This is the answer to your thread,the Religious Left carries a big stick only if the Politicains did the same
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5069431&mesg_id=5069431Very important message from MLKjr
The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must
be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an
irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.
Religion Gone Wrong, Be Ye Not Deceived.
By Anthony Wade
May 8, 2005
www.OpEdNews.com
The religious right becomes more and more wrong every day. Worse than that, they leave the teachings of Christ behind in the blind pursuit of partisan power, not for the glory of God, but to satiate their own egos and avoid dealing with their own walk with the Lord. The warning signs have always been there but they have been increasing with alarming frequency.
http://www.opednews.com/wade_050905_religion_gone_wrong.htmWhat Are Moral Values?
by Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers
http://www.opednews.comMayflower Church, Oklahoma City
As some of you know, I am minister of Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City, a church in northwest Oklahoma City, and professor of Rhetoric at Oklahoma City University. But you would most likely have encountered me on the pages of the Oklahoma Gazette, where I have been a columnist for six years, and hold the record for the most number of angry letters to the editor.
Tonight, I join ranks of those who are angry, because I have watched as the faith I love has been taken over by those who claim to speak for Jesus, but whose actions are anything but Christian.
We've heard a lot lately about so-called "moral values" as having swung the election to President Bush. Well, I'm a great believer in moral values, but we need to have a discussion, all over this country, about exactly what constitutes a moral value -- I mean what are we talking about? Because we don't get to make them up as we go along, especially not if we are people of faith. We have an inherited tradition of what is right and wrong, and moral is as moral does. Let me give you just a few of the reasons why I take issue with those in power who claim moral values are on their side:
When you start a war on false pretenses, and then act as if your deceptions are justified because you are doing God's will, and that your critics are either unpatriotic or lacking in faith, there are some of us who have given our lives to teaching and preaching the faith who believe that this is not only not moral, but immoral.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rev__dr__050927_what_are_moral_value.htmDon’t Let the Car Fool You, My Real Treasure is in Heaven": Bushianity Makes a Mockery of Christ
by Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
A few days ago I saw a brand new PT Cruiser with a bumper sticker that, at first glance, didn’t make sense: “Don’t Let the Car Fool You, My Real Treasure Is in Heaven". Several classy-looking Christian symbols adorned the vehicle, along with the ubiquitous “We Support Our Troops and President Bush" and “W" window seals.
As I stared at this odd assortment, the meaning dawned on me. Unlike the old bumper sticker that read, "My Other Car is a Mercedes", this one wasn’t an exercise in self-deprecating humor: It was bragging to passersby about the driver’s money, which isn’t too shabby, since a new PT Cruiser starts at $14,000. Bob Sheer writes about this new culture of greed, cleverly disguised as "Christian":
"So why gut the bankruptcy law now? Greed, pure and simple. And, pathetically, this bankers' dream is becoming a reality through the support of Republicans who have decided, as they often do with social issues, to selectively pick and choose when to follow the teachings of the Bible.
"A key sponsor of the bill, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), actively opposes abortion and same-sex marriage on biblical grounds yet believes the Good Book's clear definition and condemnation of usury is irrelevant. The Old Testament, revered by Jews, Muslims and Christians alike, mandates debt forgiveness after seven years, as was pointed out earlier this month by an organization of Christian lawyers in a letter to Grassley. "I can't listen to Christian lawyers," said the senator, "because I would be imposing the Bible on a diverse population." The Bankruptcy Bill: A Tutorial in Greed, Commondreams, 3/15/05
http://www.buzzflash.com/whitehurst/05/03/whi05001.htmlGeorge Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism
Rev. Rich Lang
Trinity United Methodist Church Seattle. <oddrev@yahoo.com>
02/14/04: (ICH) The men who wrote the Constitution of the United States knew that we human beings have a tendency to 'not get along with each other'. They knew that if power accrued into the hands of an elite the experiment of democracy (power spread out into the realm of the people) would be over. So they created a system of checks and balances which blocked access to any one person, or any one special interest or elite gaining too much power over others. Thus our executive, legislative and judicial branches of government "checked" each other. The media was yet another "check" on the accrual of too much power as was the Bill of Rights which was written into the Constitution. The system wasn't perfect but it kept alive the possibility of true democracy. It kept alive the dream that one day "we the people" could live in a peaceful commonwealth where every person has what they need to survive and thrive.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5648.htmI Am A Conservative Christian, And The Religious Right Scares Me, Too
by Chuck Baldwin
For those readers who are unfamiliar with my biography (
http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/sketch.html), let me here provide a thumbnail sketch of my conservative bona fides:
I attended, graduated, or received degrees from fundamentalist Christian schools such as Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan, Thomas Road Bible Institute (now known as Liberty Bible Institute at Liberty University) in Lynchburg, Virginia, Christian Bible College in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, Florida.
