Beau Underwood likes to say he is not a very good dinner companion. That’s because the three things he loves to talk about are religion, politics and baseball. The Illinois native and new D.C. resident studies, works and lives in the intersection of faith and politics. He earned his master’s of divinity and master’s in public policy concurrently at the University of Chicago. Now he’s an assistant pastor at National City Christian Church, as well as the partnership and outreach coordinator for Faith in Public Life, a religious progressive advocacy group. Underwood spoke to The Washington Examiner about his faith, American values and the Occupy movement. But he’s saving baseball for dinner. What is Faith in Public Life? Why is it unique?
Faith in Public Life is a strategy center advancing faith in the public square as a positive and unifying force for justice, compassion and the common good. For a long time in American politics, religion has often been used in a way that fosters intolerance and division, which has done harm to both religion and politics. There are a lot of individuals who have been turned off by the various ways that religion has been politicized. What Faith in Public Life is trying to do is to say, “That doesn’t have to be how we connect the two.” Faith and values are tremendously important to our nation’s politics. The way those values enter into those political conversations is also extremely important — the tone that we use, the way that religion is seen. Sadly, it’s been misused and abused in the past.
So if religion has been misused so much in public life, why not just take religion out of politics?
That’s not a realistic solution. Americans are a very religious people. Depending on the poll, it’s a high 80s or low 90s percentage of Americans who claim some sort of belief in God. Our political debates, whether we’re talking about the budget or the environment or whatever, are values debates. Where we spend our money is a question of values. You can say, “Well, you shouldn’t talk about religion.” But then what are we going to talk about? It’s just really hard to take values out, and I don’t think we would want to, because this is a nation that has understood itself to be very values-driven. We have a sense of who we want to be — we want to be this place where people are treated fairly in the workplace, people can have strong families in the home, people can have the opportunity to get ahead and build their own dreams.
You’ve been doing some work with the Occupy movement. The Archbishop of Canterbury recently said that Jesus would be among the Occupy protesters in London. Do you agree? Would Jesus be camping with Occupy DC?
There’s no way that I, even as a pastor, would ever claim to speak for Jesus. Do I think that when we read through Scripture we see Jesus being extremely concerned about some of the issues that the Occupy movement has promoted? Absolutely. The Bible is laden with references to justice, concern for the oppressed, wanting to make sure that people are treated fairly. And that’s what we’re hearing from the Occupy movement — concern for economic inequality and the way that those who have suffered the most were the least responsible for this crisis. I see an echo there that’s really hard to ignore.
Where do you draw the line between what the government should be doing to help those in need and what the church should be doing?
Throughout the church’s history it has always served those in need, both here in the United States and around the globe. The church will always do that. But when we look at the magnitude of the challenges we’re facing, and the resources of the church, there just simply isn’t enough there. The church cannot carry the burden that society is facing; it’s just not possible; it’s not realistic. You can talk to pastors — they’ll be the first ones to tell you that. Churches are facing shrinking budgets and rising costs. As a pastor in a local congregation who’s trying really hard to serve his community, I’m saying that the church can’t do this all, that charity just is not enough.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
At my core, the belief that I hold dear, and that drives me in everything that I do is the sense that tomorrow can be better today, that just because things are one way today doesn’t mean that they have to be that way tomorrow.
– Liz Essley
