search
Robert L. Wolkoff

Mix Religion and Politics!

During the inaugural prayer service, newly installed President Trump was confronted by the Right Reverend Mariann Budde, Episcopal Bishop. She urged the President to show mercy to the weakest among us, who today are scared. President Trump took great umbrage at this, and attacked the “so called Bishop,” claiming that she was a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” who “brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way,” in a service that was “uninspiring,” “nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”

This raises the question, what exactly should a religious leader say to a political leader? Is there a “right” way to bring a church into the world of politics? Is a request for mercy “nasty in tone, not compelling or smart”?

Perhaps some religious history might help. And when I say history, I’m not talking about Billy Graham, or Cotton Mather, or Martin Luther, or Pope Innocent III, or even Muhammad, St. Augustine, Jesus, Ezra, or Isaiah. Before anyone had ever heard of them, and certainly before anyone had ever heard of any of the historically trivial figures in today’s debased political world, someone (unknown, but literate and pious) wrote the oldest single Hebrew inscription we have, dated roughly to the time of Kings David and Solomon, 3000 years ago.

It is called the Khirbet Qeiyafa text. It is short, written in a paleo Hebrew script that predated the Hebrew we would recognize today. Indeed, it was written long before most of the Bible was composed. One might say that it represents the crucible out of which all of Biblical religion, and thus all of Western religious culture, was forged. Here is the text:

“1′ you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].
2′ Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]
3′ [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]
4′ the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.
5′ Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.”

And now let us ask ourselves, which of Bishop Budde and President Trump can find themselves in this most ancient of texts, and which needs to take it to heart and be “compelled” and “inspired” by it?

To plead for mercy for the weak and scared is not to “bring the church into the world of politics.” It is to demand that politics rise to the level of holiness and morality demanded by a higher authority. Indeed, the Highest Authority. That is the essence of religion, and preaching it clearly and courageously to those with political power, in an attempt to protect the powerless, is the essence of religious authority.

The proper response of a worshiper is not to write a review on line, but rather to inscribe the words upon their heart.

So, to my colleague Bishop Budde, I offer my congratulations. And to my President, I respectfully but firmly suggest: get back in your lane.

Or better yet, get back in a pew. It will do you and all the rest of us a world of good.

About the Author
Rabbi Wolkoff serves Congregation Bnai Tikvah in North Brunswick. He has published hundred of articles and lectured internationally on Jewish topics, and has been active both in interfaith work and in the struggle against anti-Semitism, both in the United States and in Sweden, where he served for a decade. He is a JNF Rabbi for Israel.
Related Topics
Related Posts