I am currently in my thirtieth year as the Senior Pastor of the Crossroad Baptist Church (Independent) in Pensacola, Florida. I was the Executive Director of the Florida Moral Majority in the early 1980's. I was an active member of the local Christian Coalition.
http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/speech_religiousright.htmlPublished on Friday, December 24, 2004 by the Guardian/UK
Empires Prefer a Baby and the Cross to the Adult Jesus
From Constantine to Bush, power has needed to stifle a revolutionary message
by Giles Fraser
Every Sunday in church, Christians recite the Nicene Creed. "Who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven. And was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary and was made man; was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried; and the third day rose again according to the Scriptures." It's the official summary of the Christian faith but, astonishingly, it jumps straight from birth to death, apparently indifferent to what happened in between.
Nicene Christianity is the religion of Christmas and Easter, the celebration of a Jesus who is either too young or too much in agony to shock us with his revolutionary rhetoric. The adult Christ who calls his followers to renounce wealth, power and violence is passed over in favor of the gurgling baby and the screaming victim. As such, Nicene Christianity is easily conscripted into a religion of convenience, with believers worshipping a gagged and glorified savior who has nothing to say about how we use our money or whether or not we go to war.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1224-08.htmAn Open Letter to Christians
by Anthony Wade
http://www.opednews.comAugust 12, 2005
My spirit grieves over this war, this administration and the division that has torn this country apart. I pray daily for the will of God to be done, knowing that he uses all things and people, good and evil, for his purposes. I have tried to express the truth in my writing, but I am constantly faced with people who do not wish to hear the truth. People who claim righteousness through Christ, through who all righteousness comes, yet who espouse most un-Christian opinions. Those are the people to whom I am speaking.
How much is enough for you? How many children have to come home in a box before you stop glorifying death and war? How much blood has to be shed for you to think you are “secure”? As the bible says to the rich fool, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.” We will not know the day nor the time. Security is an illusion. The only security we have is in our salvation. Man-made security, is no security at all.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_anthony__050812_an_open_letter_to_ch.htmPaul's Letter to American Christians by MLK jr
I would like to share with you an imaginary letter from the pen of the Apostle Paul. The postmark reveals that it comes from the city of Ephesus. After opening the letter I discovered that it was written in Greek rather than English. At the top of the first page was this request: "Please read to your congregation as soon as possible, and then pass on to the other churches."
For several weeks I have worked assiduously with the translation. At times it has been difficult, but now I think I have deciphered its true meaning. May I hasten to say that if in presenting this letter the contents sound strangely Kingian instead of Paulinian, attribute it to my lack of complete objectivity rather than Paul's lack of clarity.
It is miraculous, indeed, that the Apostle Paul should be writing a letter to you and to me nearly 1900 years after his last letter appeared in the New Testament. How this is possible is something of an enigma wrapped in mystery. The important thing, however, is that I can imagine the Apostle Paul writing a letter to American Christians in 1956 A.D. And here is the letter as it stands before me.
I, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to you who are in America, Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/sermons/561104.000_Paul's_letter_to_American_Christians.html
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