Posted on 07/07/2008 9:06:49 AM PDT by ancientart
While it is sometimes useful to think of political and social groups as either "left" or "right," there are times when such labels are extremely misleading.
Political commentators run into particular problems when they think of evangelical voters as the "Christian right." A recent USA Today editorial, for instance, was headlined “Why the Christian right fears Obama." The author argued (in essence) that the Christian right fears Sen. Barack Obama because the Christian right isn't all that fond of Sen. John McCain and might shift its support to Obama.
The author here is only one of many commentators who, not finding evangelical voters behaving in accord with his/her own prejudices about them, arrives at a completely muddleheaded conclusion.
Evangelicals do tend to be on the conservative side of most political, economic and social issues. But thinking of them as occupying the political “right” makes one misunderstand evangelical political behavior and thinking.
Evangelical theology, with its emphasis on spiritual equality and its rejection of religious hierarchies, leads directly to an egalitarian, anti-elitist political philosophy as well. This ties in nicely with conservative ideas on limited government and free market economics, but, even more important, it means that evangelicals (perhaps more than any other voters) are constantly ready to “throw the rascals out.” As a result, evangelicals tend to be swing voters - and their various swings have determined the result of every national election for quite some time.
In 1976, evangelical voters, excited about the prospect of an openly born-again Christian in the White House, gave Jimmy Carter his come-out-of-nowhere victory in the Democratic primaries and provided his margin of victory over Gerald Ford. But while an estimated 80 percent of evangelicals voted for Carter the first time around, Carter did little or nothing to address their concerns.
In 1980, and even more in 1984, evangelicals tended to support Ronald Reagan and the Republicans. But while evangelical voters were an important part of the Reagan coalition, the Republican party wasn't necessarily going to be their permanent home.
In 1992, Bill Clinton won back to the Democrats a substantial portion of the evangelical vote - by some estimates, a majority of that vote. But evangelicals soon swung again.
In the 1994 congressional elections, 75 percent of them voted Republican, and, for 12 years, the support of evangelical voters helped the Republicans control Congress. By 2006, though, evangelical enthusiasm for the Republicans had cooled off. Tired of being taken for granted and disgusted with Republican scandals, many evangelicals voted Democrat. Many stayed home. You are very welcome, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid.
As we head toward the 2008 general election, evangelical voters might be up for grabs once again. The Obama campaign thinks so, and it's trying extra hard to win evangelicals - with some success. Obama's evangelical allies are doing their best to get other evangelicals to join them.
The pro-Obama media (operating under the thesis that if you can't lick the evangelicals you should get them to join you) amplifies these voices way out of proportion to their actual importance. AP religion writer Eric Gorski especially goes out of his way to promote the views of pro-Obama evangelicals, claiming that young evangelicals in particular are joining the Obama bandwagon.
Young evangelicals (so he tells us) can support Obama because they are more tolerant than their elders, and more liberal in their thinking about social and economic issues.
But that's probably not what's going on. Young evangelicals are more receptive to Obama's message precisely because they are young evangelicals, i.e., evangelicals who don't remember Carter and scarcely remember Clinton. For them, Obama might seem exactly the “throw the rascals out” chance they've been waiting for.
For older evangelicals, the Obama campaign and its theme of “change” is just deja vu all over again. Inside the new and improved package, they see only the same old call for big government they've come to know and loathe. They tend to think that expanding government will only make the rascal problem worse - and on this they really are right.
This is the reason for the hype about Obama’s so called Christian faith. This is no conspiracy theory, their election strategy. Democrats have talked about it openly for the past 4 years.
It's just that Barack Obama said PRIVATELY that he needs money and leeway to get the votes of those who still “cling” to guns (2nd amendment) and religion (oppose abortion and homosexuality).
Here are just a small selection of relevant past threads about the Religious Left (keyword religiousleft).
