MP: Dan Hall on Progressive Christianity
You know, the more I read the Messenger Post, the more I’m impressed. I honestly thought they were a step above the Pennysaver type of publications, but dang, there’s some well-written stuff in there. For example, columnist Dan Hall opines on the recent flap in Right-Wing World ™, where mega-church Pastor Rick Warren wanted to hold a summit on Evangelicals fighting HIV/AIDS and invited Senator Barack Obama. Apparently other leaders in the Evangelical community didn’t agree:
The Rev. Rob Schenck, the right-wing evangelical who is president of the National Clergy Council, turned on Pastor Warren in fury. Others did too. The stated reason? Obama is pro-choice on abortion.
Some of the invective:
Kevin McCullough, the self-styled “Voice of Christian Radio,” whose shows are heard nationwide, went further. He called Obama “A man who represents the views of Satan at worst, or progressive anti-God liberals at best.â€
Thanks, Kev, for broad-brushing progressives and liberals as anti-God. This kind of rhetoric gets us nowhere, and REALLY pisses off progressive, liberal Christians like me, who feel that if Christ were around today, Christian and Right-Wing Hate Media ™ would be constantly smearing and ridiculing him as being a radical, activist liberal.
This kind of divisive labelling is why I don’t like hearing things like “This kind of stupid ad might work with dumb conservatives in the Southern Tier, but not up here.” Better said, it would be more like “The Kuhl campaign (or Steve Minarik) must think that conservatives in the Southern Tier are stupid– look at the kind of loopy mailings they send to them.”
The whole column has so many good points I want to violate Fair Use by posting the whole dang thing here. But I shouldn’t, and I want you to read the whole thing, so let me close with this snippet:
I’ve never believed that the radical right truly represents the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of ordinary, church-going Christians who have for generations toiled in the trenches to alleviate poverty, encourage racial and economic justice, and promote a more peaceful world.
Among these kinder, gentler Christians, you will find people with all kinds of political views.
Some might consider themselves pro-choice and some pro-life. They will argue for their views, but most are probably willing at the same time to work together to at least reduce the numbers of abortions.
Amen.
Related posts:
This kind of divisive labelling is why I don’t like hearing things like “This kind of stupid ad might work with dumb conservatives in the Southern Tier, but not up here.â€ÂÂ
It’s true, though. People in Monroe County are better educated for the most part. I’m not going to pretend that a county that went overwhelmingly for Kuhl (like Steuben) isn’t, by definition, composed primarily of idiots. The truth hurts.