The reported interaction between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV brings to mind the old chestnut concerning the relationship between church and state. The influence of Christianity over the government was an issue in the early American colonies. Some settlers were seeking freedom from the oppression of a state religion and others, settling in the northeast, embraced the dominance of Congregationalism with its Christian clergy on a government salary.
Even in my lifetime, there have been religious influences upon government. For example, Blue Laws restricted some retail business from opening on Sunday. And today, there is a movement to declare the United States a Christian nation. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts monthly Christian worship services for employees. His department’s promotional videos have displayed Bible verses alongside military footage. In speeches and interviews, he often argues the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and troops should embrace God, potentially risking the military’s secular mission and hard-won pluralism.
It is not just Christianity that is an issue, but other religions as well. The mixing of religion with government is an issue worldwide. University of Washington professor James Wellman points to several examples: Vladimir Putin keeping a close relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church, โthe religionization of Israeli societyโ that Israeli scholar Horit Herman desribes and increased Muslim identity in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoฤan. Trump appealed to Evangelical Christians during his campaign and continues to do so. โThe common denominator for all these leaders and countries is that they seek partnerships with religion and the religious,โ Wellman said. โThey will use religion whether or not they are religious themselves.โ
The question becomes, is there a relationship between religion and the government that may be healthy for both religious communities and the governing nations? One answer is for the religious communities to speak to the government, not become part of the government. Religious communities bear the obligation to contribute moral and ethical arguments to the process of government decision making. Whether, Muslim, Jew, Christian or another faith expression, each at its best, may contribute an ethic and an attitude of care for all of humanity and the environment that sustains life.
Religious expression is corrupted when it becomes entangled with a government seeking to enforce its power over others, seeking self-preservation and seeking dominance through the accumulation of wealth. In the first Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began, we witness the merging of God and country, as Hegseth prayed that โevery round finds its mark against the enemies of righteousness.โ He requested that God โbreak the teeth of the ungodly.โ The Almighty should โpour out your wrath against those who plot vain things and blow them away like chaff before the wind.โ This attitude is led by Trump, who has threatened that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran fails to meet his latest deadline to strike a deal.
These attitudes of aggression come into conflict with Christian values as outlined by Pope Leo XIV. Values such as care for the oppressed, love of neighbor, just peace and humility are at the core of most religious communities โ as found in the readings from the Koran, the Torah, the Bible and other sacred religious texts.
Thus, at their best, the attitudes of religious communities can put into question the attitudes of aggression, annihilation and a sense of superiority. The health and survival of America depends upon an adjustment of the attitudes of its leaders. Responsible religious communities must speak to the government attitudes true to their ideals of love, compassion, care of neighbor and peace with justice for all people. Yes, both politics and religion can be corrupted. However, the political and the religious may also chose an attitude that expresses their better nature.
John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing. He is a refocused (retired) United Church of Christ minister. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com.