Appropriate faith in politics (Liberals turning on their so called Religious Left)
The Daily Aztec ^ | 6-18-2007 | Conor Shapiro
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1852171/posts
I fell for it. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.In attempting to beat the rush, I was inflexibly on the bandwagon of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
Obama’s hype and charisma took America by storm in 2004 and many (myself included) have been hooked ever since. That is, until YouTube happened.
Specifically, I used my beloved movie clip-finding Web site to do something more productive than watch Jennifer Lopez dance - not that I've stopped doing that.
Politicians who use their faith to guide their legislating frighten me more than the possibility of a third term for President Bush.
Unfortunately, the pious voting block has been expanding from the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Ballot-by-belief is now leaking into the Democratic side as the left scrambles to include religion in its platform for the upcoming election.
Obama is one of those liberals. During a debate a couple of years ago, he claimed to use his Christian faith to help guide him toward the correct political decisions.
For voters like me who believe reason trumps devotion and who demand policy that doesn't consult the Bible, this is very problematic...
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Do You Support The Religious Left?
Townhall.com ^ | February 25, 2007 | Frank Pastore
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1794548/posts
I believe people are supporting organizations like the National Council of Churches and other groups on the religious Left, without knowing – in clear terms – what these groups believe. Beneath their soaring and winsome rhetoric lies poli-cies and positions that betray their professed compassion. They sound so sensitive, caring, and empathetic, but the poli-cies they support – if implemented – would be the proverbial “medicine worse than the disease.” Their solutions would only make matters worse. It is my contention that if people actually knew the views of these groups and the conse-quences of their policies they would withdraw their support.See how many of these position statements listed below representative of the religious Left that you agree with.... (ITEMIZED LIST AT LINK)
for example
On Theology1. God is morally neutral with regards to religion – it’s the act of faith, not the object of faith, that counts. There are no false religions – all religions have some truth. Jesus is not the “only way” to heaven. The Bible is neither inerrant nor infallible, it is filled with many errors and must be properly interpreted by experts.
2. Man is not depraved, there is no original sin; man is innately good, it is society that is evil. To improve the world, it is better to create good social institutions than to waste time trying to create good men.
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The Religious Left: More Left Than Religion
End of Day email from American Values ^ | 1-11-07 | Gary Bauer
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1766260/posts
A new report by the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) casts some very revealing light on the National Council of Churches (NCC), the vanguard of “religious Left” movement in America. While Big Media ceaselessly frets about the political activity of the “religious Right,” it rarely takes on the “religious Left.” But the report by IRD ought to raise a few eyebrows. The NCC’s primary spokesman has been the Reverend Bob Edgar – a former Democrat member of Congress. It seems that as membership in liberal mainline denominations has declined over the years, Edgar has been reaching out to some of his former political allies for help in fundraising.According to IRD’s report, the NCC now receives a majority of its funding not from churches or religious groups, but leftwing secular organizations with no interest in faith or religion at all. For example, the NCC received grants from the Sierra Club, the Ford Foundation, Ted Turner’s United Nation’s Fund, and another group connected to George Soros...
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The Evangelical Swing to the Left
www.olivetreeviews.org ^ | November 3, 2006 | Jan Markell
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1731687/posts
Nothing stays the same anymore; it is always morphing into something it shouldn't. So it is with evangelicalism. My alma mater, Bethel University in St. Paul, MN, recently featured the king-pin of the “religious left,” Jim Wallis. Wallis heads Sojourners’ ministry and magazine, a ministry devoted to social issues though called evangelical. In his e-newsletter Wallis refers to his Bethel experience where he spoke to a packed chapel service.He says, “I was at Bethel University, known as a conservative evangelical school—fertile ground for recruiting by the ‘religious right.’ But the wind is changing at Bethel as it is among the new generation of evangelical students across the country for both faith and politics in America.”
He continues, “I asked the students if they wanted to be ‘true evangelicals’” (referring to Luke 4 and the reference of bringing the good news to the poor.) The implication here is that if it doesn't follow the social gospel it cannot be good news.
