You Cannot Serve Two Masters

No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Luke 16:13

Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s. 

Matthew 22:21

First Mount Zion Baptist Church pastor Rev. Dr. Luke Torian of Dumfries is seeking the Democrat nomination in the 52nd Dist. and Democrats seem absolutely giddy about the prospect.  They shouldn’t be.

I understand why they are.  In Dr. Torian they see the pastor of a church with a congregation estimated at between 2,500 and 3,500, which they view as voters likely to support their leader at the polls.  But in seeing this, they show that they are truly blind.

First, this is no larger than the number of attendees at my church, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in neighboring Triangle.  St. Francis has six Masses each weekend with an average attendance of between 600 and 700 per Mass.

Second, I would feel uncomfortable if it were one of my own parish priests running for political office.  The two Bible passages above immediately come to mind.  I think extremely high of them all, but I would not want to see them split their loyalties between matters of the soul and engaging in partisan politics.  Newly-minted RNC Chairman Michael Steele and freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Cao (R-La.) both nearly became Catholic priests, but they recognized where their callings truly were and did not attempt to serve two masters.  I think that Father Robert Drinan (D-Mass.) proved the problems with this during his tenure in Congress and Pope John Paul II was correct in issuing a directive barring priests from serving in elected office.  (It also helps avoid IRS audits of a church’s tax exempt status, too.)

If I would be uncomfortable with one of my own priests representing me in elected office, I can only imagine how uncomfortable people would be with the prospect of being represented in elected office by a spiritual leader not of their own faith (as opposed to someone who is merely a member of a congregation.)  And this is not just a matter of partisan politics.  I would no soon rather be represented by Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell than I would Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton.

So, while Virginia Democrats are blinded to only see a church of 2,500 to 3,500 as potential voters, they miss the many pitfalls that such a candidacy of a religious leader presents to the general electorate.  As a partisan Republican, I welcome them to do so.  As a man of faith, I pray that Dr. Torian does whatever God tells him is best for his flock.