"Blood on the Moon"..Where Was My Church When The Right Hijacked 'Values'

[madfloridian]

From Falls Church New Press, VA

http://www.fcnp.com/436/whitehouse.htm

SNIP..."Everyone was shocked to learn that it was a mobilization of evangelical Christians, the so-called “religious right,” that keyed President Bush’s re-election last week. It caught Democrats and media pundits off guard, and even Republican organizers were surprised at how much better the religious right networks’ “Get Out the Vote” effort was than their own. Many Catholic churches weighed in, as well, among other things impacting the Hispanic vote. Many priests did not hesitate to link a vote for Bush with the well-being of parishioner souls. As much as some may grouse about the way in which all this overstepped the separation of church and state, the fact is that 95% of Americans profess a belief in God or some higher power. It should be obvious, therefore, that a strong appeal to values derived from that belief would have an important impact at the ballot box. And it did.

But hold on. I am an active, church-going Christian. But like many other Christians, I am profoundly offended by the so-called “moral values” espoused by the religious right that focused, for this election, almost exclusively against women’s rights and gay rights. On the other hand, I share a lot of the values rooted in love and compassion that are espoused by most religious traditions. (This guy speaks for me a lot.)

SNIP.."Why was abortion allowed to stand alone for so many faithful as a presidential litmus test, but not a candidate’s culpability in launching an unprovoked war of conquest that has left over 100,000 Iraqis dead so far?

It didn’t used to be this way in the United Church of Christ which has 1.2 million members including the likes of Barak Obama, Howard Dean and Jim Jeffords. Born of a merger of the Congregational Church (of the original Pilgrims) and the Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1958, the UCC grew up in the spirit of ecumenicism with its leaders often marching at the head of civil rights and anti-war protests and marches....."

Well, my own Southern Baptist church got hijacked as well, and many members are just waking up to it.