Wallis seems to minimize the moral values of the “religious right” such as abortion and gay marriage, while emphasizing issues he feels are greater causes today: Poverty, global warming, human rights, ethics of war in Iraq, and more. Wallis said that the value of human life cannot just be seen in the abortion issue without also addressing issues of the poor...
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Religious left gears up to face right counterpart
Reuters ^ | 07.25.06 | Thomas Ferraro
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1672295/posts
The religious right, which helped re-elect President Bush in 2004 by rallying opposition to abortion and gay marriage, is now facing a pushback from the religious left. With a faith-based agenda of their own, liberal and progressive clergy from various denominations are lobbying lawmakers, holding rallies and publicizing their positions. They want to end the Iraq war, ease global warming, combat poverty, raise the minimum wage, revamp immigration laws, and prevent “immoral” cuts in federal social programs. Some, like the Rev. Robin Meyers of the United Church of Christ in Oklahoma, marry gay couples and seek to reduce abortions while rejecting calls by the right to outlaw them.“I join the ranks of those who are angry because I have watched as the faith I love has been taken over by fundamentalists who claim to speak for Jesus but whose actions are anything but Christian,” declared Meyers, who has written a new book, “Why the Christian Right is Wrong. According to scholars, the religious left has become its most active since the 1960s when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other clergy — black and white — were key figures in the civil-rights and anti-Vietnam war movements.
INFLUENCING ELECTIONS?
While the religious right is still more powerful, the left is setting its sights on this year's congressional elections and the 2008 White House contest. Rising Democratic star Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said it is imperative for his party that fellow Democrats seek to counter the influence of the religious right...
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Obama Defines Christianity to Include Leftist Ideals
Concerned Women for America ^ | 7/14/06 | Janice Shaw Crouse
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1666372/posts
Democrat Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, has made headlines recently by talking about religion and politics. In the process, he has alienated Democrats and Republicans alike: Democrats were offended when he said “not every mention of God in the public square is a breach to the wall of separation,” and conservative Republicans were outraged when he kept referring to religious conservatives as “those people” and described them as “heavy-handed.”Democrats were just as uneasy as Republicans when he argued that his political party ought to make a place in public discourse for religious rhetoric and a place in public policy for faith-based issues. While Obama’s warning to the left that “nothing is more transparent than inauthentic expressions of faith” was greeted across the board as long overdue, there was considerable discomfort with his assertion that the secularists were wrong to insist that believers should “leave their religion at the door before entering the public square.”
Overriding everything, though, was Obama’s tone. There is no question that he is smooth and rhetorically gifted. Nevertheless, he can also come across as patronizing and condescending to the religious right, even though he wants to bring enough of them under his party’s tent to win majorities in the midterm election.
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Academic Left Derails Evangelicals
Accuracy in Academia ^ | July 5, 2006 | Malcolm A. Kline
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1661405/posts
Academics finding common cause with left-wing activists are not a new story, particularly since they are frequently the same people. But their effort to influence Evangelical Christians suggests a new twist on an old cliché: If you can’t beat them, subvert them.“For America’s evangelicals, reclaiming the faith would produce a social and political ethic rather different from the one propagated by the religious right,” Professor Randall Balmer writes in the June 23rd Chronicle of Higher Education supplement, The Chronicle Review. “Care for the earth and for God’s creation provides a good place to start, building on the growing evangelical discontent with the rapacious environmental policies of the Republican-religious right coalition.”
“Once the evangelicals challenge religious-right orthodoxy on environmental matters, further challenges are possible.”
(more at link)
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Commentary: Sexually-based issues dividing black churches (Mega barf ALERT!!!)
CNN.com ^ | 6 July 2006 | Rev. Al Sharpton
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1661027/posts
During my 2004 presidential campaign, I was fond of saying that it was high time for the Christian right to meet the right Christians. That sentiment is even more appropriate today, more than a year-and-a-half after evangelicals catapulted George W. Bush back to the White House.We are a country now locked into an unrighteous conflict overseas, a country where racial equality is still far from realized, and a country that continues to allow poverty to run rampant from coast to coast.
