Bob Neal
God sent a deranged man to murder 18 people in Lewiston because Maine had widened access to abortion.
So said Rep. Michael H. Lemelin of Chelsea last week on the floor of the Maine House of Representatives. Fellow Republican Rep. Shelley Rudnicki of Fairfield took the floor to support Lemelin: “I just want to stand and say that I agree with Rep. Lemelin and everything he said.”
“Oh, boy,” I said as I read that not long after, “there they go again. Giving religion a bad name.”
As a deacon in the Congregational Church (UCC), I may be overly sensitive to people giving religion a bad name. After all, it is usually the behavior of us religionists that soils our name. But, this? This was an extreme case.
Fortunately, the House of Representatives coalesced to censure the pair, showing that when the House itself is debased, it can act quickly and decisively.
As reported April 11 in the Sun Journal, “Lemelin and Rudnicki were not allowed to participate in the vote. They were called to stand in front of House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland. Lemelin stood with his hands in his pockets while she (Talbot Ross) read the censure and were then escorted back to their seats by the sergeant-at-arms.”
The image of representatives forced to stand before the House while their colleagues voted censure reminded me of standing in front of the class while the teacher rattled off a list of sins.
Don’t ask how I know.
Talbot Ross also ordered them to apologize. Here’s Lemelin’s apology, reported in the Bangor Daily News: “Please accept this formal apology. I accept full responsibility for my remarks on the House floor on the evening of April 10. I publicly apologize to my colleagues in the House, the people connected to the horrible events of Oct. 25 and to the state of Maine.”
That wasn’t much of an apology, a pastor friend told me this week, pretty much lacking regret or remorse. But it got Lemelin and Rudnicki off the hook. Maybe just until election day.
Lemelin’s and Rudnicki’s remarks suggest two other issues. The first is pretty easy to handle.
If God avenged Maine’s abortion-law expansion by having 18 people murdered, why hasn’t God avenged, say, the kidnapping and enslavement of school girls in Nigeria? After all, more than 1,400 have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since 2014.
Would a God who avenges a law that hasn’t yet been shown to bring harm not also avenge kidnappings and enslavement that bring great harm every day?
An unthinking religionist might reply, “God moves in mysterious ways,” which is another way of saying we aren’t capable of understanding God’s actions. So, why, then, are Lemelin and Rudnicki so sure that they understand God’s exacting of revenge on Maine?
The second issue is of greater real-world import: What happens when the powerful institutions of an autocratic state and a religion merge? We have an example, and it should be a warning to thoughtful Americans of what could happen if we sink into the abyss of Christian Nationalism.
That is Russia under Vladimir Putin and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Kirill (or Cyril in the West), sometimes known as Putin’s puppet.
Kirill has worked tirelessly to justify Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He said shortly after the invasion that Russia has “the right to stand on the side of light, on the side of God’s truth.”
Explain to me how that is qualitatively different from saying God took revenge on Maine.
If you want to learn more, check out Robert F. Worth’s article, in the May issue of The Atlantic, titled “Clash of the Patriarchs.” Worth shows how, in trying to assert control over Ukraine’s Orthodox people — Ukraine has the second largest Orthodox population (after Russia) in the world — Kiril played right into Putin’s hands.
You may recall that in 2005, Putin called the collapse of the Soviet empire “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” And the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is right there with him, trying not to slobber as he licks Vlad’s boots.
Ksenia Luchenko, writing in 2023 in Carnegie Politika (a publication of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), said Kirill “has been supporting the war, demonstratively appearing at Kremlin events, giving his blessing to murder, and justifying aggression. He isn’t thinking about the situation he is creating for all the other Orthodox constituent entities of the Russian Orthodox Church that are outside of Russia’s jurisdiction: the bishops, priests, and millions of congregation members, including victims of the war.”
Her words should be a warning to fundamentalist religionists, those we call Christian Nationalists. Their desire to make us a “Christian nation” could make us look a lot like Russia.
There may lie a path to the death of democracy.
Bob Neal traces much of his morality to his religion. In fact, a religion that didn’t underpin its people’s morality would be worthless. But he feels no need to force his religion on others. Neal can be reached at bobneal@myfairpoint.net.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.