October 28, 2002
ANOTHER VIEW:
Critical thinking, vigorous debate, public dissent define good citizens
___I was among Christian friends recently when someone said: "All the naysayers who don't support President Bush's plan to attack Iraq should just shut their mouths. It's time for all of us to rally around our president."
___This is a very widely held opinion, at least in my world. It is also dead wrong.
___It marks a complete misunderstanding of the responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy--and of Christian discipleship.
___I am not now speaking of the substance of the issue. Christians can agree or disagree about whether a U.S. attack on Iraq would be morally justifiable. I am already on record as opposing such an attack under current circumstances. My concern here, though, is about the overall posture of Christian citizens in relation to current issues and political leaders.
___My friend describes those who dissent on current Iraq policy as "naysayers." A naysayer, by definition, is someone who says no; the term also connotes a general stance of refusing to consent or to offer support.
David Gushee
___My interlocutor was claiming, therefore, that it is morally wrong to say no to the president or to his policies. Those who would like to say no should not speak.
___Instead, they should swallow their concerns and offer public support to the administration.
___It is interesting that most of those articulating such a view these days would not have made the same statement about our last chief executive, Bill Clinton. They routinely criticized the 42nd president's personal behavior, political convictions and government policies. They did in fact function as "naysayers" in that context, and thus must not believe that Christian citizens in all circumstances must offer public support to whatever administration happens to be in power. No, indeed. They offered plenty of criticism between 1993 and 2001.
___I was one of those critics. I called for Bill Clinton's resignation just after it was revealed that he had been involved with Monica Lewinsky and lied under oath about his tawdry affair. I criticized many of his policies while supporting others that I believed merited it.
___The same standard should apply to any government leader.
___Loyal citizenship should not require uncritical support for anyone's policies. It should not require swallowing objections and rallying around the current leader just because he is the current leader--or just because our nation lives in an insecure and dangerous world.
___Our nation's founders knew this. They knew that no person is infallible or incorruptible.
___They divided government powers in order to diffuse responsibility and broaden the pool of deliberation and decision-making.
___They created a political system that did not just permit but encouraged, even required, vigorous critical thinking and the freedom to dissent.
___They believed that such vigorous public argumentation would lead to better decisions, not worse.
___And they had faith that such dialogue would ultimately lead to greater national unity, not less, because all citizens could know that matters had been thoroughly discussed before actions were taken.
___Thus it is absolutely clear that critical thinking, vigorous debate and the freedom to dissent should be supported by Christians as citizens. But I think it is also clear that these practices should be supported by Christians precisely as Christians, on directly biblical grounds.
___The biblical prophets need more Christian attention. Prophets were God-called and God-anointed national critics in ancient Israel. They went right into palaces and temples and told princes and priests exactly how they were violating God's will and the price that would be paid in divine judgment for doing so. Their scathing indictments of the status quo often landed them in serious trouble. And yet the nation knew that prophets, however unsettling, were a gift from God.
___So, however grudgingly, a place was made for them both in Israel's life and in the canon that guides us to this day.
___Jesus stood in the tradition of the prophets. He too offered prophetic indictments of political and religious leaders and their actions. Christians bear the name of the one who paid for this prophetic ministry with his life. We dare not forget the prophetic dimension of his ministry and of the Bible as a whole.
___Critical thinking, vigorous debate and public dissent when dissent is needed are not disloyal or morally wrong but instead fundamental moral responsibilities of every citizen and every Christian.
___David Gushee is an associate professor of moral philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. His column is distributed by Religion News Service
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