Yet, some high-profile black ministers continue to employ an agenda focused solely on sexually-based themes, like denying a women's right to choose an abortion or a gay couple's right to marry, to rally their congregations and drive a wedge through our people...
(STOP CLINGING TO RELIGION AND VOTE DEMOCRAT < /sarcasm >
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Barack Hussein Obama puts his faith in spotlight (LAUGH ALERT)
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | June 29, 2006 | LYNN SWEET SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1657664/posts
On Wednesday, Obama revealed that Keyes’ assertions ate at him more than he let on and in a sense prompted some personal soul-searching as the freshman senator pondered the role faith in general — and his in particular — had to do with shaping policy and politics in the United States.“But Mr. Keyes’ implicit accusation that I was not a true Christian nagged at me, and I was also aware that my answer didn't adequately address the role my faith has in guiding my own values and beliefs.
Taken from chapter in new book
“My dilemma was by no means unique. In a way, it reflected the broader debate we've been having in this country for the last 30 years over the role of religion in politics.’’
These reflections came in a keynote address Obama delivered Wednesday to a conference sponsored by Sojourners/Call to Renewal, a liberal evangelical group whose major focus is on fighting poverty in this rich nation...
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Getting religion right while leaning to the left
Capital Times ^ | 5-25-06 | Brad McIntyre
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1638406/posts
The political left is getting religion right. It's like a late-inning rally for a baseball team that finally decides to get some hits and score some runs rather than endure another loss.Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is promoting her new book, “The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God and World Affairs.” She represents a sudden surge of God and Country books written by notable persons who lean left. Apparently there is permission now for Democrats to be religious and to talk about it, as long they don't shout.
This is a refreshing alternative to the revved-up Religious Right and the Armageddon mindset of our current administration...
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Liberals, think WWJD!
MN Daily ^
Posted on Saturday, March 11, 2006
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1594837/posts
Progressives need to stop thinking of Christianity as something against to battle against.By Jason Ketola
The world is full of polarization, bifurcation and dichotomization. One of the most distressing examples of this is the way secular liberals have been pitted against Christians, or rather, the way liberals have pitted themselves against Christians and vice versa. Through the constant recapitulation of tired stereotypes, opportunities for solidarity have been lost and divisions have become further entrenched.
[snip]
The film has great potential as a thought-provoking conversation starter, which problemizes a lot of what the religious right, in particular, says about homosexuality. Social critic and advice columnist Dan Savage, for instance, points out the way conservative Christians have “moved the goalposts” on gays, first saying they were destroying the institution of marriage for wanting to wear leather pants, dance shirtless in clubs and have promiscuous sex; and yet when gays wanted to get married, move to the suburbs and start families, that was destroying marriage. The experts in the film provide a lot of fodder for thought like this; the discussion of how sexual orientation has been understood over time being especially striking.
The film's potential is lost, however, at the point when the question is broached of why we are so uncomfortable about homosexuality in America. In a totally unsophisticated manner, Taylor presents a several-minute montage of laypeople lambasting Christianity, culminating with Dan Savage calling the religion “bulls***” that was made up by “some guy in a desert a few thousand years ago.”
(QUIT CLINGING TO RELIGION AND ADOPT THE NEW (im)MORALITY!) < /sarc >
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Left tries to regain religion, Democrats seek to offset GOP sway
newsobserver ^ | March 4, 2006 | Rob Christensen
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1589825/posts
“We see the religious banner being co-opted by people whose religion and politics, we think, falls short of the kind of public witness we ought to make,” Price said Friday on WUNC’s State of Things program.One reason for the Democrats’ urgency is that conservative evangelicals have become political shock troops for the Republican Party in the South. It is the same role that organized labor has played for northern Democrats, according to Mark Silk, an expert on religion and politics at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.
Silk said that because evangelical conservatives tend to be more committed voters, their importance is heightened in mid-term elections such as this year's, when there is traditionally a lower turnout.
