By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California –In Yiddish we say, “A Mentsch tracht, Gott lacht,” which can be translated as, “Man plans, God laughs.” If Heaven has sitcoms for the angels and God to watch, life on planet Earth must be really funny at times.
God must be feeling relieved.
Getting booed from people hearing God’s Name might sound like blasphemy. In biblical days, people used to get stoned for such displays of contempt toward God.
Fortunately—but reluctantly—the DNC decided to reinsert God into their platform and they took a vote, which required a two-thirds majority to make the change. Embarrassingly, the vote did not really consist of a two-thirds majority, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the convention chairman, did not want to an actual hand count. When Villaraigosa came to the podium to ask for the approval of the delegates, those who shouted opposition to the language change were as loud, if not louder, than those who voiced their support. This was a victory more for political expediency than religious principles.
In all my years, I have never heard a group of adults boo God. Yesterday was an eye-opener.
It seems strange that the subject of God should pop up in the Democratic Convention this year. In past conventions, God generally took a polite back seat and didn’t make such a ruckus, but this year is different. According to the 2008 platform, the leaders of the DNC religiously proclaimed:
- We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values, and interests of working people, and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.
This little statement hardly sounds theocratic. Most people—religious or not—would probably not take much notice about this kind of innocuous remark. However, this year is not like other years. On all other years we weren’t embarrassed about God, nor did we take offense that the mere mentioning of God’s Name might insult somebody. Our wise forbearers realized that we have our responsibilities, and God has—his or hers!
Prior to amendment, the new formula of 2012 read:
- We gather to reclaim the basic bargain that built the largest middle class and the most prosperous nation on Earth – the simple principle that in America, hard work should pay off, responsibility should be rewarded, and each one of us should be able to go as far as our talent and drive take us.
Something doesn’t make much sense here. The DNC had no problem beginning their programs with prayers from distinguished clergy. If the DNC didn’t like having God as part of their platform—why begin the programs with prayer? It really strikes me as being disingenuous.
In life, you can’t always have your cake and eat it. In my opinion, there is a place for people of contrasting belief systems to all participate without having to worry about political correctness.
I suspect there are deeper philosophical and theological differences that are at the epicenter of the problem: Where do our fundamental human rights derive from? Do they derive from the State? Or do they derive from government?
Let’s look at the Declaration of Independence, which makes one of the boldest statements ever heard in the history of civilization:
- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed… (emphasis added)
I suspect there are many atheists and some well-meaning theists who would like to strike this section out of our political consciousness. This attitude could explain why God got left out of the DNC platform.
The source of our “unalienable Rights” teaches us something very profound and important: In the final analysis, the State must never usurp the role of God. Government must always function as the steward of the nation—and not its Master—it must rule only with the “consent of the governed.” God is the ultimate Source of our liberties—and not the State, which historically can become idolatrous—as we have seen many times in human history.
May God save us from our hubris.
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Rabbi Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista. He may be contacted at michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com