Let's abolish polls. . .

By now the election fervor is over but not the press to poll people over why they voted as they did and what issues were important to their decision and even why they did not vote at all (usually more than a third don't).  It is only marginally better than the pre-election run up of polls attempting to predict the vote before there were voters.  I despise polls.  It is a foolish way to run a country or an election but that will not prevent us from being fools.  We will continue to survey says about anything and everything because it has become as big a business as electing or governing.  There is barely a day that goes by without some concern somewhere announcing the results of their latest poll.

I read once where some church consultant advocated polling in the governance of the congregation.  We already have big problems with church governance locally, regionally, and nationally.  Why would we want to make it worse by muddying the water with anonymous opinions?  In my own congregation there have been gun shy folks in leadership who wanted to poll the people before every decision.  Sadly, we have enough trouble getting leaders to be informed in their decision making much less bind ourselves to the whims of people who have spent no time researching or considering the choices.  That will not stop us, of course.  We will continue to search for ways for our leaders to follow rather than lead and too many churches and denominations have already made the preference or opinion of the people a greater value than what God's Word says and tradition has preserved as doctrine and practice.

Medicine is already headed in that direction.  Drug ads tell us what we need to ask our physicians to prescribe and the internet is already more important in our diagnosis than actual lab work or other tests.  We want to be in control of everything and that includes our health care.  Why should this be any different from educational choice determined by whim or opinion or governance by poll?  There seems to be no end to the various ways we can replace leaders with polls and take an instant temperature of any room.  Why not?  Because there are things that depend more upon objective facts and informed and reasoned judgment more than they do popularity or appeal.  

It matters not to the rightness or wrongness of such issues as abortion or assisted suicide what people think.  Some things are right or wrong in and of themselves -- no matter what we think about them.  As a nation we entered into civil war over an issue that could not be assigned simply to a vote of the states or the popular will expressed in elections or a Supreme Court opinion wrongly decided.  Right was right.  Wrong was wrong.  It does not make any difference to the morality of something if people come down on one side or another of an issue.  Their judgment does not make something moral or immoral no matter what we have deceived ourselves into thinking.  The will of the people can be wrong and foolish and naive and even evil and there is no duty in any society to hon such a corrupt will.  The best a poll can do is tell you where your work has been cut out for you but the worst it can do is force truth to capitulate to the fancy of a moment.

While there might be a reason to poll to find out what people think, there is no justification for polling to find out what we ought to do about something.  As true as this is for other things, it is even more true in matters of faith, doctrine, and practice.  There is something more important that what the surveys say and that is what the Word of the Lord says.  Catechesis needs to replace the constant navel gazing that is polling.  It is certainly not helping us as a nation and it s serving no purpose for raising up wise leaders with integrity.  Why would we think to trust the will of the majority when it comes to matters of what is believed and how it is practiced?