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My impression is that right-wing Evangelicals are sex-obsessed. They worry about virginity, abstinence, homosexuality, gay marriage, pornography and the like. Too, they are very concerned about abortion and stem-cell research and related matters. Certainly, these are moral issues and should be debated and discussed. But when one speaks of Christian Values or Moral Values, it seems to me, that if one takes a literalist position on the Bible, Christian values could be anything from justifying slavery, multiple wives,, stoning people to death and condoning highly questionable wars. A liberal approach, focusing on the teaching of Jesus, seems to yield a demand that Christians lead lives of compassion; mercy; forgiveness,; generosity; defense and care for the weak, poor, needy, and helpless; nonviolence; love of enemies and the stranger; and to be peacemakers. Too, we should be caretakers of the earth and not exploit it. I don't see an emphasis on these values in the right-wing Evangelicals. For example, a recent study by UNICEF estimates the number of children in poverty in the United States and Mexico is about 20% in each country. In Denmark it is 2.4%.This is not protection and concern for "the least amongst us." It is a national disgrace for such a wealthy country as the United States. I do not hear right-wing Evangelicals having concern for this. Where is their outrage? 100,000 or so Iraqi civilians have been killed by (primarily) U.S. forces since the beginning of our invasion. Is this a "culture of life" that the President and the right wing Evangelicals are talking about? People die needlessly in the U.S. because of lack of health care. Where is the voice of the right wing Evangelicals? Is this also their "culture of life?" Finally, a question to these right-wing evangelicals, who are so frequently militantly jingoistic, Who Would Jesus Bomb? Christians have an obligation to be peacemakers and to serve the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society.
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