In Greek mythology, Procrustes was a son of Poseidon who offered lodging for travelers making their way to Athens. The bed in which guests slept fit no one precisely. Depending on the height of the lodger, Procrustes either stretched him out or amputated his extremities until the unfortunate pilgrim fit the bed exactly.

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines “procrustean bed” as “a scheme or pattern into which someone or something is arbitrarily forced.” It seems to me that the faith of the church is frequently forced into the procrustean bed of political thought or gut feelings in our current cultural milieu. Neither those on the right nor those on the left of the political spectrum are immune to this behavior. We adjust our religious standards to accommodate our partisan leanings, rather than allowing our faith to inform our political thought.

Our feelings of rectitude – our insistence that we are right – triumphs over all other possible positions. Because we are convinced that nothing can change our views, dialogue becomes impossible. Even worse, we demonize anyone whose position differs from our own: “I am good and they are evil.” This sort of polarization is nothing new, even among the religious. We know the history of sectarian warfare – the crusades, the violent conflict surrounding the Reformation, jihad in the 20th and 21st centuries. What we experience in our culture today is more of a cold war than physical violence, but battle lines are drawn and the heat is rising.

At the root of this phenomenon is what the Greeks called hubris – pride – and what the Church calls sin. Rather than allowing God to be God, we become judge and jury. When we label ourselves good and the opposition evil, we lose sight of who we really are before God. Don’t get me wrong, the actions may be wrong, either by our own judgement or by the judgement of God. But to describe another as evil while denying the possibility that my side and I may also be in collusion with evil is itself evil.

As Christians we acknowledge that it is not our inherent goodness that saves us, but rather the goodness, that is, the righteousness, of God. In Romans 3, St. Paul paraphrases several OT passages, “There is no one who is righteous, not even one … All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness; not even one … Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery are in their paths, and the way of peace they have not known…” Several verses later he continues, “But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, … the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ…”

Whether prophets of the Old Testament or saints of the New, none were self-righteous, that is, none presented their own goodness as proof of the validity of their message. God was their righteousness, and they recognized the righteousness of God only in the face of their own shortcomings.

There is little hope for concord in our society unless all recognize that evil is all around us, not only on the “other side.” Reasoning with the opposition – engaging in productive dialogue – is impossible when we insist that the opponent is inherently evil. Only when we acknowledge our own feet of clay and see that we and our opponents are together children of a fallen humanity, will there be any hope of knowing peace in our time.

In Jesus’ name,

Pastor Robert M. Mountenay