Faces on Faith: Three Question Review
Ancient Greek lore has it that the renowned philosopher Socrates was once approached by an acquaintance who asked him if he would like to hear a story the friend had just been told about a mutual friend of theirs.
In response, Socrates is said to have told the acquaintance that he would, but only if the answer to each of three questions Socrates had regarding what that acquaintance wanted to share was, “Yes.”
Those three questions were:
– Is it true?
– Is it kind (regarding the person the story is about)?
– Is it necessary?
If not, Socrates said, he would rather not hear what the acquaintance wanted to share
For Socrates, all three questions are vital. But that Three Question Review starts with this:
Is it true? …
What reminded me of all this was the controversy last month regarding the sermon that Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde delivered during the Nation Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
During that sermon, Budde said this to the president:
“As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the presidential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now … they are gay, lesbian and transgender children and Democratic, Republican and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
“The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and our good neighbors.”
Now let me be crystal clear on two things:
First, it is completely legitimate to disagree, as many have, on whether Budde should have said what she did in that service, or instead shared those thoughts with the president privately.
And second, as fellow citizens in a democracy it is also completely legitimate to have different ideas as to what our nation’s policies should be regarding immigration, as that is a deeply complex issue.
What concerned me most in the aftermath of the Bishop’s remarks was the tremendous backlash to that particular part of Budde’s sermon that came from other Christian clergy and leaders. A number of Christian clergy and leaders criticized Budde for saying things that “don’t represent Christianity” and are “unbiblical.” One even accused her of “the sin of empathy.”
To me, those responses all fail Socrates’ Three Question Review right away because they all fail that first and most important question: Is it true?
Because what is true is that the Bible is full of admonitions to care for the “aliens” (yes, that is the word used in some bible translations; others use “stranger” or “sojourner”) in one’s land. What is true is that the Bible is full of calls to care for “widows and orphans,” a phrase which is meant to encompass all those in society who are most vulnerable. Therefore, a call to empathy. And what is true is that the heart of Jesus’ very first sermon in his hometown of Nazareth, as Luke’s Gospel describes it, was words from the revered biblical prophet Isaiah grounded in God’s call for compassion, justice and mercy …
So to claim that Budde said things which “don’t represent Christianity” or that are “unbiblical” fails Socrates’ first question.
All of which, for me, points to a vital concern for all of us, whether people of faith or not: the need — for the sake of our relationships, our culture and our society — to be willing to care more about whether something is true than we care about whether we like it or not. The criticisms of Budde seem to be rooted more in their not being liked than their not being true. The same way so much criticism in our time appears to be.
Because we seem to live in a time — a culture — where we are constantly told that what we feel is true matters more than what is true — what Stephen Colbert, current host of “The Late Show” and former host of the satirical news show “The Colbert Report,” called “truthiness.” But healthy relationships, cultures and societies require the open mindedness and “open spiritedness” to be willing to ask ourselves if the things we might not like might still be true, or at least true in part. And from there, be willing to recognize that our views and our side may not always be completely right, and others and their side completely wrong.
The Rev. Dr. Mark Boyea is senior minister at the Sanibel Congregational United Church of Christ.