Speaking of Religion
The Rev. Dr. Tim Griffin
…one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. — Pledge of Allegiance
Last week’s column concerned the myth that underlies our national identity and our individual identities as Americans.
In that piece, I noted that to say that something is a myth is neither to disparage it nor to say that it is false. Rather one function of a myth — arguably the most important function — is to tell us who we are.
By telling us who we are, myths impart meaning to our lives. They tell us about the way of life to which we belong. They are stories about how we are to be and what we are to do. And this is so whether the myth concerns our religious identity, e.g., Christianity, Islam, etc., or whether the myth concerns our national identity, e.g., American or Chinese.
When I was a child, our school days always began with the Pledge of Allegiance. We spoke these words in unison in much the same way as the Nicene Creed is spoken in many Christian churches on Sunday.
That is not surprising, really, because in many respects the Pledge functioned as a creed. It informed me of my identity as an American and why I should be proud of that identity. By pledging allegiance to the flag, I was pledging allegiance to the values of liberty and justice for all, and, of course, part of the motivation for pledging allegiance to the United States was because, as a nation, we stood for those values.
These values — liberty and justice for all — are values that I continue to endorse. But it is not simply the values expressed in the statement that are important. In fact, the important part is "for all." It is the "for all" part that is central to our myth. The values in question do not belong to a privileged few. They belong to all of us.
The value of "justice for all" was secured by making this nation a nation of laws rather than a nation of privileged persons. Under the law, all are treated alike. This is the hallmark of fair treatment, i.e., it does not matter who you are or who you know, you are treated the same with respect to the law.
I believe that this is the reason that we feel betrayed at the actions of President George W. Bush last week — indeed on the day before the celebration of our national myth. By commuting the sentence of one of his political allies, the president placed partisanship above the rule of law. He said, in essence, we are a not a nation ruled by laws after all. He gave the lie to our myth and hence to our sense of identity as citizens and as a nation.
The alleged justification for this act was that the sentence was too harsh. But, of course, that flies in the face of the principle of law that says treat like cases alike because anyone else guilty of this crime would have received the same or an even stiffer sentence for this crime according to the federal sentencing guidelines followed by the judge in the case of Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Others have made the excuse that other presidents have acted similarly, and in particular, former President Bill Clinton pardoned a number of convicted criminals on his final day in office. But that cannot excuse this act. Clinton was also wrong, and he also gave the lie to our myth. That only means that this president has done no better.
Unfortunately, the damage done to our myth by the current administration is deeper than the Libby situation. Through the extensive use of signing statements, the president has claimed that he and his administration are above the laws enacted by Congress.
Through the use of extraordinary rendition and holding prisoners without charge or due process, he has claimed that he can avoid even international treaties such as the Geneva Convention.
And the hearings concerning the Justice Department and the firing of U.S. attorneys suggest that justice in our nation is now deeply tied to partisan agendas. But if that is so, then justice is not for all but for those in a particular political party.
The question we need to ask ourselves is how much more we are willing to allow our myth — our sense of national identity — to be eroded. We may lose more than our sense of national identity if we continue to allow the rule of law to be undermined. ••
Father Tim Griffin is priest-in-charge at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, at 1946 Welsh Road, in Bustleton.