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THE QUESTION
The Politics of Penance
Why do so many American politicians -- from Bill Clinton to Mark Sanford -- use religious language when they make public confessions of marital infidelity? Are they truly penitent or just pandering? How can we tell the difference?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on June 30, 2009 12:09 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Lust Messes Up, Love Straightens Out: Ask Mark Sanford
The public knows the difference between penitence and pandering by the aftermath: when real, repentance in words is followed by behavioral improvement. In old biblical English, "Repent, and do works meet for repentance."
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on July 2, 2009 10:33 PM
Real Humility, Beyond the Sound Bites
What we really wonder is whether someone who's given him or herself over to lust and infidelity can ever really change.
Posted by Phil Davis, on July 2, 2009 2:47 PM
A Governor, a King, and the Tragedy of Adultery
Governor Sanford is no King David, and the people of South Carolina -- as well as the watching world -- now observe the sad spectacle of a man who, while admitting to wrongdoing, shows no genuine repentance. He should resign.
Posted by R. Albert Mohler Jr., on July 2, 2009 2:04 PM
A Convenient Love
I would suspect that Gov. Sanford and all of us who have "fallen" will be forever grateful that the theology of forgiveness provides some balm, some comfort, when we feel the most alone.
Posted by Susan K. Smith, on July 1, 2009 3:04 PM
The Wages of Pandering
The difference between penitence and pandering is reflected in the acknowledgment that letting go is not the same as running away.
Posted by Mathew N. Schmalz, on July 1, 2009 12:34 PM
King David's Playbook for Political Sex Scandals
When Southern politicians use religious language to confess their marital infidelity, they are tapping into one of the Bible Belt's best known stories--the story of David and Bathsheba.
Posted by Robert Parham, on June 30, 2009 3:48 PM
Did the Faithful Repent? Check their Lives
At the heart of American Christianity are two things: the cross and a repentant sinner.
Posted by Matt Maher, on June 30, 2009 3:12 PM
Grace in the Gospel
The politcians who gave those statements are all professing Christians, so it is not surprising that they used religious language. It would be surprising if they hadn't.
Posted by Charles "Chuck" Colson, on June 30, 2009 2:19 PM
It's a Southern Thing
There are many things that one can reasonably call Mark Sanford. Whether he is pandering or penitent we can't know. But what's clear is he has a certain facility with the "language of Zion," as its called, and that's a quality he shares with many of his Southern brethren and sister-en.
Posted by Gustav Niebuhr, on June 30, 2009 1:38 PM
Our Political Illusions and Delusions
The idea that a man of Clinton's intelligence could believe in a sky fairy or imaginary friend is absurd. Like other intelligent politicians, he presumably felt obliged to feign religious belief in order to curry favor with voters.
Posted by Richard Dawkins, on June 30, 2009 10:53 AM
The Desire for God and One Another
Desire for one another and desire for God, as all spiritual directors know, are intimately linked.
Posted by Nicholas T. Wright, on June 30, 2009 10:12 AM
Confession: A Lifeline or Just a Line?
No one can fully understand the heart of another person, nor the sincerity of his (or her) repentance. But many politicians use and misuse religion and religious language like a lifeline which they grab only when drowning.
Posted by Cal Thomas, on June 30, 2009 9:58 AM
God Talk Works For Most Americans
Since the Bible celebrates both of those values, perhaps it is we who should invoke the Bible even more than the politicians when it comes to matters of public misdeeds and the proper response to them.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on June 29, 2009 9:35 PM
The Pandering Penitents
The religious language used by the political penitent is actually a form of the sin of pride: 'I'm really a fine Christian because I am religiously penitent."
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on June 29, 2009 7:26 PM
My Sin When I Ran for Governor of South Carolina
One of Governor Sanford's press conference apologies was "to people of faith across South Carolina, or for that matter, across the nation,..." Implicit in his apology, and insulting to nontheists, is that people of faith are expected to be more moral than people without faith.
Posted by Herb Silverman, on June 29, 2009 7:14 PM
The Scarlet Letter For Politicians
I think it's perfectly obviously that saying you've let down God, your wife and family, and the voters (not always in that order) is part of the ritual of public apology for any politician who is caught committing adultery.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on June 29, 2009 4:21 PM
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