The Devil and Rick Santorum

The intrusion not just of religion, but of a particular kind of religion, into the presidential campaign of our beloved United States is disturbing but not entirely surprising.  The people of this nation revel in public displays of affectation, particularly when it comes to religious affectation, and there is a certain subset of the population which makes up a portion of the Republican Party and what is called the Right which expects this of our politicians.  But it seems that others do so as well, as we see our President thinks it necessary to tell us his religious beliefs inform his political beliefs.

It is somewhat surprising that a Catholic candidate is indulging in these displays and being lauded for it by "social conservatives."  This is still in many ways a Protestant country (though that is changing), and American protestants have never given up thinking of the Roman Church as the Great Whore of Babylon.  But politics makes strange bedfellows, to coin a phrase.

I have a sentimental fondness for the Catholic Church and its God--the God of my joy and my youth, as we altar boys used to say with our knees resting on marble or some kind of stone, even in Latin until Vatican II sent its great wind blowing through the Church, making it even less universal than it had already become by that time.  I have little respect, though, for those religions which insist that there is a devil, though the concept of the devil has been the source of many great works of literature which are worthy of respect.  Satan is in some respects a great literary figure; Milton's titanic rebel comes to mind.

The devil as a malignant, evil being or force presents certain problems for the religious, I think.  One can't help but wonder why his existence is tolerated by God, who presumably would be allowing him to wreck havoc as he does if God is all-powerful.  Addressing this difficulty by concluding God is not all-powerful doesn't seem very satisfying.  Of course, those who believe in a devil manage to find an explanation for his existence of one kind or another, or simply dismiss the dilemma as yet another instance of God moving in mysterious ways.

A more practical problem is that such a conception of the devil, to me at least, inclines us to excuse, or even deny, our responsibility for the evil we do.  Who are we to resist the Prince of Darkness?  We are deceived, overwhelmed by his machinations when we do evil, we have been turned astray.  We are poor little lambs and have lost our way.

Of course we will also say that we should not have listened to the Father of Lies, or that we should have sought God's assistance and so evaded him, or that if we had been truly good, full of grace would not have done evil.  In this way we can say that we have done evil and sin when we do so.  We can maintain that we are ultimately responsible, to God that is.  But it seems to me that if we believe in Satan in this fashion we at least manage to insist that we share responsibility for the evil we do with a powerful, supernatural being necessarily even more responsible for that evil.  I think this a craven, cowardly point of view.  We should accept full responsibility for our acts and omissions.

Worse, the belief that there is some powerful evil force at large that is apart from us and has set its sights on us inclines us not to seek the abolition of evil by transforming ourselves and our environment.  We look to be saved from evil by some higher power rather than taking the steps available to us (beyond praying) to control ourselves, our communities and institutions.

Satan hasn't set his sights on America.  We are quite capable of destroying it all by ourselves, and may well do so if we fail to take responsibility for the decisions we make and fail to make them intelligently.