‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! – Matthew 23:23-24
Georgia House Bill 870 just passed our state House of Representatives. It has yet to become law. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, if the bill were to become law, then it would “bar any school from joining an athletic association that prohibits student athletes from religious expression.” The bill addresses the apparently pressing problem of student athletes who have been denied their right of religious expression. One instance that lawmakers cite is that of a track athlete who had his victory nullified because he wore a headband with Bible verses on it. If this is really a widespread problem, if young people in school athletic events are being consistently persecuted for their religious expression, then I am alarmed. Nevertheless, I await convincing that it is, especially since a cursory survey of many high school athletic uniforms turned up the following religious expression on many of them:
Please excuse my snarkiness, but I hope it is in service of a more serious point. Sin being what sin is, we tend to get all in a lather over small things (For Jesus, “mint, dill, and cumin”) while ignoring the larger things that ought to really make us concerned (again, for Jesus, “the weightier matters of the Law”). I am not suggesting that limiting religious expression is necessarily a small thing, but our legislators seem all worked up over a few incidences where it might have been inappropriately limited, but seem unconcerned by the widespread inequality of education in our state. Where is the House Bill addressing that huge concern?
In recent years, the state of Georgia has consistently ranked in the lower third of states in addressing the problem of children’s family incomes in relationship to the quality of opportunities provided by the school they attend. In other words, the poorer the family, the much higher likelihood it is that their child’s school has lower quality instruction, substandard facilities, and fewer enrichment opportunities beyond the classroom. Where is the Bill addressing this? It amounts to a de facto persecution of children based on their family’s income. Is it a child’s fault that her/his family is poor?
I have no doubt about the sincerity of the lawmakers who are backing House Bill 870. Like I said, if a student athlete’s religious expression is being unfairly constrained, then it should be addressed. But in reference to Jesus speaking to the scribes and Pharisees, our lawmakers may well be tithing the mint, dill, and cumin of protecting religious expression, while neglecting the weightier matters of educational inequality in our state. Whether intentionally or not, their actions make them blind guides, straining out gnats but swallowing camels!
+Scott
The Rt. Rev. Scott Anson Benhase was the tenth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia from 2010-2020. This website serves as an online archives for the weekly email reflections, the eCrozier, he wrote during his episcopacy.