The debate on whether religion should enter public discourse as a voice on certain moral issues rages on both sides of the border.
Such oratory is now common in the U.S. political arena, where last week Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum stoked the fires by highlighting what he called President Obama’s “false theology” that is “not based on the Bible.”
The merging of religion and politics by conservative Christians is abhorrent to many Americans. Although the phrase “separation of church and state” is not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution and actually refers to a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to describe the function of the First Amendment, it is considered an honored principle of U.S. law. In equal measure, many Mexicans become riled when the Catholic Church – an historical meddler in affairs of state – tries to push its political agenda, as it did again last week when the archdiocese of Mexico published a set of voting guidelines on its website, presumably with the intention of influencing voters not to back the left-of-center Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), which in recent years has managed to push through measures legalizing abortion and gay marriage in the nation’s capital.
The guide states that it is “not morally permissible to select parties or candidates who promote false ‘rights and liberties’ which attack the teachings of Holy Scripture, and the traditions and doctrine of the Church.”
Reading between the lines, to many observers this is a thinly veiled endorsement of the conservative, pro-Catholic National Action Party (PAN), which is vigorously promoting the expansion of religious freedoms in Mexico, including a polemic proposal that could see religious education introduced in public schools.
Although the guide goes on to say that religious freedom is a “fundamental right not only for minsters of the Gospel,” its implications could be seen as a violation in spirit – if not the letter – of Article 130 of the Mexican Constitution, which states: “priests and ministers cannot form political associations nor carry out propaganda for any candidate, party or political group.”
In Mexico’s evolving political landscape it’s unlikely that the vast majority of Mexican Catholics – around 85 percent of country, according to some estimates – will pay much attention to their spiritual leaders. Most Catholics nowadays ignore the Church’s teachings on contraception and sex, and while a majority may favor keeping abortion unlawful, there has been limited public outrage at Mexico City’s polemic legislation.
That Mexico’s Catholic hierarchy is pushing a political agenda should not be viewed as unusual at a time when the faith is being seriously challenged by rival denominations that are showing far more aptitude in responding to citizens’ spiritual needs in a modern world.
It is this fear of falling into even greater irrelevancy that has moved the Catholic Church closer to its political kinsfolk (the PAN) and even prompted its leaders to advocate civil disobedience should authorities impose their will on non-negotiable, “divine” questions of morality.
“We should put obedience to God above respect to Cesar,” Cardinal Norberto Rivera said last year in an unconventional interpretation of the Biblical quotation. “We have no obligation to obey when the (civil) authority steps out of the legal limits from where it can and should govern.”
Of course, Christians the world over will testify that faith is not solely about spirituality. It also requires them to engage with the world, which makes separating morality from politics complicated. It also makes the line between the separation of church and state, and the interaction of religion and politics, such a hard one to define.
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