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Born again? Democratic Party is restating its liberal program in religion-friendly terms
WORLD ^ | 3/11/06 | Lynn Vincent
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1589098/posts
In Georgia, state Sen. Kasim Reed in January introduced a bill authorizing school districts to teach courses derived from The Bible and Its Influence, a textbook released last year by the Bible Literacy Project.In Tennessee, Reps. Rick Nelson and Bob Damron are sponsoring legislation that would allow postings of religious documents such as the Ten Commandments.
In Virginia, Timothy Kaine rode religious campaign themes and Christian radio ads to victory in the governor's race last fall.
All that would be business as usual for the GOP. But these Bible-thumping, faith-stumping pols are all Democrats—and part of their party's emerging effort to reconnect with religious voters.
It's not just a Southern phenomenon. Democrats in the North and West also are becoming more vocal on traditionally Republican issues—from public prayer to traditional marriage....
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(NOT THAT ANY OF THEM ACTUALLY MEAN IT)
What moonbat libs look for in a “church”: Don't mention the G-word too much
8/19/05 | Various deluded libs (DU thread)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1461312/posts
I served on the worship committee at the time, and we were responsible for putting together Sunday services. I'll never forget when we had a brainstorming session one day after service and someone said, “We need to figure out what we believe in as a fellowship....”I was floored, actually. That one moment made me realize that I would never find anything approaching spiritual fulfillment there. I realized that the fellowship was essentially a bunch of white, upper-middle class, liberal humanists who gathered on Sundays to have intellectual discussions in order to feel better about themselves. There was no story, no mythology behind what we did to tie us all together...
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(J.R.BOB DOBBS COULDN'T CONVINCE HIM TO PULL THE WOOL OVER HIS OWN EYES I GUESS)
Screwtape Returns: Taking Jesus Back From the Republicans
Renew America ^ | 08/21/2005 | Adam Graham
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1468363/posts
From: Dave ScrewtapeTo: Democratic Members of Congress, Liberal Clergy, Opinion Leaders, and Activists
Subject: The Right Picture of Jesus
As I returned from an extended vacation, I was deluged with letters asking how we mitigate the Republican advantage with Christian voters. I think the solution is simple. As other Democrats have said, “We must take God back from the Republicans.” There is only one way to do that, and it is through Jesus Christ.
Christian Conservatives rarely talk about Christ in their public speeches, they talk about “God” or providence or “The Lord.” The reason for that they wish to be inclusive of all Americans who have any belief in God. That, and the fact that if they even end a prayer “in the name of Jesus” our allies in the press will go ballistic.
What we must do is borrow that phrase from the tacky bracelet, “What Would Jesus Do?” and use it to death. By saying, Jesus would do something often enough, you'll convince enough Christians of the fact. Here are some examples.
“Jesus wouldn't launch a war for oil against the Iraqi people. Jesus wouldn't have appointed Alberto Gonzalez Attorney General. Jesus would spend more government money on the poor. Jesus would want everyone to have free health care. Jesus wouldn't back a Constitutional Amendment banning Flag Burning.”
Now, we can do this with a variety of issues, but we all have to paint a good picture of Jesus. Jesus was a tolerant, loving, nice guy who cared about poor people. With that understanding, we can make any arguments we want that fits that picture and Christians will listen...
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The Political Left Gets Religion
Agape Press ^ | July 29, 2005 | Matt Friedeman
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1453117/posts
The Party of the Left Wing, known best for its tax-increasing, huge-spending, pro-abortion sentiments, looked at the polls in the last election and noticed something big-time. First, seriously religious people vote. Two — they didn't vote for the Left Wing.“Fixable!” they thought. And then they schemed. Let's start praying at meetings, mentioning people of faith in our speeches, and allowing Democrats to be pro-life if they really want (insults of the last three decades now to be overlooked).
And a website. Oh, yes, a website is always needed. So, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has hoisted his religious sentiments onto the worldwide web in hopes that the faithful will come along and join God-appreciating Democrats in vote-harvesting prayer down at the altar.
