CBS: Religion Taking A Left Turn?, Conservative Christians Watch Out

Conservative Christians Watch Out: There's A Big Churchgoing Group Seeking Political Power
(CBS) At a church in Washington, hundreds of committed Christians met recently and tried to map out a strategy to get their values into the political debate.

But these are not the conservative Christian values which have been so influential lately. This is the religious left.

"Jesus called us to love our neighbor, love our enemy, care for the poor, care for the outcast, and that's really the moral core of where we think the nation ought to go," Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches told CBS News correspondent Russ Mitchell......

"We are furious that the religious right has made Jesus into a Republican. That's idolatry," Campolo said. "To recreate Jesus in your own image rather than allowing yourself to be created in Jesus' image is what's wrong with politics."

The Christian left is focusing on:
Fighting poverty
Protecting the environment
Ending the war in Iraq

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/09/eveningnews/main1786860.shtml?source=RSS&attr=Politics_1786860

The religious right really turns me off to religion in general.

There's more of us than crazy fundies!

"We are furious that the religious right has made Jesus into a Republican. That's idolatry," Campolo said."

Great comment!

and found it very compelling.

She knows the facts are right, she just can't get out of the community of her 'Born Again "Bible Study" propaganda trap.

...by Randall Balmer. Best book EVER to explain why the political alliance between cynical manipulators of evangelical believers and the Republican Party DOES NOT represent the true spirit of evangelical Christianity.

Balmer's evangelical credentials are rock-solid and he ROCKS, solid, in explaining why real evangelical Christians drink the kool-aid at the peril of their souls.

helpfully,
Bright

That's hard on me. I feel disenfranchised from my church already, and it's a "liberal" denomination. The environment, women's health issues and abortion, and fighting poverty weren't enough.

mainstream Christians stood up and said they weren't going to take the theft of their religion by the fascists any more.

Let's hope they can resist the divide and conquer tactics of the social issues crowd. After all, it's never been possible to legislate sexual morality before, and it's not likely to work now.

to read.

just pointing out the obvious

has been angry at the lack of Christ's teachings taught by the fanatic right. Christ was for the poor, the children, the needy. These are now taboo subjects by the Mega Evangelical Churches.

A lot of these megachurches subliminally teach that if you're living right you're going to be in good shape financially and if you're poor its because you're not living up to God's plan for your life so you deserve what's happening to you.

That's just not right.

spat this same nonsense. Anything good that happens to him is now Jesus' work and anything bad is just a test. But if anything bad happens to the rest of us in the family, it's because we haven't joined his church and joined the "true" believers.

because my mother does the same thing at times. It's almost as if she can't think for herself, she's so brainwashed by these people. Plus, half the time they're only after your money. The hundreds of dollards my mom could have spent paying bills and expenses, she uses to support these groups and go on cross-country trips to "revivals", while her finances suffer. Watch out to make sure your son doesnt get screwed.

to anything that might challenge what they've told him to think.

I'm familiar with the tithing.

In the end, it's still his choice.

"positive energy" can be money philosophy.

It exists because of the grain of truth therein.

according to these people.

Wealth is a sign of God's favor. So under that kind of 'logic,' not only Kenny Boy Lay and Jeff Skilling and Chimpy the Unelected Imbecile and Cheney the Dick and others whose actions have impoverished those whose labor created their wealth are 'deserving' of their riches, so must be the drug lords and pimps and thieves of all kinds...hey, if you're rich, God must be blessing you, right???

I'm getting mighty tired of the Almighty being cast as a right-wing, anti-this, that, and the other. As a Christian, I am glad to finally see some major group, like the National Council of Churches get involved in the debate.
I belong to the InterFaith Alliance, and just curious if any other DUers are members?

They swore to separation of religion and government, and defended atheists rights.

whether it religious or otherwise. The Interfaith Alliance got my money when they said separation was vital and they respected atheists rights.

real people left in today's religous community.

I used to work as an IT consultant for this organization. I can tell you that they are one of the best non-profit orgs in DC. Top to bottom, they deserve support.

They are a smart church-state seperation group. They recognize that simply having a Cross or the 10 Commandments in a public place is not the same as a state sponsered endorsement. As an athiest, I detest my brethern that would work to eliminate all references to religion in public (or money etc) because, as an athiest, you must be a smart, deep thinker to reach that conclusion and to protest all instances of Christianity is simply ignorant reactionism at best. I am comfortable and strong enough in my beliefs that I can withstand any debate without effecting my beliefs.

Personally, I would like a day where all religions are gone because people have woken up. Of course, many of the sheep amoung us need something to keep them sane. Perhaps it is better to keep religion around for a while.


Once we had microscopes to see the world smaller than us and telescopes to see beyond the stars, the ability for God to hold sway has diminished.

bush thinks he is God.

No matter how much the Fundies claim it is.

which directly contradicts the Golden Rule.

I read an article earlier this year by (I think) a Methodist minister. He pointed out that moderate mainstream Christians have traditionally had a habit of niceness and kindness and tolerance for other points of view within their churches; while the wingnuts simply take no prisoners. And it's been this take no prisoners attitude that has carried the wingnuts to power within churches and denominations that could never have believed it would happen to them.

It reminded me of Bill Moyers' comment that the people who declared that this country was in a culture war then went on to fight and win it (while the rest of us were still trying to figure out what they meant by that). Like Rev. Jim Wallis, Bill Moyers has been trying to get liberal and moderate Christians to wake up and take their religion back from the haters.

This news is cause for optimism.

Hekate

Thank you, thank you, sweet Heavenly Father!

I have been telling people this for a while now.

"We are furious that the religious right has made Jesus into a Republican. That's idolatry," Campolo said. "To recreate Jesus in your own image rather than allowing yourself to be created in Jesus' image is what's wrong with politics."

