Religious Liberals Gain New Visibility

[AtomicKitten]

And I say it's about goddamn time; they need to represent us heathens.

Religious Liberals Gain New Visibility
A Different List Of Moral Issues

By Caryle Murphy and Alan Cooperman
Saturday, May 20, 2006; A01

The religious left is back.

Long overshadowed by the Christian right, religious liberals across a wide swath of denominations are engaged today in their most intensive bout of political organizing and alliance-building since the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s, according to scholars, politicians and clergy members.

In large part, the revival of the religious left is a reaction against conservatives' success in the 2004 elections in equating moral values with opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Religious liberals say their faith compels them to emphasize such issues as poverty, affordable health care and global warming. Disillusionment with the war in Iraq and opposition to Bush administration policies on secret prisons and torture have also fueled the movement.


more at http://rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2006%2F05%2F19%2FAR2006051901813_pf.html

[TreasonousBastard]

1. And I'm with them. This morning...

I spoke at a Sunday School in one of the local churches where the kids are planning a Peace Presentation and vigil.

It's a start, and around here it's a much later start than where I lived last year.

But, things are moving, and have to get better.

[OKDem08]

2. Why the Christian Right is Wrong

I would like to recommend a book to DU'ers, Why the Christian Right is Wrong, written by my minister, Robin Meyers, of the Mayflower Congregational Church in OKC. This book articulates the pious hypocrisy of the so-called Christian Right and its effect on the political status quo. In it, Dr. Meyers states that the Iraq War is not, nor has it ever been about "us versus them." It is not about freedom versus tyranny or democracy versus tribal fanaticism. It has been, from the beginning, about us and our economic needs. It is about oil and always has been. The real purpose of this war, hatched in the minds of those who believed we would be greeted as liberators and given flowers, came long before 9/11 and the coveted Pearl Harbor moment.

The rhetoric of the Christian Right, which often distorts the views of some evangelicals, condemns both the faith and the patriotism of those who disagree with them. The message is as pervasive as our love affair with yellow ribbons - "real" Americans and "real" Christians support the troops and keep on shopping. SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS really carries an unstated but implicit coda: BY SUPPORTING THE WAR. But what if you support the troops but oppose the war? What if, in fact, you think the best way to support the troops is to oppose the war? That will undermine their mission, critics say. It will send the wrong message and embolden the enemy. If this is the case, then logically speaking, war has become a form of mind control, censoring the possibility of independent thought more powerfully, as George Orwell understood, than any other tool of propaganda. Once a war begins, no matter how misbegotten, can it never be questioned?

This book is one minister's attempt to speak truth to power. It is the beginning of what must become a proactive, systematic, courageous movement in America - a call to nonviolent resistance, to cultural noncompliance, and to social transformation. For three simple reasons, the revolution starts here. The emperor is naked. The flag is flying upside down. And Jesus has been silenced by his own church. I'm only half way through this book and already I want to run out and change the world.

As he ends his sermons every Sunday: go in peace,pray for peace,&love one another