Failing the religious test

He was drunk. At least drinking. He was standing at his truck in the parking lot. It was a public place, and there were kids all around. Between sips he was hiding the can but not well.

A year later, I saw him again. His eyes were bright. He was stone sober. He told me about Jesus.

When somebody takes the time to talk about his faith, for whatever reason, I listen. I might agree. I might disagree. I will probably sympathize.

What I don't do, not ever, is spend the conversation trying to debunk their beliefs. To argue with them that they don't really mean it.

First of all, it's rude.

Second of all, it's not my place.

If you say you're a Christian (or Jewish or Muslim or Hindu), I take it on a kind of faith that you are telling me the truth.

As a result of writing that, I will undoubtedly get the usual e-mails from the usual people attacking the rigor of my own beliefs. Over the past few years, I've received a few such notes from people I know but lots more from people I don't.

Many are professional Christians who in their spare time spam the world with every piece of political garbage that makes it to their inbox, truth be damned. The essence of their beef with me (and others, presumably) is this: You're not my kind of Christian, so therefore you're no Christian at all.

To quote The Avett Brothers: "Sometimes I use curse words when I pray." These people are why.

The nation's modern inquisitors have been particularly busy of late, their innuendo and ignorance uniting two people who are rarely united: President Barack Obama and professional provocateur Glenn Beck.

Politically conservative Christians will warn that almost 20 percent of America believes the president is Muslim, despite his oft-professed Christianity. (Beck, it should be noted, is among those who have claimed that the president's "version" of Christianity is unrecognizable to most Americans.)

Liberals, to generalize with the other hand, will point out that despite his recent revival in Washington, Beck is a practicing Mormon, which means to some that he's not actually Christian.

A consistent believer, one who condemns both men for apostasy, or praises both for their faith, is surprisingly difficult to find. Which I guess is something. Perhaps it's evidence that Christians of all stripes and a certain type have elevated politics above faith.

Regardless, America's propensity for political religiosity has long been part of our national life. It's actually far older than that, of course. Jesus himself had plenty to say about the Pharisees. Ostentatious worship is probably as old as man.

The saddest thing, though, is that America was designed to be different. We were supposed to be above such things, a fact enshrined in the Constitution: "[N]o religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

Nevertheless, I regularly receive cautions from Christians that the president is a secret Muslim eager to impose Sharia law, the kind of hysterical lie that the Bible is pretty specific in condemning. Or that Beck (during the '08 primaries, it was Mitt Romney) belongs to a church constantly working to convert America's unwilling ancestors, including my grandfather, who passed away 20 years ago and was as religiously complicated as anyone I've ever known.

People spread stories like these sometimes because they believe them. As often, I suspect, these rumormongers see political points to be gained by making one more politician or personality a member of that class of people described only as "other."

That Obama isn't like you and me, they whisper. That Beck guy is a little crazy.

Underlying all such aspersions is the kind of theological arrogance that can only live in souls that have traded the wisdom of faith and the consideration of basic human decency for the prosaic and temporary rewards of partisan politics.

Generally speaking, I beware any person who knows everything, including who you should vote for and which God you should worship. Anyone that intoxicated by power, after all, is still drunk.

Donald Luzzatto is The Pilot's editorial page editor. E-mail:donald.luzzatto@pilotonline.com.