#10 - Pragmatism Trumps Principle [part 2; (part 1 in posting #9)]

By Chuck Colson 3/27/09 [bold emphasis mine]

[“Again, pragmatism trumped principle.”] “It’s not just the President. In her first trip abroad, Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials. Three items were on her agenda: urging the Chinese to buy our Treasury Bills; cooperating together in cleaning up the environment; and addressing military tensions. Quite noticeably the human rights issue was left out, including the persecution of Christians, repression in Tibet, and forced abortion. Human rights advocates were livid; as I can well understand they would and should be. What was ironic was that this was the same Hilary Clinton who as First Lady in 1994 spoke so eloquently in Beijing saying, “women’s rights are human rights.” Our creed calls them inalienable rights—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There’s no clearer case of pragmatism over principle.”

“And this is not a Partisan issue. Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) when criticized for saying the banks may have to be nationalized, responded, “It’s not responsible to take option off the table that might work.” Pragmatism triumphs over principle again. But the politician’s pragmatism, I’m afraid are merely a reflection of the culture at large. Two national surveys by the Barna Research group in 2002, one among adults and one among teenagers, revealed the dangerous signs.Here’s what it said:

"People were asked if they believe that there are moral absolutes that are unchanging or that moral truth is relative to the circumstances. By a 3-to-1 margin (64% vs. 22%) adults said truth is always relative to the person and their situation. The perspective was even more lopsided among teenagers, 83% of whom said moral truth depends on the circumstances, and only 6% of whom said moral truth is absolute.”

“You may have noted those lopsided responses of teens in that survey—well those teens are today seven years later, our young adult voters. These are voters who turned out in droves in the election with the second largest youth voter movement in American history. The temptation for our highest leadership to choose pragmatism will be merely a reflection of their constituents’ desires, ones that are increasingly distant from moral absolutes. While it’s easy to wag a finger, the truth is that pragmatism is one of the easiest philosophies to find ourselves slipping into, especially when words like financial cataclysm and catastrophe are loosely tossed about. When there’s an impending sense of disaster, it’s only too easy to choose what is necessary to get the job done, versus what is right and good. I’m guilty too. I reacted to the meltdown of credit markets last fall by openly supporting President Bush’s bailout. I felt this had to be done save the world financial markets from collapse. I suspended my better judgment, and now in hindsight can see that I made a mistake.”

“It’s easy to slip into this trap when the word “emergency” is evoked. We all know that in an emergency there are things you do that you wouldn’t do otherwise. You ignore the “No Trespassing” sign to save the drowning man. But sometimes discerning whether something is a true emergency can be difficult. You have to walk a fine line. Prudence—that is reasoned judgment of principle and its consequences—is a virtue; pragmatism is a rejection of principle altogether. What we can never do is embrace a worldview that says we’ll do whatever is necessary to get the job done. Inevitably this kind of thinking leads to the worst of tyranny.”

“That’s one reason I think it’s so important to examine worldviews. We need to praying for our President and all those in positions of power, that in these times of economic uncertainty they would not choose “what works” over “what’s right.” But we also need to carefully examine our own lives, for the places where we find ourselves sliding into the same trap. When we find ourselves trusting in the powers of this world, rather than the hand of God, we need to repent. We need to bring our pragmatism and our pride to the foot of the cross. It’s also helpful to look at how Christians in the past have responded to true emergencies—sloughing off pragmatics, and rolling up their sleeves. Pragmatism would have led the Christians of Rome to flee the plagues. Principle—love for God and their neighbor—compelled them to stay behind and tend the sick and the dying. Had they chosen pragmatism, the Gospel never would have spread so quickly throughout the Roman Empire.”

“Or look at how churches in our country responded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, opening up homes and churches for the displaced to stay, and sending busloads to gut homes and rebuild. Pragmatism doesn’t tell you to give up vacation time to serve people you hardly know. Principled Kingdom thinking does. The example of Christians in situations like these, and the promise of God’s forgiveness, are what we need to turn from walking by sight to walking by faith. That’s a lesson we all could use remembering in these days of uncertainty.”