MOUNTAIN VIEW: The value of values

By LIZA FIELD/Columnist

Here is the meaning of faith, in the New Testament….the willingness to sacrifice every other value rather than the basic value of truth and life in Christ.

It is quite possible to “believe in Christ,” and yet still live according to the standards of a greedy, violent, unjust and corrupt society, without noticing any real contradiction.

—Thomas Merton

Should politics and faith mix?
Well, even a person’s basic ethical understanding influences him at the polls. So separating faith and action seems a different matter from the separation of church and state.
Besides, American candidates (and voters) of all convictions are free to express their own values. The only real conflict between values and political expression occurs within a person himself, through the practice of deceit and double-mindedness (also called hypocrisy or “acting”)—not exactly something a constitution can outlaw.
So on the last Sunday in September, when 33 pastors around the country agreed to campaign from the pulpit and challenge the IRS rule that non-profit faith organizations not promote a political candidate, it wasn’t a matter of “persecuting prophets.” To the IRS, it was merely a matter of profit and non-profit.
Though we like to call the IRS “They,” and dislike Them because They take our money, the IRS isn’t a human being out to elect a certain candidate or persecute faith. The IRS is a mechanical set of ever-changing rules and formulae enforced by an ever-changing staff of people (who profess a variety of faiths and political views). The IRS doesn’t have a human mind and heart (just as you suspected!) and doesn’t care which political party God prefers.
What does the IRS “care” about? Money. Once you get through all the loopholes and tax-breaks to big-oil companies and other special interests, a profit is supposed to be taxed. A non-profit generally isn’t.
You might wonder who’d profit from a pastor telling a congregation which candidate God prefers. Probably not the parishioners. Not the hard-working pastor, who likely places his ministerial vocation over the desire for personal wealth.
So four years ago, I’d would have reckoned no one would profit from campaigning in a church, and assume this IRS concern ridiculous. Jesus (to the disappointment of many) wasn’t trying to win political power or overturn the secular government. So why, one might wonder, threaten the non-profit status of churches discussing these unworldly values during a campaign?
But my views have changed since the McCain Senate committee investigation into the illegal activities of Jack Abramoff (now in prison) and Christian-organizer-turned-business-consultant, Ralph Reed, emerged in 2005. It became clear that Reed—former head of the national Christian Coalition—had created a private Values Industry empire, whose profits and political power are mind-boggling.
What’s it have to do with values voters, churches and faith-based groups? A lot.
When Reed left the Christian Coalition (crumbling because of similar tax-evasion problems), he went to Georgia and started a for-profit political and business consulting company. But he kept his powerful Christian-leader and Christian-lobby connections—many of whom he himself had created or coordinated very effectively for political influence.
What would Jim Dobson or Pat Robertson have to do with Reed’s for-profit business? Well, if a corporation hires you as a consultant to promote their private interests, wanting you to encourage or discourage legislation or public opinion in their favor, you need connections with voter-groups, grass-roots lobbying groups and broadcasters—not to mention elected officials.
Likewise, a candidate (or political party itself) hires you (the Christian-organizer-business-consultant) to turn out voters. In turn, when that candidate wins, you’ve got political connections to offer your corporate clients, AND “grassroots” faith-based support you can rally to support oil-drilling in ANWR or oppose the regulation of greenhouse gas-emissions, because “global warming is a Liberal hoax Christians should ignore.”
For the past eight years, Reed has used his considerable connections well. He organized Christian groups across the country to turn out the votes Bush needed in 2000 and 2004, and thus remained able to promote his big-energy, communications, auto-industry and casino/lottery clients’ causes to the Administration and regulatory commissions. Because of his hand-built Values Industry empire, he’s also been able to turn out the Christian grass-roots support for those causes.
As a daily Christian-broadcasting listener and longtime Dr. Dobson fan, I find the gradual exposure of this for-profit manipulation stunning—mainly in the fact that it has continued long after Reed was implicated in his use of Christians to lobby for casino interests, as well as eLottery’s on-line gambling business, without giving Christians broadcasters a clue as to whose interests were really behind this “values” campaign.
That Reed would make his money (laundered through his buddy Grover Norquist’s nonprofit, ironically called “Americans for Tax Reform”) off the use of James Dobson, Pat Robertson and other broadcasters and Christian orgs, promoting for-profit interests Christians would normally oppose, is irritating enough.
But to mix these private corporate interests in with political interests and lucratively push the whole package through “values” orgs (a few created specifically for money-laundering) in the name of “faith” or “freedoms,” is a scenario so besieged by conflicts-of-interest, it’s eroding value from the word “values.”
Liza Field lives, teaches and plants trees in Wytheville. Contact her at .