Check it out. It's called “A Word to the Faithful.” There you will see a hand-holding prayer circle, Reid standing by lots of clergy collars, liberal after liberal behind pulpits and that great man of faith — John F. Kennedy — looking over Reid's shoulder.
Thank you, Mr. Reid. On this site he shows what we already know: it is really business as usual with the Dems, they just want websurfers to know that pro-abortion, left-leaning politicians can be religious when they want to be, too...
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Senator Reid Launches Faith Web Site
Reid ^ | Tuesday, July 19, 2005 | Reid
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1446455/posts
Washington, DC - Democratic Leader Harry Reid made the following statement today announcing the launch of his new website -
A Word to the Faithful:”As Democratic Leader, I’ve made outreach to the faith community a top priority and have had the great privilege of meeting with leaders of many faiths. I’ve talked with Protestant ministers about the immorality of a budget that cuts programs for the neediest among us while rewarding those with the most. I’ve discussed immigration and poverty with Catholic Bishops, and I’ve met with Jewish leaders to discuss ways we can help hardworking families across this country.
”My discussions have only reinforced the belief that the Democratic Party and people of all faiths share many values and goals, and I intend to continue my outreach in the months ahead. As part of this effort, it is my honor to introduce you to this website – A Word to the Faithful. It’s dedicated to illustrating how people of faith and Senate Democrats can work together to lift our neighbors up and achieve our common goals.”
http://democrats.senate.gov/faith.html
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Jerry Falwell: Another Group Arrives to Combat the ‘Religious Right’
NewsMax ^ | 7/9/05 | Jerry Falwell
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1439836/posts
Last month, a new leftist religious organization announced its inception to battle the alleged domination that Dr. James Dobson, Pat Robertson and I have on modern-day politics. This organization, the Christian Alliance for Progress, is hardly “Christian.”You may say, “Falwell, that's a pretty harsh statement.” Well, let's take a look at this new group so we can determine if it is actually exhibiting the precepts of true Christianity.
In announcing its formation, the Christian Alliance for Progress unveiled what it called its “Jacksonville Declaration,” an open letter to the political and church leaders of the religious right, which “challenges and invites them to return to a Christian foundation of compassion and justice, values that Jesus passionately taught and lived.”
First, the sole purpose for Jesus’ ministry on earth was stated in His own words: “… for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:30). Any organization that deems to calls itself “Christian” simply must have as its basis the reality that Jesus asserted that salvation could come only through Him....
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Happy Birthday, Amerika - (Bob Edgar, NCC issue liberal rant against Iraq War, for July 4th!)
AMERICAN SPECTATOR.ORG ^ | JULY 3, 2005 | MARK TOOLEY
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1436035/posts
The statement from the NCC Governing Board is not a celebration of two centuries of American democracy and religious liberty, with gratitude to God. It is instead a screed against the “dishonorable” war in Iraq.“It has become clear that the rationale for invasion was at best a tragic mistake, at worst a clever deception,” the statement generously opines.
Although comprised of denominations totaling over 40 million mainstream Americans, the NCC has for 40 years been a voice for unending 1960s’ radical protest.
Headed by former Democratic Rep. Bob Edgar (who is also a United Methodist clergyman), the NCC is still fighting the Vietnam War, 30 years after its close. It is ironically appropriate that Edgar is leading the NCC’s latest anti-war crusade. He has boasted that he served in the Congress that cut all aid to South Vietnam, clearing the way for the subsequent slaughter, persecution, poverty, and refugee crisis that followed in a communist-ruled Indochina.
Now Edgar and his NCC want to do for Iraq what they helped accomplish for South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Likening themselves to the “biblical prophets of old,” the NCC wants to declare “NO” to “leaders who have sent many honorable sons and daughters to fight a dishonorable war.”
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Christianity Hijacked!
The Washington Examiner ^ | May 25, 2005 | Roger Banks
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1410364/posts
(This article reads better if you go to Page 21 of the pdf version: http://ee.dcexaminer.com/dc/?haspdf=1 )“With increasing regularity, leaders of the Democratic Party are seeking support for big-government ideology in, of all places, the Bible.
