Opinion Of Christian gentlemen

On Sunday, December 8, Northwest newspapers reported that former Congressman John Dellenback had died at age 84. It was a fitting Christmas story.

Why does a politician's death make a Christmas story? Because this politician was a true Christian gentleman. His life illustrated an admirable way of handling the awkward relationship between religion and politics.

I don't know a lot about Dellenback's family background. My impression is that, like so many modern pioneers, he was raised in the East and came West after the war. I know that he attended the University of Michigan law school, still one of the finest in the nation. And he pursued his early law career in Medford, Oregon.

My then-future wife and I met him because as Medford teenagers in the '50s we did some church-hopping, searching for the place with the best youth program. This somewhat came down to the best ping pong facilities. Young lawyer Dellenback helped run the youth program at the downtown Presbyterian church.

Over the next decade Dellenback distinguished himself during several terms in the Oregon Legislature. On the strength of that, in 1966 he was elected U.S. Representative from Oregon's 4th District, which at the time covered the southwest corner of the state without any eastern appendages.

He had the same bald head and twinkling eyes that we came to know in high school, and he never lost his preference for bow ties. He served four terms in the House before being unseated by Eugene Democrat Jim Weaver in the post-Watergate Republican wipeout of 1974.

After that, President Ford asked Dellenback to run the Peace Corps, which he did for two years, moving then to preside over the Christian College Coalition until his retirement in 1988.

It's not a spectacular record, although one certainly filled with public service. But there was always something special about Dellenback. He was a devout Christian; religion was the most important thing in his life outside of his family. Yet he never let religious views intrude inappropriately into the public business to which he gave so much time. And he had an innate respect for the opinions of others whether or not they shared his faith.

Despite his Republican party membership and his "St. John" nickname, Dellenback was a liberal on many social and political issues.

Unlike so many of the pinch-minded religionists who influence American politics today, he was a staunch defender of civil liberties. He often used his knowledge of the Constitution to guide difficult decisions. Pigeonholers would call Dellenback a centrist, and I don't think he would have objected to that. But he was willing to go out on a limb if the issue was one of constitutional principle.

In the obituaries, Dellenback's special quality was described best by his close friend, former Sen. Mark Hatfield: "He was a combination in his manner and style and approach of a tax lawyer, a philosopher and a dedicated Christian who lived his faith. He didn't wear it on his lapel; he lived it."

Hatfield himself exemplified the same enlightened approach during his long career in public office.

A few days after Dellenback died, the news carried reports of Jimmy Carter's acceptance of this year's Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. It occurred to me that Carter illustrates a different facet of the political piety problem. He was too pious for many voters' tastes during his presidency, but not with respect to religion. He was pious about the presumed merits of whatever policy he was promoting at the time.

He possessed a self-righteousness -- a kind of secular piety -- that turned people off. Yet he, too, is a Christian gentleman, and fortunately has been more favorably received since leaving the presidency than when he was in the White House.

This is an old and complex issue whose full ramifications I don't pretend to fathom. But as an elected official, John Dellenback dealt with religion in a desirable way. He didn't wear it on his lapel and he didn't force it on the rest of us. He just lived it, wisely and well.