ach other of common aims based on a common reality,discount vans shoes. Moreoverpolitics unlike science involves compromise the art of the possible,vans cheap shoes. At somefundamental level religion does not allow for compromise. It insists on the impossible. If God has spoken then followers are expected to live up to God s edicts regardless ofthe consequences. To base one s life on such uncompromising commitments may besublime; to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing. The story of Abraham and Isaac offers a simple but powerful example. According to theBible Abraham is ordered by God to offer up his only son Isaac whom you love asa burnt offering. Without argument Abraham takes Isaac to the mountaintop binds himto an altar and raises his knife prepared to act as God has commanded. Of course we know the happy ending God sends down an angel to intercede at thevery last minute. Abraham has passed God s test of devotion. He becomes a model offidelity to God and his great faith is rewarded through future generations. And yet it isfair to say that if any of us saw a twenty-first-century Abraham raising the knife on theroof of his apartment building we would call the police; we would wrestle him down;even if we saw him lower the knife at the last minute we would expect the Departmentof Children and Family Services to take Isaac away and charge Abraham with childabuse. We would do so because God doesn t reveal Himself or His angels to all of us ina single moment. We do not hear what Abraham hears do not see what Abraham seestrue as those experiences may be. So the best we can do is act in accordance with thosethings that are possible for all of us to know understanding that a part of what we knowto be true as individuals or communities of faith will be true for us alone. Finally any reconciliation between faith and democratic pluralism requires some senseof proportion. This is not entirely foreign to religious doctrine; even those who claimthe Bible s inerrancy make distinctions between Scriptural edicts based on a sense thatsome passages the Ten Commandments say or a belief in Christ s divinity arecentral to Christian faith while others are more culturally specific and may be modifiedto accommodate modern life. The American people intuitively understand this which iswhy the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of those opposed to gaymarriage nevertheless are opposed to a constitutional amendment banning it. Religiousleadership need not accept such wisdom in counseling their flocks but they shouldrecognize this wisdom in their politics. If a sense of proportion should guide Christian activism then it must also guide thosewho police the boundaries between church and state. Not every mention of God inpublic is a breach in the wall of separation; as the Supreme Court has properlyrecognized context matters,cheap vans shoes uk. It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiancefeel oppressed as a consequence of muttering the phrase under God I didn t. Allowing the use of school property for meetings by voluntary student pra Related articles:

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