Personal Faith in politics
The other day I got an invitation on Facebook from a friend. The invitation was to join an online poll.
The poll was put out by ABC News and the question was “What role should the personal faith of a President play in his/her decision-making?”
The choices in the poll were as follows.
- Not sure
- It should not play any role
- It should play a balanced role with other considerations
- It should play a strong role
I didn’t join the poll, but it did get me thinking about the question. And that made me realize that the entire poll was wrong. No matter what you believe about God, religion, or life, there is no right answer to the question asked. It’s a trick question.
Your personal faith is your world view. It is how you believe the world works, and what you believe your place in it is. It is what you use to decide right from wrong, and it is what you use as a measurement and guideline for everything you do. You can’t divorce it from your decisions. So how can you even question how strong a role it should play?
The majority of the participants in the poll voted that “It should not play any role.” Most of them posted comments to go with their vote that expressed sentiments stating the President should do what is best for the country. Or that he/she should attempt to be fair to all religions. But aren’t those both aspects of personal faith?
How does the President decide what is best for the country? What does he/she use as a guideline to know what is best? The President uses his/her belief about how the world works. And what he/she believes is right or wrong. There isn’t any other way to decide what is “best” than to use what he/she believes about the world.
And as for fairness towards all religions, isn’t that also an aspect of personal faith? A belief in personal responsibility and the freedom of religion is the only thing that can ensure “fairness” towards religions that are not your own. That belief comes from your world view. Which is entirely based on your personal faith. This applies even if your “personal faith” is Atheism.
Your personal faith is what you believe about how the world works. And whether you believe in Atheism, Humanism, Christianity, Islam, or any other belief system, it will and must affect every decision you make. It isn’t possible to divorce it from your decision making process. Because it is part of how you think!
Aside
I know some people will say that Atheism should not be included as a “personal faith.” The objection being that atheism is a belief in nothing, or is an absence of belief. And they may be right, but it is still a decision about how the world works. And it still affects all decisions and aspects of a person’s life. So I think in the context of the question in the poll, it fits right in.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:50 am
Very nice - and logical - thoughts by an contemporary philosopher!
One central question for this could be how wide or how narrow you define the “personal faith”.
Are these the faithes valid for my personal life or is this my position to the sometimes big variety of different concepts.
I may e.g. believe in (the christian) God and letting this be a part of my life and be happy with this, not wishing or needing anything else, but I can nevertheless see other people that maybe believe in “Allah” or have an other “believe-system” and being as happy as I am.
I can be straight and love my girl and I can see other men that love their boyfriend and I see they are as happy as I am with my girl.
I suppose that is what the poll-authors meant:
my “very personal” faith (for MY life) maybe christianity and I don’t want to exchange it, but I have - “in addition” - the tolerance for people with other believes that make THEM happy.
My “very personal” faith (for MY life) is loving women and I don’t want to exchange it, but I can have very good friends that are different concerning this point.
So I wouldn’t generally say that the “the entire poll was wrong” but the definition of “personal faith” wasn’t clear enough:
Is this what you believe FOR YOUR OWN LIFE to be good or is it the entirety of your positions to (all) the things of the world.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:59 am
Sorry I just now read a simple joke:
A blonde goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards.
She says to the clerk, ‘May I have 50 Christmas stamps?’
The clerk says, ‘What denomination? ‘
The blonde says, ‘God help us. Has it come to this…?
Give me 6 Catholic, 12 Presbyterian, 10 Lutheran and 22 Baptists.’
I know it is not the very right place under this serious theme -even if the “keywords” fit
- feel very free to delete it!
December 23rd, 2007 at 11:36 am
I totally agree with your assessment. People too often try to bottle up “personal faith” as something that’s an addendum to life. It’s an extremely foundational and fundamental part of life and is exactly what gives you reasons to make decisions.
One interesting side note … Most Christians will agree that abortion is bad. People say that this is a “personal faith” issue and shouldn’t be a part of public policy. The right-leaning Presidential candidates (like Huckabee) will talk about how bad abortion is. Interestingly, others (I’m thinking Ron Paul here) will say that the issue is one for the states to decide (which makes plenty of sense to me). The interesting thing is that some Christians view this as Ron Paul abandoning his “personal faith” since he is in fact pro-life. But it’s not — he says what he does because he believes in limited government and I think he realizes how unhelpful a ban on abortion on a Federal level would be (think Prohibition). His “personal faith” not only is a Christian one but a logical and rational one.
December 27th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
in response to Alexandar… your ‘personal faith’ that homosexuality and Christianity cannot be forced on others *is* a part of your theology and your view of life and relates directly to what you do - so in a way, even if you are not gay, you still have strong beliefs on the subject (that others can be gay) and therefore it is as much a part of your life to ‘accept homosexuality’ as ‘being straight’ is… Just a thought.:-) I think that our beliefs have more to play with our lives than we often realize. Like when Andrew brought up Ron Paul - his belief in States Rights is stronger than his belief against abortion simply because that is how he lives it out. ‘Beliefs’ can vary from how you put toilet paper on the roll (side down, side up, doesn’t matter) to religious faith - but each of us have them. It’s part of being human.
December 27th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
CT, thank you for your response: before I have been reading Jamies’s post I hadn’t really thought about what “personal faith” would comprehend. As probably many other people did/ do.
This challenge of thinking about this topic brought me to the perception that personal faith is not only the “milestones” of the very personal opinions for leading my own life but is the total concept of the view of the world with all its different aspects and many nuances. Jamie wrote about this and your comment is a very good addition!
)!
In my comment I tried to ask for some understanding for the authors of that poll - that their question or “point of view” probably wasn’t meant as a “trick” but just was a sign for their wrong definition of “personal faith”, their lack of awareness that it is much more than some simple and raw “milestones” how I lead my own personal life - but it is the differentiated entirety of everybody’s positions or believes”to (all) the things of the world.
Your practical examples for “personal faith” are still more elucidating (eminently regarding the toilet paper
When I searched the internet for “personal faith” I found several discussions in a very similar way as that mentioned poll was.
I wish many more people would think about that and come to know what “personal faith” really is.
Then they would recognize how absurd that poll or similar discussions are.
If a man really would make decisions without his personal faith he wouldn’t need to have any personality.