Earlier, we followed the brief controversy Rep. Todd Akin, Republican of Missouri, sparked when he claimed that liberals hate God and want to replace God with big government. While there was a momentary furor esp. among the liberal bloggers and some progressive clergy in Missouri, the budding controversy has quietly gone away. I had thought there wouldn't be much more to write about the Senate candidate, but in the midst of the battle going on in Washington over the raising the debt ceiling, Akin has unfortunately provided further fodder for comment.He opposes the compromise bill on the raising of the debt ceiling Speaker John Boehner tried to get through the House of Representatives, evidently because it is just that—a compromise. Speaking before a local Republican group back home, Akin accused President Obama of being "a flaming socialist" while the Republican caucus is "pretty conservative." And he is convinced that the debt ceiling is not that big of a deal. The government might slow down somewhat, but it won't collapse. He also referred to the economic stimulus package originally passed while President Bush was in office as "trash." He may be right about raising the debt ceiling, but leading national and international economists disagree with him. They think it is a big deal.
Akin is an ideological true believer, and as we saw in those previous posts his ideological base is an ultra conservative brand of Christian faith. He, in fact, is a seminary graduate so that he cannot be accused of being ignorant of his faith. And that is the point. In his heart of hearts, Akin believes that liberals like the President and his Democratic "colleagues" in Congress are against God. Being theologically trained, he knows that rebellion against God is the very essence of sin, so they are sinful. They are necessarily evil or, at the very least, evil-ish. For him to compromise with Democrats and liberals is not a matter just of politics but also of faith. He can't do it. It would be a betrayal of everything he holds sacred.
This is what happens when faith becomes ideological. Instead of opening the heart, it closes one's ears. Instead of promoting a compassion that is other-oriented, it gives birth to a self-involved, stubborn refusal to see the good in the other especially if that other is "a flaming socialist." When faith becomes ideology, it is no longer faith. It is idolatry, which is putting something crafted by the human mind in place of God.
For a similar (if less theological) & more detailed analysis, see Richard L. Fricker, "The Christian Right's Rigid Politics."
