Toronto Star Nov. 1997         by T.Sher Singh

Politics Play a Role in Religion

It is not uncommon for people to raise the   mixing of religion and

politics as an area of concern. But the objections voiced most

often are over the "interference" or injection of religion in politics.

We seldom hear of the reverse scenario - the role of politics in

religion.

    The recent comments of Right Reverend Bill   Phipps, moderator

of the United Church of  Canada, on the divinity of Christ, and

particularly the vicious response these comments have generated

from some people from both within and outside the United Church,

should remind us that political mores also have an impact on

religious beliefs and practices.

      Phipps has dared to publicly state what the pious and the

scholarly in Christian circles have been saying for a long time:

that the divinity of Christ is a concept which was created by

mortals long after Christ and may not be an infallible belief:

hat the idea is not fundamental to being   a good Christian;

and that one does not have to subscribe to it to fully love and

have faith in God and Christ.

We are used to having followers of political leaders play the

role of cheerleaders, in order to enhance and magnify their

public image. But the same tendency has become a norm in

faith circles. We treat and describe our religious leaders as if

they are political leaders, and behave as if the depth of our

faith is directly proportional to the amount of cheerleading

we do for our respective saints and prophets.

Even God is accorded the same treatment. Sometimes,

listening to what believers of different faiths have to say about

it, I cannot help conjuring up in my mind an image of God as a

giant, mad, arrogant, self-centered, Rasputin-like figure, seated

on a high throne, demanding flattery and praise and doling out

goodies on the basis of the tributes paid to Him. It is an image

contributed to - unwittingly,I believe - by followers of all religions,

even though none of the creeds teach of such a God.

The problem gets compounded when groups vie with each other

to promote their respective religious leaders by equating them to

the very God they have thus created - in their own image. "The

Great Egomaniac" would be the perfect name to allot to such a

man-made creation.

A few of my co-religionists in the Sikh faith, too, are not free of

this tendency. Only recently, a couple of scholars were viciously

derided and their positions threatened - exactly in the way Phipps

has been - for stating the obvious: that the Sikh Teachers were

not God incarnate. No notice was taken of the fact that Sikh

scriptures make it inherently impossible for any Sikh to go off on

a frolic of his or her own to claim divinity for any human being.

There has been a positive fall-out from it all. The issue has

generated a vast amount of discussion and scholarship as a

result, not only emanating from academics but also from ordinary

adherents, who are the ones who stand where the rubber hits

the road.

That is exactly what Phipps has done for the United Church

and the Christian community at large. He has wrested the

issue from the scholars, brought it into the pulpit and handed it

to the congregations, where it belongs.

It is for doing exactly this that Phipps is being derided by those

who would rather not permit the plebeians to dabble intheir own

research.

It is ironic that the same evangelists and fundamentalists who want Phipps

to resign from his position as moderator,participate in or witness

passion plays every years and see there-enactment of Christ's trial over

and over again.

The same zealots profess blind loyalty to Christ and want to elevate

him to divinity. Yet, they don't seem to understand why Christ was

crucified. Yet they, too, blindly call Phipps a heretic and cry for

his blood.

If anything, Phipps' comments reveal a deep faith in and love for God

and Christ. And a towering spiritual strength which empowers him to

stand behind his convictions.

Blessed are leaders such as him who dare to challenge their flock.

May all faith groups in the world today be blessed with leaders who

have such a quality.