For years many of us who were moved by the Gospel of Jesus have watched in horror as Christianity in America has been hijacked by right-wing political interests, and the message of the Gospels has been perverted into a militaristic nationalism that celebrates endless wars of pre-emption, executions, torture (of Muslims) and discrimination against gays and lesbians. The Christian Right has become a powerful political and cultural force in America: it has its own television and radio networks as well as schools for children and colleges for young adults. Christians on the left have been demoralized; many have left the church in disgust. Now, finally, the Christian Left is starting to find its voice and progressive Christians are coming together as an organization for positive change. Today’s Washington Post has a report on this hopeful development:
In large part, the revival of the religious left is a reaction against conservatives’ success in the 2004 elections in equating moral values with opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
Religious liberals say their faith compels them to emphasize such issues as poverty, affordable health care and global warming. Disillusionment with the war in Iraq and opposition to Bush administration policies on secret prisons and torture have also fueled the movement.
"The wind is changing. Folks — not just leaders — are fed up with what is being portrayed as Christian values," said the Rev. Tim Ahrens, senior minister of First Congregational Church of Columbus, Ohio, and a founder of We Believe Ohio, a statewide clergy group established to ensure that the religious right is "not the only one holding a megaphone" in the public square.
"As religious people we’re offended by the idea that if you’re not with the religious right, you’re not moral, you’re not religious," said Linda Gustitus, who attends Bethesda’s River Road Unitarian Church and is a founder of the new Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture.
To some degree this is nothing new in America. After all, it was Christian churches in New England and Pennsylvania that led the anti-slavery abolitionist movement in the early 19th century, and then it was this same group of churches who joined with Black churches in the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s. Christian churches and leaders such as Daniel Berrigan led the anti-Vietnam war movement.
Can the Christian Left become a political force again in America? It will not be easy. The left lacks the funding and media power of the Christian Right. The Christian Right’s power base is inextricably linked to the Republican Party, which now controls all three branches of government in the US. But the Christian Left has something that is ultimately more powerful than all the money and power on the right: the actual message of the Gospels.