And that's exactly what they've been doing.

I can't tell you just how much this means!

Thank you, Rose!

He had a bucket of fish and a loaf of bread. He managed to feed hundreds from this supply. He didn't even charge. He fed all. Any good republican would have told him that he was a bad entrepreneur and letting down capitalism. I guess they can't understand that greed is not what it's all about.

.

Any idea who painted it? It's so beautiful.

Only a fool or an optimist would think that the Political Religious to date (1) care about religious principles of Christ (2) apply these to any aspect of their daily lives (3) expect their leaders to apply them, either.

Only a fool would think the Religious Right will change ever, or go down without a fight.

We really ought to take gods, worship and myths out of the equation and talk about values, ethics, morals, and the universality of these. Plus a good does of international law. And the Constitution.

About friggin' time! Man, I am glad to see this but also incredibly frustrated. I saw this coming years ago when * was here in Texas as the idiot governor and then as the Great Morans Leader. I wish them lots of luck though and I hope they succeed.

"Right now the war in Iraq costs us $1 billion per week," said Rev. Jim Wallis, a Christian activist. "And we can't get $5 billion over ten years for child care in this country?"

:applause:

yesterday ran a hit piece about left-leaning Christians in its op-ed section accusing them of everything but devil worship and saying they are a dying breed.

I love this quote, "We are furious that the religious right has made Jesus into a Republican. That's idolatry," Campolo said. "To recreate Jesus in your own image rather than allowing yourself to be created in Jesus' image is what's wrong with politics." TallahaseeGrannie and Southpaw have been saying this for sometime now, and I am glad that it is gaining more ground in the MSM. There is always a backlash when society gets pulled too far in one direction by countering the other way to reach equilibrium.

I think it's long overdue. Although I may not be Christian, I feel that the conservative Christian right has hijacked the image of Jesus into a conservative.

:hi:

The conference that Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton and Gov. Dean was speaking at was sponsored by the Sojourners movement.

Sojourners are actually fairly left-wing on foreign policy and economic issues; and moderate on social issues.

Sojourners are the group they were speaking to:

link for Sojourners


http://www.sojo.net /

link for Sojourners Magazine:


http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.home

Interview on Democracy Now with Rev. Jim Wallis (founder and leader of Sojourners) - link:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/26/1355204

_____________


"The Rev. Tim Ahrens shared Wallis' dismay: "The faith of Jesus Christ has become such a violent and violating faith in the religious right," he contended. Ahrens is the founder of We Believe Ohio, a group of 300 clergy members dedicated to promoting social justice."

"Many Sojourner supporters didn't hesitate to call right-wingers "bible thumpers" and "fanatics," and they criticized the Bush administration for not helping the poor. They gave Obama thunderous applause when he proclaimed his support for separation of church and state and giving teenagers access to contraception. " link:
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/nation/14923089.htm

Interfaith Alliance, People for the American Way, the ACLU, other progressive groups that reach across faiths and representatives of a myraid of faiths were all present. Three were also representatives for the agnostic and athiest viewpoint as well, and they were given equal time to speak, they weren't just there as window dressing.

The name of the meetings? "March of the Theocrats" Isn't that a great name? It felt very satisfying to be with people who shared the world view of peace and harmony.

I'm a Christian liberal, and so are many people that I know.
And as others have pointed out, Jesus was liberal.

you got that right. And He still is.

The Bible teaches us to raise a nation from the bottom up, not from the top down. Helping the poor is why our Country has been blessed, stopping that help will be our downfall. I would not want to be a Christian that stands in the way of helping the needy, be it by tax or charity, Jesus would like to see the poor people helped and God will bless our nation for doing so.

maybe the straw that will bring down this admin's house of cards. I just read The Tipping Point, and in the spirit of the theory, I hope the events of recent months will converge and spur those who hold real christian values at their core to coalesce and reclaim true christian morality.

Think of the power to change the path of history if all these people stand up and say no more war and hate in our names.. how can this not expose the hate filled hypocrisy that has passed for christianity for quite some time now. It would be a real come to jesus meeting for some folks who have been blindly following thinly veiled politicians masquerading as people of faith.

All life on our planet is threatened far, far beyond the social issues which we get pummeled with each election cycle of late....(yeah I'd like to marry my partner too) but I would like to see the saving our environment and access to health care take the fore in the national debate.

Votes born on the back of hate must be seen for what they are; votes earned at the bloody expense of family and neighbors.... Let's put this message in the debate...

Note to Meadia Here is a story you missed:

we are being taken over by the religious right and it's unbearable.
It's time that the true meaning of religion and the people who believe in that are fighting back and retaking it back from the wingnuts.

I've never understood how anyone could read any of the four gospels and reconcile the life and example of Christ with the ideology of the right wing. Seems to me that if you're going to call yourself a Christian, you should at least attempt to emulate the life of Christ.

I don't ever remember studying about Christ teaching: "MINE, MINE, ALL MINE!" (Actually I think that's a Daffy Duck quote from a Bugs Bunny cartoon.)

Thanks for the post.

:dem:

are on board. To fight the "good fight"..rather than the GOP one.

I hope they can keep up the momentum!!!

At least they are trying to do what it appears Jesus said to do. I do want to hear about a Jesus of love. I'm tired of hearing about a hatemonger Jesus. I read the Bible when I was a kid and I don't remember Jesus ever saying to bash the gays, treat women like less than dirt, or vote Republican. If I hadn't been surrounded by the hatemonger right wing fundamentalist Christians, who knows what could have been today for me? I hope this new breed of Christians wins in their quest to help the poor, care for the sick, and give love, not hate, to the outcasts. It'll be a great start to some healing. If they wait for the hatemongers to do it, it'll never happen. Bravo, religious left.