“Failed presidential candidate John Kerry, for example, persists in appealing to the New Testament's book of James. ‘Faith without works is dead,’ Kerry intones, suggesting that “works” here includes the works of lawmakers as they spend other people's money.
“In a similar fashion, Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, is wont to quote the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus teaches that ‘[i]nasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ Pelosi says doing unto the least means raising more taxes for entitlement programs.
“Even DNC Chairman Howard Dean, who kicked off Bush's second term with ‘I hate Republicans,’ recently accused the ones he hates of violating the biblical command to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’ . . . .”
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AND PERHAPS THE MOST TELLING...
Communists Host “Meet” on Religion
People's Weekly World News Paper | 04-28-05 | Susan Webb
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1396580/posts
“The word of God and communism are hand in hand,” said Diana Sowry, a school bus driver from Ashtabula County, Ohio. She was one of a group of clergy and lay people participating in a conference on religion sponsored by the Communist Party USA here April 15-16...
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Secularists Strike Back - How the Liberals Will Promote ‘Blue’ Churches
OPINION EDITORIALS.COM ^ | NOVEMBER 12, 2004 | JAMES ATTICUS BOWDEN
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1394973/posts
(from immediately after the 2004 elections, IN CUT AND PASTE SUMMARY...)Set out sentries to watch for this gathering attack.
Right Religion. Religion and religious leaders will be applauded if it’s the right religion.
Liberals will marginalize Protestant Christian Evangelicals. Especially, Southern Baptists and the Assembly of God. First, Liberals will call them Fundamentalists and liken to the Muslim Fundamentalists.
Capture the Language. Value voters are told they voted for ‘fear’.
More Moral Values. The Liberals may legitimately finesse some Roman Catholics away with an anti-capital punishment value.
Exploit Failures. The inevitable failures and setbacks in the next four years during the decades upon decades unfolding of WW IV will be blamed on the Christian Evangelism mindset of President Bush and the NeoCons (read anti-Semitism).
Camouflage the Truth. The Liberals won’t show themselves as Liberal Puritans. They will hide behind the Sissy Christians of the Apostate Christian congregations. The very persons, who preach ‘Christian’ morality, follow the teachings of totalitarianism. The line of thinking that flows Diocletian-Rousseau-Voltaire-Hegel-Marx-Darwin-Nietzche-Lenin-Freud-Stalin-Hitler-Mao-Castro-Pol Pot is the path of pagan reasoning, which is Human Secularist Totalitarianism. This ‘Humanist’ Totalitarianism is a killing cousin to Islamist Totalitarianism.
The final irony is how Christian Evangelicals are more motivated by love. Liberal Puritans can’t tell the difference between our passion and their hate because their words are the overflow of their hearts. Who will burn a dissenter at the stake? The Blue churches who say Biblical Christian speech is hate speech and a crime? Or, Red churches who send missionaries, who are martyred regularly, to Muslim countries?
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Liberal Religious Organizations – A Subterfuge
March 1, 2005 | watchdog_writer
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1353481/posts
The best way to convince Middle America and people in the red counties of the northeast and far left coast is to enlist the aid of purported religious leaders. Take for example the Faith Action Network (FAN), an operative of “People for the American Way”. This group, calling themselves Christians, opposes what they call the “religious right”, as if conservative Christians are the enemy. According to FAN’s own manifesto, pro-life, anti-gay-marriage is a “divisive political agenda”.I realize that this article will not be news to Freepers, but it is cathartic. The frauds who head FAN are founding board members Father Bob Drinan, Father Ted Hesburgh, Rev. Chuck Bergstrom and Rev. John Buchanan. Rev. Timothy McDonald and Rabbi David Saperstein. It is hardly necessary to ask what their position is on abortion. We know the answer.
FAN uses the term “religious progressives”, which is like cross-dressing. In some cases the outward appearance is not nearly as revolting or surprising as knowing what is inside. FAN encourages its leaders to play a more active role in the national dialogue about morality and politics. As I have said before, this nation is divided on morality, between the haves and the have-nots. The dialogue is between those good and evil.
