Quite a lineup, indeed:
- Richard Land--President, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
- James Dobson--Founder, Focus on the Family
- David Barton--Founder, Wallbuilders
- Ted Haggard--President, National Association of Evangelicals
- Donald Wildmon--Founder, American Family Association
- Lou Sheldon--Founder, Traditional Values Coalition
- Richard Doerflinger--Director of pro-life activities, U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Oh, the report did throw Jim Wallis into the mix as well, even though he represents "a progressive Christian philosophy," definitely a minority in this group.
It is interesting to "unpack" the concerns of these Christian leaders. Actually, they only have a couple of values on their list--sort of slim pickins when you have he entire Bible to select from it seems to me!
But, it is true. The values debate boils down to two issues: abortion and homosexuality. That's it for these guys, underscore guys!
The challenge to the President is clear: appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade and work for a Constitutional Amendment that bans same-sex marriage in the United States.
For these leaders of the faith, no concern whatsoever is expressed concerning poverty, racism, education, health care, housing, equal opportunity, war, violence or homelessness. You choose the media--spoken, print, electronic--you will find no concern for anything but these two issues or matters related to them. In fairness I am quick to admit that the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops does share other concerns, but not from the office listed above.
I have to say these guys cause me to scratch my head in disbelief.
Here's a challenge for you.
Run a word search in any exhaustive concordance to the English Bible on these words: poor, oppressed, rich, abortion, and homosexuality. You can even do your research online these days!
Count the verses in each category. Make yourself a "values scorecard." Tally them up. See what you find.
No matter what one thinks about abortion or gay marriage, no legitimate discussion of values, can occur in this nation if those are the only two issues under consideration.
Further, no conversation about national values can omit from consideration issues associated with poverty, wealth and injustice, and at the same time contend that it stands in the historic Judeo-Christian tradition.
Bible believing churchmen and churchwomen should be speaking out today as never before for the sake of a legitimate values discussion, a discussion American despartely needs to have.
After all, literally millions of our fellow citizens and fellow believers do not enjoy the luxury of such debate. They are too busy trying to scratch out a life for themselves and their children in a world made almost impossible by the very poverty so many others want to ignore.
[Just ahead: the values of Jesus]
11 comments:
It seems to me that the reason the evangelical right continues to focus on issues like homosexuality and abortion lies in their ability to distract us from the greater issues we see every day, issues we know we have a responsibility in making right. Caring for the needy is something tangible that takes human interaction in order for systems to change. Anyone can play cognitive handball with issues that don't directly affect him/her. It's not until a close friend comes out or tells you that she has had an abortion that it becomes more than a political issue. In like manner, when we're able to become a bit less myopic in our view of community, we will see that homelessness and the systems that create its existence should inspire individuals to work for its eradication. As long as we treat these "hot button issues" as political demarcations we will continue to feel as if we're "bowling alone." Only when we realize our cosmic relatedness to everything and everyone will we be able to act under the assumption that our life together is truly a team sport.
Great post Larry, thank you for this. Its hard, take for example someone like me, who, for the most part is a "one issue" voter. I can not and will not vote for someone who supports or gives false promises on the murder of the pre-born. You are right though, there are other issues and attrocities...not caring for the "least of us" is a big one many in the two major parties ignore. We need to a be an "all around" Christian concerned for everything that goes against the Word of God. Both of the major political parties have good ideals(in writing and rhetoric) but both miss the mark....big time. Thank you brother.
It is frustrating sometimes to watch Christian leaders do more to spread fear than love.
Larry, you are right about the narrow definitions of values pursued by many in the religious right. And their "blindness" to other issues (intentional?) is similar to most chapters in human history. Throughout scripure,and throughout history, prophets of God were ignored, or silenced, or even killed, because their messages spoke to the blindness and/or the overt sin of their specific audiences.
Here is what Robert Scheer of the L A Times wrote in his column, which seems to reinforce your argument (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer15mar15,0,1004106.column
Robert Scheer: 'The bankruptcy bill: A tutorial in greed'
Date: Tuesday, March 15 @ 09:50:47 EST
Topic: Economic Policy) "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."
Those Christian lawyers are in good company with prophets throughout the ages.
And the poor continue to fight poverty even as they are surrounded by those who would make their poverty even more difficult to manage.
Randy Mayeux
Dallas
Larry, thanks again for a great post. Once again, I am reminded that I'm not a "bad Christian" for caring about more moral issues than just abortion and homosexuality.
Blessings.
You hit the nail right on head today.
The discussion here is rich and helpful to me. Thanks for sharing! Speaking of sharing--my dear friend and partner in urban ministry, Randy Mayeux, just launched his own blog! Check it out at th is address:
occasionalmarkings.blogspot.com. I know you won't be disappointed!
I think that one reason you see the religious right continually coming back to abortion and homosexuality is that those are issues not everyone agrees on as to their rightness or wrongness. The other issues you named (poverty, racism, education, health care, housing, equal opportunity, war, violence or homelessness) all have a basic consensus behind them that they are Good Things (in the case of education, health care, housing, or EO) or Bad Things (poverty, racism, war, violence, or homelessness). Abortion and homosexuality do not have that consensus behind them, and therefore they are the issues that generate the most noise.
That being said, each issue you named has some debate behind it--but not as to whether it's generally a Good Thing or a Bad Thing, but a debate as to how to go about it best. To get things out of the way, I am a member of the religious right. I believe that poverty is a Bad Thing. But I don't believe that government largesse is the best way to go about solving it--not when we're not in a perfectly governed theocracy. Again, racism is a Bad Thing. Equal opportunity is a Good Thing. So is freedom. Why should we be able to force people to make decisions that we would have them make? Health care for all, housing for all, and the eradication of homelessness are all good. But we would disagree on the solutions.
Nobody that I know thinks war is a Good Thing. Wars cause devastation, hopelessness, poverty, death, and suffering in abundance. But sometimes, war is a necessary thing. C. S. Lewis once said that "If war is ever lawful, then peace is sometimes sinful." The key is, of course, knowing the times. Even Solomon said "There is a time for war, and a time for peace." Yes, war is terrible. But some peaces are worse.
Please don't dismiss the religious right as ignorant of these values. A disagreement on method is not a disagreement on substance. Just because the loudest battles are not the ones you are fighting every day (and thank you for fighting them, Larry) doesn't mean those who are in the louder battles are not cognizant of the ones you're fighting.
Roger Cook
Garland, TX
The thing about abortion and homosexuality is, at least if you're a heterosexual male like myself, that taking a position on them is free.
I don't need to worry that I might want an abortion someday and I don't need worry about gay rights. I can be against both with no cost to myself. Because all that needs to be done is to outlaw them.
Poverty, etc. are much costlier issues. If I recognize a moral duty to do something about those evils, then I have a cost to bear. Whether it's in the form of higher taxes, greater charitable giving or personal effort. It's much easier just to rail against gay marriage. That doesn't cost me anything.
Great post. It's all about power. As long as the Republican party can scare the electorate with gay married terrorists, the electorate won't notice that the riches increasingly go to a smaller and smaller group of people in America. The 'values' voters in the last election have gotten, for their efforts, a quagmire of a war that nobody (even war supporters) wants to sign up to serve in, an increasing deficit that our children will have to repay, and bankruptcy 'reform' that benefits the credit card companies.
As much heat is generated over abortion and gay marriage, there should be much more common ground for Christians of all stripes over the issues that Jesus talked about repeatedly. But those issues do not benefit the folks who are financing our politicians.
Thanks again for the post.
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