centrist, moderate, etc.
more thoughts on unhelpful labels
Last week I had the honor of meeting with John Inazu alongside several colleagues at Interfaith America. Gathered in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel on the Chicago Riverwalk, we met to continue strategizing for an upcoming project focused on American evangelicalism. While there are many topics to discuss when examining evangelical thought and action, much of our conversation dealt with the labels placed on many of those engaged in this ongoing public dialogue.
In short, to make sense of the locations from which various actors enter this discussion, the political language of “moderate” and “centrist” is often attributed (sometimes as a modifier) to those who cannot be neatly placed in the categories of “liberal” or “conservative.” However, as I wrote last August these labels fail to describe the complex beliefs, traditions, and ethical imperatives held by any individual.
John describes this well in a recent newsletter:
One of today’s linguistic puzzles is naming people who care about politics but are not political partisans. I am one of those people. I am often called “centrist” or “moderate,” but these labels are inaccurate. I hold strong views about many issues. Many of these are not “moderate” views, and few of them represent a “centrist” midpoint of partisan positions. In fact, given the constantly shifting goalposts of what counts as “partisan,” “extreme left,” and “extreme right,” I’m not even sure how one would go about calculating what qualifies as a “centrist” view.
Much of what John explains here resonates with me.
Reflecting on his essay and our conversation, I recognized that one difficulty I find with the political identifiers John mentions (“centrist” and “moderate”) is that I write very little about politics (proper).
Certainly, my writing has political implications. I do not try to hide this. I believe that religion and faith are gifts to our democracy and civic life that we ought to embrace. At their best, they contribute to the constructive, religiously plural project of America as a nation.
But am I a centrist conservative or moderate progressive? Can one deduce such claims from my scholarship? If the sum of my theological and political perspectives were somehow added up and averaged out, perhaps such deductions might be made. However, not all issues and views are treated equally. Nor are beliefs and perspectives so neatly defined.
Rather than ‘centrist’ or ‘moderate,’ I understand myself as a translator and bridge builder between diverse communities. I often share that my name represents this work. “Amar” — an Islamic name, an Indian name. “Peterman” — a European name, a white name. Down to the very name I am identified by, my work consists of using my words, experiences, and story to help construct bridges between social locations and imaginations.
As the folks at Interfaith America (where I now work) often say, “bridges don’t fall from the sky or erupt from the ground. Bridges are built.” Bridge-building is a sacred calling. Building bridges is laborsome, difficult work that requires foresight, tact, strength, and ingenuity.
Translation, too, requires more than a dictionary. Those who speak multiple languages know that translation is never a 1-to-1 substitution. Language is contextual, subjective, and nuanced. Words carry different meanings, baggage, and inflection in different places and at different times. The translator must be aware of all of this as they translate concepts and meanings, not mere words.
As I concluded in my first piece for Church Anew, “my hope in both my writing and faith practice is to follow the Spirit in our world today.” At times, this may align with a “centrist” or “moderate” position. But these shortcut labels (including “liberal” and “conservative”) will not dictate the way I engage in the world. What is most important to me is loving my neighbor as I seek to follow and testify to God’s sacred and redemptive action in this diverse, complex, dynamically alive world.
Reading:
Blessed Are the Organized: Grassroots Democracy in America - Jeff Stout (Princeton University Press, 2012)
Festival of Lights: Diwali in the Light of Jesus - Ashish Varma (Center for Asian American Christianity)
Watching:
The Watcher (Netflix)
House of the Dragon - Season Finale (HBO Max)