Republicans to focus on the key biblical themes of economic justice and respect for the fundamental dignity of all people.

Focusing on family issues is a good way to articulate a progressive agenda. Of course, the term has its problems as political rhetoric. We all know that families can be dysfunctional and harmful. Because there are multiple models for the family, the language about it has multiple meanings. And "family" is too limited a term to articulate all the complex concerns of political life. But the concept of family nevertheless is deeply symbolic, and a key political metaphor. Because families put their stamp on every person's psyche, better family life is a key to better political life.