I believe there are certain moral principles that are immutable. We know that they are so, because without them, governments cannot exist. Not everyone is content with living according to 10 simple commandments...
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And the money quote...
Dean Vows to Reach Evangelicals as Democratic Leader
ChristianityToday.com ^ | 2/14/05 | Tony Carnes
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1343020/posts
The day before he was elected chair of the Democratic National Committee last week, Dean went to the leaders of different Democratic constituencies outlining an approach that will emphasize outreach to evangelicals and people of other faiths. His talks sought to distance himself and the Democratic Party from an image as a secular party out of touch with common Americans.To a standing-room-only caucus of women Democratic leaders, Dean urged them to learn to talk and cooperate with people of faith. “People of faith are in the Democratic Party, including me,” Dean declared.In response to a question from CT, Dean said, “We are definitely going to do religious outreach. Even in my campaign I was interested in reaching out to evangelicals.” Later, Dean tactfully expanded his remarks, noting “our religious outreach will not solely be to evangelical Christians but to Americans of all faiths.”
Earlier in the week, congressional Democrats hosted a study session with University of California-Berkeley linguist George Lakoff on how to communicate the Democratic commitment to moral and religious values...
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(how to communicate the Democratic commitment to moral and religious values? LIE!)
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Meet the "new faith adviser" for Democrats
Posted on Saturday, February 12, 2005 1:24:18 AM by kcvl
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1341664/posts
Jim Wallis is a Christian leader for social change. He is a speaker, author, activist, and international commentator on ethics and public life. Wallis was a founder of Sojourners - Christians for justice and peace - more than 30 years ago and continues to serve as the editor of Sojourners magazine, covering faith, politics and culture. In 1995, Wallis was instrumental in forming Call to Renewal, a national federation of churches, denominations, and faith-based organizations from across the theological and political spectrum working to overcome poverty.
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Sojourners: Christianity Wedded to Marxism
Frontpagemag/DiscoverTheNetwork.org ^ | 2-25-05 | DiscoverTheNetwork.org
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1350812/posts
In the aftermath of the November 2004 elections, a consensus among Democratic Party leaders was that their defeat could be attributed to their party’s disconnect from religious voters. Seeking a way to remedy this as quickly as possible, they turned to Jim Wallis for help in developing a strategy for making Democratic candidates more appealing to the coveted religious demographic. Wallis is the founder of the organization Sojourners, the editor-in-chief of Sojourners Magazine, and the author of the newly released best-seller God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It. In January 2005, at the beginning of the Congressional session, Senate Democrats invited Wallis to address them in a private discussion. In addition, some fifteen Democratic members of the House made Wallis the guest of honor at a breakfast confab whose subject was devising ways to instill support for the Democratic Party into the hearts of the religious faithful. James Manley, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, said, “He [Wallis] can help us communicate with the rising number of evangelicals in the country, which is right now a Republican constituency, but which Wallis argues could easily become part of the Democratic constituency as well.”Wallis’ organization, Sojourners, is a Washington, D.C.-based Christian evangelical ministry that combines activist fervor with leftwing notions of “social justice.” It was formed in Chicago in 1971 and was originally known as the People’s Christian Coalition (PCC). Born of the efforts of a group leftwing religious students who were then enrolled at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, from its inception the ministry reflected the radical politics and antiwar attitudes of its founders. A commitment to promulgating leftwing ideology with missionary zeal became the ministry’s hallmark and was the animating theme of the its inaugural publication, an antiwar evangelical magazine called the Post American. Bent on catechizing a larger audience in their idiosyncratic notions of religious radicalism, the PCC community relocated to Washington, D.C. in 1975. In the process, the ministry adopted the name Sojourners and renamed its magazine accordingly...
Carter fooled many!..
The religious right is neither left nor right. They are Cultural Populists.
Congratulations for the longest post on FR to date.
I need more information
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