Published: June 07, 2009 11:15 pm      

The sermon in Cairo

This past week, President Obama made a much-publicized speech at the University of Cairo. The speech, in my view, is more like a sermon than a typical political address, and as such one finds both its great strength and its great weakness.

First, the strength. Sermons, since they are typically delivered to diverse people – people in all sorts of circumstances facing all sorts of challenges – often must present general principles that, while not being specific to one or two individuals – can be offered as hope, guidance, and correction for all the listeners, each finding his own application.

Sermons, by their nature, appeal to life values and often stir emotions. Some listeners even rate a sermon, wrongly I submit, based upon how emotionally stirred they were when they heard it. Sermons speak to what is right and wrong, to what will save us and what will doom us. Sermons speak to the humans condition, point out common mistakes, and call us to higher planes of aspiration. Sermons give us something to think about, a basis for considering some change, and they provide building blocks for the foundation of human endeavor. Sermons assume that moral authority exists and confront human behavior that is immoral. Sermons are preached, not simply submitted for consideration.

In these ways, I believe that the President’s address was, in the main, positive and effective. I don’t agree with all of his assumptions and conclusions – but that is often the case when I hear a sermon from which, nevertheless, one can take away a great deal. His remarks received a warm response from the audience (although the applause dried up rather quickly whenever he spoke of Israeli rights).

A hand of friendship toward Muslims in other lands is not new policy for the United States government, but President Obama personalized it in a way that seemed to resonate with the listeners. To the extent that the spirit of his speech can translate into policies in various Muslim countries (which are not all the same), the world will be a better place, particular in those countries.

But as a sermon, there is also weakness in this speech. In an effort to connect with his audience, important to any sermon, the preacher should not appeal to his listeners’ misconceptions or prejudices. I, perhaps like you, have heard what would otherwise have been a respectable sermon ruined by some patronizing racial illustration or joke. Such tactics may play to the gallery, but they should not be employed.

U.S. Presidents, in my view, should be very careful about apologizing for history – even if it seems to win friends for the moment. Ultimately, the greater result is that such apologies simply validate what may be simplistic criticism of the actions of the U.S. and other nations and, ironically, give more permanence to the hard feelings cause by those perceptions.

There are other forums where actions of the past can be explored in detail with all parties involved benefitting from the exploration. But blanket apologies – which inevitably are general, vague criticisms of no one in particular but rather criticize an abstraction that is everyone – earn cheap points. I believe, for example, that the President’s announcement that he has now forbidden “torture” by the U.S. government was most unfortunate for all the reasons stated above and does a disservice to men and women who have kept our country, i.e. kept you, me, and President Obama, safe.

Another thing about a sermon is that it is usually delivered to people who have an interest in hearing it and, for that reason, are likely to be influenced by it. But everybody does not listen to sermons, and a sermon will do very little to stop a burglar from going into a house while the homeowners are at church.

Militant leaders of some Muslim countries (and others) care little about Obama homilies. They are not looking to him for inspiration. They resent more than they respect that he would quote from the Koran. They do not care what he thinks about women’s rights or Israeli rights. Torture – real torture, horrible even to hear described torture – exists as a matter of course in their realms. And they have a view of the world and a view of life that are so disconnected from the values to which President Obama appeals as to make his sermons meaningless to them.

We don’t need to stop political preaching. But we dare not depend upon it.