Faith and Character

I have been watching the HBO mini-series on John Adams. Good stuff. In watching this, something they haven’t highlighted but is very much a part of John Adams was his faith.

John Adams was a Congregationalist and most of the Congregational Churches are now a part of the modern day United Church of Christ. John Adams, often by his own admission, had the ability to be an irritable person who often was the person in the room most desired to be quiet. Often Adams did not sit down when others wish he would have.

Adams was also a person driven by personal convictions as to what is right. His cousin, Samuel, over stated the ‘Boston Massacre’ as an example of oppressive British forces when, in fact, it was a group of frightened soldiers facing an unruly mob of people which resulted in violence. John Adams swam against the tided and defended the soldiers and won the case. It wasn’t because he was ‘pro-British’ but because he learned the accusers were lying and the soldiers were telling the truth. He chose to do the right thing.

Adams would later become angry at many of the things the British did and became a great leader in the history of the American Revolution.

Much of what drove Adams was his faith and his faith helped form his character.

I do believe that faith often is a great factor in character development as one thing it does attempt to do is create people who are righteous folks.

Righteous folks (not to be confused with self-righteous) are people who attempt to do that which they perceive to be right and good.

Truly righteous people treat everyone with the respect and dignity that they believe all people deserve.

Truly righteous people want justice for all people.

Truly righteous people attempt to live out their lives remaining ‘above the fray.’

Often righteousness gets confused as self-righteousness. Self-righteous people are people who attempt to set parameters for everyone and often are very judgmental on people who do not live within the parameters set by others. An imposition of one’s values on another is not really righteous, but it moves into the realm of being self-righteous.

For me, I do like to believe that it is my faith that has enabled me to develop a sense of charity for others, a sense of compassion for the less fortunate, and a sense of welcoming towards those who often feel unwelcome.