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TOUCHING THE THIRD RAIL: RELIGION AND POLITICS
By David G. Duggan ©
www.virtueonline.org
August 20, 2024
For my 52 years as a voting citizen of the United States, I have been told that this is the most important election in the history of the world. "Vote as if your life depends on--because it does"; "vote like there's no tomorrow--because if my opponent wins there won't be"; "the whole world is watching--and they have nukes too." Each plea presents an apocalyptic choice between light and darkness, peace and cataclysm, life and death. Given the almost random outcome of those 13 national elections (seven Republican winners; six Democrat), it's a wonder that we've survived that long.
Before my entry into political adulthood, I watched as a young girl picked petals off a daisy while a voiceover counted down to a nuclear blast, heard a candidate proclaim a missile gap, and was born at a military base while my father served his country during a foreign war. I've seen plenty of reasons for even a loving God to pull the plug on humanity: "You've unlocked the secrets of the universe, explored the reaches of the solar system and still can't feed the hungry or shelter the homeless. Enough."
Yet this election seems more in the balance, more consequential, more dire than any other. Wars have gone beyond the rumors, ocean floods are lapping farther inland, crimes condoned by craven politicians have come closer to my doorstep. Maybe this time is different.
Christ's cryptic predictions come across as polite brush-offs more typical of a dinner party rebuke than a serious effort to allay our concerns. What assurance is it that we know neither the day nor the hour?
This election presents the sum of all fears. Do we have the faith to face them believing that God is in control? Or do we turn aside and hope that God will save us from ourselves?
David Duggan is a retired attorney living in Chicago. He is an occasional contributor to Virtueonline and VOL's attorney of record
