Question 146: About evaluating political leaders

QUESTION 146: How does the Gospel of Oneness evaluate politics and political leaders?

 

Here are some key questions that we need to ask of politicians: Are they leading us deeper into delusion and division? Or, are they trying to bring us into the realization of the oneness of Spirit? And, how are they leading us into one of those directions?

Many political rulers do want to have unified support. In dictatorships they try to have as close to 100% support as they can get. When they hold their sham elections some dictators get over 95% support because the people know if they don’t support the regime there will be severe consequences for them. Dictators jail or kill or intimidate their opponents.

That is not the kind of oneness that we know in the Gospel of Oneness, which is a realization that everyone is equally a part of God, albeit with an infinite variety of unique expressions.

In democracies the elected leaders will get maybe 45-60 percent of the vote; how do we evaluate them in the Gospel of Oneness? Here are some guidelines we can use to evaluate any political ruler:

1) Do they take a strict party-line or do they look for the greatest good of all?

2) Do they have the heart of a servant leader or are they out for personal gain and recognition?

3) Can they take criticism and change their minds if they are proven to be wrong about some issues?

4) Do they seek to take revenge on their “perceived” political enemies? Some politicians have famously had their “enemies” list. A person living in oneness does not perceive anyone as an enemy.

5) Do they make personal attacks on their political opponents or do they treat everyone with respect as being part of our Creator-God?

6) Will they be vulnerable to bribes and the pressure from rich and powerful lobbyists?

 

Politicians will always have different ideas on how to solve our various political, economic, and social problems along the conservative to liberal continuum, but that doesn’t mean they have to cut down people who have other solutions. The idea is to find the greatest good for everyone. We are still a long way from that ideal. We need to keep trying to find and raise up politicians who believe in the oneness of all life.

 

How do we get such advanced politicians? When enough of us reform ourselves and realize the oneness of all life we will attract and raise up advanced souls who will be qualified to take on political leadership. The more we raise the collective consciousness by raising our own consciousness, the better it will be. It is a gradual process.

 

Those who believe religion and politics aren’t connected don’t understand either.

Mahatma Gandhi

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.

Susan B. Anthony

I find that all these subjects that I’m dealing with tend to lead me to religion and politics one way or another. It’s not something that I necessarily want to address, but it seems like it’s screaming at me to pay attention to it.

Robert Longo

The political tactics of division and slander are not our values. They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.

John McCain