On reclaiming faith from the radical right

I belong to the UU church- we are very progressive, gay friendly, pro choice,anti war, and are involved with community outreach-
I am a proud Massachusetts liberal- yet notice many fellow liberals paint all religious people with a wide brush.

I've been ridiculed by atheist left wingers for worshiping 'the flying spaghetti monster'-and I've been ridiculed by right wingers who hated the tolerant views of my church-I have found out first hand that religious bigotry is found in both the left and right wing parts of american society.

I had a debate with one person who asserted one MUST be an atheist if they are going to call themselves a liberal- Funny how some people like to wrap themselves in a negative stereotype and become little more than a walking caricature.

I believe in God, I think Jesus lived. But people who claim to worship Jesus, yet preach hatred toward gays, Muslims, women, or anyone else, make me sick.
Somehow, the radical right in this country seized faith and jesus and asserted it was their own-and preach hate and intolerance.

Many on the left agreed with the right wingers, and many left wingers argue to be liberal is to be atheist. I'm liberal, but am religious.
Does that make me less of a liberal?

Remember, Dr. Martin Luther king was driven by his faith. Malcolm X was driven by his faith.
Look at the civil rights and peace movements of the 1960s- many of the freedom fighters were religious. But these days- finding people on the left who believe in God a rare thing...
Faith in my opinion, is the most personal choice imaginable- and the right wing has twisted faith into something evil.

I think it's high time we take God back from the right wingers...
If a right winger demands I worship Jesus, I immediately ask them what charitable acts they have participated in, if they strive for peace, have helped others, etc. If they say no, then they have no idea what faith is about. last time I checked, jesus was a radical, a liberal and a pacifist, and helped the sick and the poor- he stood for everything the right wingers hate. So why do they worship him?

And there may be the temptation to paint all religious people as bigoted nuts- many are, but there are indeed some good people- and some liberal people fighting for the rights of gays, immigrants, and humanity as a whole...

What do you think- Can (or should) we try and take faith back from the radical right? If religion is not your thing, i respect that-

It's not THEIRS, although they treat it that way. Religion belongs to everyone, as they choose.

You're quite correct, a lot of hippies in the 60s were "Jesus freaks" -- so called by the establishment. Funny how that same establishment now tries to make out that the left are godless. Just proves it's all a game of framing to them, and begs the question:

WHY DO WE KEEP LETTING THEM DO IT?

context, at times anyway. And many religious people joined in as a result. We can do the same. Ours IS a moral cause.

You need to contact some other Christian and not Christian Groups somehow and get a statement written and then present it to the Media or somewhere where it will get exposure. God Bless even though I am Theosophical (studies of Religions) in nature and practice.

I wrote about this in a much less eloquent and cohesive way earlier today.

But yes, I do think we need to take back faith, along with many other terms. they've hi-jacked the language in general and claim the "good" "righteous" words as theirs.

Not so.

I like to make the point that many people believe in god. The xtremists do not have a lock on god. That very notion is very unChristian.

same with "conservative".

"family values"

"Pro-life"

etc

We need to reclaim the vocabulary, own it and not let a bunch of lying hypocrites tell us we're wrong/bad/etc. Mockery is the cowards way of getting us to go along with them.

ENOUGH.