No-Fault Prophecy

The no-fault idea started with car insurance and was then extended to divorce and other unpleasantries in order to eliminate the awkwardness of personal accountability. One might say it started with Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the snake, but that would not be quite right. Adam and Eve acknowledged the fault but refused to accept the responsibility. The wondrously new thing is the assertion that there is no fault.

You might expect the churches to resist the no-fault idea. After all, they presumably specialize in sin and forgiveness. If there is no fault there is no sin, and if no sin no forgiveness, and the churches are soon out of business. But, in fact, many of our churches have long since gone out of the sin-and-forgiveness business. With respect to what used to be called the personal sins of the flesh, they are in the no-fault and acceptance business. Reference to sin is reserved for the “structural” and “systemic” sins of social injustice. And here the remedy is not forgiveness but “prophetic” denunciation and policy prescription. Being prophetic is a very big gold star in the kindergarten of contemporary religion. Back in the olden days of the Hebrew Scriptures, Yahweh had to take his prophets by the scruff of the neck and force them to do their duty. We have much improved on that. Today all our churches have career tracks in prophetic ministry, our seminaries have prophets with tenure, and the bureaucratically talented may aspire to becoming directors of departments of prophetic utterance. Amos never had it so good.

RJ

About the Author

Richard John Neuhaus

Featured Tags

The no-fault idea started with car insurance and was then extended to divorce and other unpleasantries in order to eliminate the awkwardness of personal accountability. One might say it started with Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the snake, but that would not be quite right. Adam and Eve acknowledged the fault but refused to accept the responsibility. The wondrously new thing is the assertion that there is no fault.

You might expect the churches to resist the no-fault idea. After all, they presumably specialize in sin and forgiveness. If there is no fault there is no sin, and if no sin no forgiveness, and the churches are soon out of business. But, in fact, many of our churches have long since gone out of the sin-and-forgiveness business. With respect to what used to be called the personal sins of the flesh, they are in the no-fault and acceptance business. Reference to sin is reserved for the “structural” and “systemic” sins of social injustice. And here the remedy is not forgiveness but “prophetic” denunciation and policy prescription. Being prophetic is a very big gold star in the kindergarten of contemporary religion. Back in the olden days of the Hebrew Scriptures, Yahweh had to take his prophets by the scruff of the neck and force them to do their duty. We have much improved on that. Today all our churches have career tracks in prophetic ministry, our seminaries have prophets with tenure, and the bureaucratically talented may aspire to becoming directors of departments of prophetic utterance. Amos never had it so good.