“American Grace” by authors Robert Putnam and David Campbell is a statistical and anecdotal survey of America’s current religious situation.
In spite of any evidence to the contrary, the writers maintain that Americans are as devout in their religious convictions as they diverse in their religious communities. It is this juxtaposition of religious devotion alongside religious diversity that this book praises and celebrates. Religious pluralism is manageable in the USA, the authors contend, because of “interlocking personal relationships among people of many different faiths.” Inter-marriage, changing neighborhoods, lessening ethnicity and a variety of interfaith friendships at work and in the community have muted the inter-religious tensions that much of America knew in the past. Denominational hostility has ebbed as religious fluidity has surged. Rubbing shoulders has made Americans much more tolerant and this, according to the writers, is America’s grace.
Yet the thought occurs that religious tolerance has been secured at the expense of religious truth. Perhaps what might benignly be called broadmindedness is actually nothing more than indifference. While religious America might evidence charity and neighborliness in its community life, the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians should always be recalled, specifically that “charity rejoices in the truth.” The greatest kindness that one believer can share with another believer is an affirmation of the truth or, if needs be, an introduction to the truth. The loving thing to do is not always the easiest thing to do nor is it the least controversial thing to do. The so-called believer who winks at disregard for the Scriptures, at Sabbath neglect, at the arts’ mockery of religion, at sexual aberrations from cohabitation to abortion, at social insensitivity toward the poor and the alien, and at grievous departures from Christian tradition is not doing his neighbor any favors. Both religiously and politically in America, tolerance is often at odds with the truth, and courage takes a back seat to harmony.
In this Sunday’s lengthy Gospel passage concerning Christ’s encounter with the woman at the well, the Master displays the greatest charity by introducing the Samaritan woman to the truth – the truth about her own life and the truth about eternal life. Jesus could have ignored the woman’s irregular religious situation as well as her irregular marital situation for fear of alienating her, a fear in great evidence nowadays when priests deal with parishioners and when parents deal with their children. Jesus is certainly not rude to the woman but he is frank. “Go call your husband and come back,” Jesus insists. Jesus’ honesty is met with some dissemblance on the part of the woman, “I do not have a husband.” When Jesus firmly pursues his interrogation, the woman changes the subject. Perceiving that Jesus is a prophet, she turns the talk to religion. In the end, Jesus’ honesty, his truthfulness, his candor wins the woman over. She announces to her townspeople, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?”
One survey cited in “American Grace” asked these questions: “How often do you feel God’s love in your life?” and “How often do you feel God’s judgment in your life?” Appreciation of a loving God actually makes people more loving toward one another, according to the survey. Experience of a judging God makes people more judgmental toward one another, again according to the survey. It is regrettable that the two questions oppose God’s love and God’s judgment. Indeed, God’s love is judgment and God’s judgment is love. A loving God will certainly convince the believer of his sins. To ignore a believer’s sins is not an act of love. And a judging God who reveals a believer’s faults is performing a great act of love. The loving God and the judging God (actually the one God) cannot be more benevolent than to open the believer to the truth – the truth about this world and the truth abut the next world. To leave a man in his sins under the guise of tolerance or moderation is no virtue. And truthfully to remind a man of how far short of grace he has fallen is no vice. (Echoes of Goldwater). Jesus at the well was first and foremost a man of truth. And consequently he has been perceived as a man of great charity – perhaps especially by the Samaritan woman.
