Using the Name in Vain

OK, now it is sermon time, Bible texts and all.

I just saw reference (Mike's Blog Round Up in Crooks and Liars, pointing to Bump in the Beltway) to this WaPo story, about a statement in a recently passed defense authorization bill that:

says each chaplain "shall have the prerogative to pray according to the dictates of the chaplain's own conscience, except as must be limited by military necessity, with any such limitation being imposed in the least restrictive manner feasible."

This despite (well, actually because of and against):

Air Force and Navy rules issued in recent months allow chaplains to pray as they wish in voluntary worship services. But the rules call for nonsectarian prayers, or a moment of silence, at public meetings or ceremonies, especially when attendance is mandatory for service members of all faiths.

Why? Duh. You guessed it:

Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition and other evangelical Christian groups have lobbied vigorously against the Air Force and Navy rules, urging President Bush to issue an executive order guaranteeing the right of chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus under any circumstances. Because the White House has not acted, sympathetic members of Congress stepped in. [my emphasis]
"We felt there needed to be a clarification" of the rules "because there is political correctness creeping into the chaplains corps," said Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.). "I don't understand anyone being opposed to a chaplain having the freedom to pray to God in the way his conscience calls him to pray."

As Mike put it in his round up: the language is "intended to allow chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus at public military ceremonies, undercutting new Air Force and Navy guidelines on religion". Having observed how well open sectarianism has worked in unifying Iraq, where Shiite and Sunni lovefests abound, it looks like Congress is ready to try the same technique here, at the behest of Mullah Dobson, Imam Robertson, and Ayatollah Falwell. It's no longer just the Executive branch that ignores the Bill of Rights. Congress wants to get into the act: fair enough!

It is sad that Congressman Jones can't distinguish between "political correctness" and respect for differing religious (let alone non-religious) convictions. He appeals to the conscience of the individual chaplain before God, but ignores the consciences of the military personnel at "public meetings or ceremonies . . . [where] attendance is mandatory for service members of all faiths [or none]".

This entry is probably already long enough, but I want to take time to make the point that using "the name of Jesus" is not the essence of Christian identity, a value that goes back to the ancient Hebrew prophets and their critique of worship practices that were divorced from social responsibility. Two biblical passages come to mind. First, Isaiah 1:15-17:

When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

These lines are part of a longer sermon decrying extravagant acts of worship. The prophet sees that these actions are empty, and worse than empty, when performed by a society or social class with "blood on its hands", and that embraces "evil" done to less fortunate neighbors. As important as The Name was in ancient Israel ("You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain"), it was not simply a matter of saying The Name as some magic formula to gain divine approval. To the contrary, God wanted good done, justice served, and so forth: that is what The Name stands for.

Similarly, at the conclusion of the "Sermon on the Mount", Jesus warns against those who will take his name in vain:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. . . . Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. . . . (Matthew 7:15-16a, 21-24)

Now in the Sermon on the Mount, the actions Jesus asks for include:

• Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. (5:42)
• But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (5:44)
• Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. (6:1)
• Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (6:19-21, put that in your estate tax/Roth IRA bill!)
• Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. (7:1-2)
• [In sum,] "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. (7:12)

Nowhere does Jesus say, "throw my name, J-E-S-U-S, at those who do not believe in me, whether they like it or not. " Instead, he says "do to others as you would have them do to you."

Whatever exactly "false prophets" are (and I think of the Religious Right and the "Left Behind" publishing empire, generally), Jesus indicates that "religious" words are often empty, or worse. The abuse of religious words and names has been with us a long time: taken at face value (as Mr. Dobson and co., surely would), Jesus already saw it coming early in his career!

These biblical passages are troubling, and are meant to be troubling, to all of us, conservative and liberal alike. But the business about public expression of particular forms of worship was already known to both parts of the Bible as not the be-all and end-all of authentic faith. Jesus does not need for Christian chaplains to say "Jesus" all the time. If somebody thinks they do, that person does not know Jesus very well.