Religion and Politics

You’ve probably heard the saying “You shouldn’t talk politics or religion in polite company.” I have two things to say about that — 1. Wrong. You shouldn’t talk politics or religion in the company of people who are more concerned with being right than in seeing the humanity of others, with people who have no interest in learning, and with people who are most concerned with their own comfort and not having to do any self-examination. 2. How’s that working for you? Avoidance of difficult topics doesn’t make them go away. It usually means we get worse at dealing with them, we live in a fantasy world, or we are so privileged that we think we are exempt from having to deal with these things while other people don’t have a choice in the matter.

What am I talking about? Especially on the second point. Not talking about religion and politics is often equated with being apolitical. But the reality is that there is no such thing as apolitical. It’s just avoidance of talking about these things. Not talking about something actually says a whole lot without saying a word. Not talking about politics is actually making a whole lot of political statements. What really matters though is how you talk about something and what the focus is about. What is the foundation?

I’ve done this before and I’ll say it again here — there is a difference between political and partisan. They are related, but not the same thing. Political is a broader category. Political has to do with how decisions are made. Political has to do with relationships. Political has to do with…