Got a little religion, got a little politics
There are people who are naturally religious--or should I say tend to be religious. Such people get the worst press. In fact I think most people (except religious people) don't trust those who are very or habitually religious (can I pick a single modifier?).
But when someone who is not normally religious has a religious experience because they have been hanging around people of real and significant faith, or because they've been reading the holy scriptures (without a history of doing so ... this is key), then we say that this person has in some way, got religion. And, I think, we are more inclined to pay attention to such a person. We do trust them more. Maybe it's because we think they are in a religious way for the right reasons (experience), instead of the wrong reasons (personality, upbringing, habit).
I think politics is like this in a way. Someone who is naturally political makes me nervous. The person who tends to get involved in the political discussion doesn't really inspire me to join in. But can there be a person who we say got politics--in the same way it happens with religion-- because they have had some kind of experience which draws them in? I would trust this person more: they are involved because of what they have seen and heard on the street (where politics ends and begins), not because they 'always have been'. They are not into politics because of upbringing, personality, or habit. They are involved because they experienced something personal, an event which changed them. And from that day on, a response was required.
Now what if the two were combined: religion and politics I mean (I know that I am not the first to suggest it, and I shudder). What if Jesus people started going out on the street more, and spending time with the kind of people Jesus spent time with? People who do this might see things that few politicians ever see. If we do this, if we go ... having got religion, we might just get politics.
But when someone who is not normally religious has a religious experience because they have been hanging around people of real and significant faith, or because they've been reading the holy scriptures (without a history of doing so ... this is key), then we say that this person has in some way, got religion. And, I think, we are more inclined to pay attention to such a person. We do trust them more. Maybe it's because we think they are in a religious way for the right reasons (experience), instead of the wrong reasons (personality, upbringing, habit).
I think politics is like this in a way. Someone who is naturally political makes me nervous. The person who tends to get involved in the political discussion doesn't really inspire me to join in. But can there be a person who we say got politics--in the same way it happens with religion-- because they have had some kind of experience which draws them in? I would trust this person more: they are involved because of what they have seen and heard on the street (where politics ends and begins), not because they 'always have been'. They are not into politics because of upbringing, personality, or habit. They are involved because they experienced something personal, an event which changed them. And from that day on, a response was required.
Now what if the two were combined: religion and politics I mean (I know that I am not the first to suggest it, and I shudder). What if Jesus people started going out on the street more, and spending time with the kind of people Jesus spent time with? People who do this might see things that few politicians ever see. If we do this, if we go ... having got religion, we might just get politics.
