I often express my frustration with the failure of what I refer to as "good Christians" to stand up to and fight the bigotry and undisguised hatred that are the hallmark of the Christian Right or Christianists as I prefer to call them. By yielding the field, these "good Christians" allow hate and intolerance to continue to exist and, in addition, are hastening the demise of Christianity in this country. Some might argue that the death of Christianity in America might be a good thing over all. I won't go that far, but I believe without a doubt that conservative Christianity and the Christianists are among the most toxic elements in the nation today. My long time activist friend Wayne Besen has a column that addresses the need of "good Christians" to grow a spine and stand up to the hate and intolerance of the Christianists:
Candidly, I find it increasingly difficult to even go to church since I cannot help but feel that my otherwise accepting fellow parishioners are part of the larger problem. Doing good works while remaining invisible and refusing to challenge evil - and I do see the Christianists as evil - is empowering the enemies of freedom and the true Gospel message.
In August, fundamentalist preacher Dr. Michael Brown organized a regimen of red shirted Bible-thumpers to infiltrate Charlotte’s gay pride event. Hundreds of zealots confronted and harassed festival attendees with their arrogant slogan “God Has A Better Way.”
The hatred and religious bigotry was appalling, but not surprising. What truly bothers me, however, was the lack of mainstream Christians standing up and speaking out against such fanatical behavior. Virtually every time I write about the Religious Right I’m reminded by the faithful that “not all Christians are like that.”
Of course, this is true and some of the most dedicated activists I have worked with are people of faith. . . . Still, the number of mainstream Christians fighting the hate campaigns of the Religious Right is disappointing. With thousands of churches, millions of members and a vested interest in fighting back against religious extremism, they have consistently underachieved and failed to reach their potential.
What would it look like if mainstream churches fought back against the Religious Right? Picture two hundred of Dr. Brown’s “Red Shirts” smugly descending on innocent families at Charlotte Pride. Out of nowhere, five hundred mainstream, mostly heterosexual Christians appear and surround the theocratic thugs with blue shirts that read: God’s Better Way – Love & Acceptance.”
This lack of coherent opposition has led to a dire situation where Religious Right backed presidential candidates are vying to eliminate or reduce social safety nets, persecute immigrants, undermine working people, shred the middle class, turn the poor into destitute beggars, and roll back minority rights.
This reluctance to stand up and speak out has created a hazardous vacuum where only the shrill and unreasonable voices of fundamentalism are heard. Instead of the dialogue that many progressives of faith claim to desire, this perceived weakness creates a lopsided right wing monologue, which is having a deleterious effect on our nation and the world.
It is time to stand up, speak out, and give voice to our values. If not now, when? Are we going to wait until it is too late and we have lost our country?
If the Religious Right can organize and mobilize to stand up for its beliefs in such a robust manner, why can’t the Religious Left? We desperately need to answer this question before Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin defile America – and permanently define Christianity.
Candidly, I find it increasingly difficult to even go to church since I cannot help but feel that my otherwise accepting fellow parishioners are part of the larger problem. Doing good works while remaining invisible and refusing to challenge evil - and I do see the Christianists as evil - is empowering the enemies of freedom and the true Gospel message.
2 comments:
You knew I'd bite on this one didn't you Michael? Actually I appreciated you sharing Wayne Besen's column. I was not familiar with him.
I have to say, in all honesty, there is much I find myself agreeing with in his thinking. My faith, or lack there of has gone through several evolutions in my life.
On the surface, Mr. Besen is correct. Those of us who are moderate Christians should be arising in great numbers to confront the radicals, and more than you can imagine, we do confront them. Look on Amazon.com and you'll probably find many more books written by moderate Christians than by the Radical Christians. Part of that is because moderate Christians are more educated as a class and more able to put their thoughts in to coherent written thoughts than are their lesser educated, often ignorant and uneducated, Radical counter parts.
A difficult truth most people do not understand is that religion has nothing to do with God. Jesus Christ understood and preached the concept more than 2000 years ago. But the average person simply has never been able to embrace it. What religion is all about is men and power - not God. The truth of this statement is easier to see when one looks at some of the other major religions of the world, but if one looks closely at the Radical Christian Right in America, it becomes clear to any honest and thinking person that Radical Christianity is nothing more than a grab for power by men who crave power.
Moderate Christians are not religious. They are spiritual. They understand that salvation and redemption have nothing to do with power or dogma or legalism. They understand that salvation and redemption is a gift of the spirit, a gift that cannot be merited, yet is freely given. Therefore, since they are not seeking power, they do not rise up to confront those who make the headlines.
Before you get too down on moderate Christians for this failure to engage, remember that the same thing plays out in all aspects of life. Those who are out in the streets marching, demonstrating and wrecking violence in their wake are always those seeking power.
The only time moderates will rise up is when the knife is actually at their throats. For moderate Christians, the knife is not yet at their throats though some can see the time coming when the knife will be at anyone's throat, radical or moderate who calls himself Christian.
You have to be fair minded in your judgement of moderate Christians. They are just one group. There are others who are also guilty of standing by when perhaps more overt challenge is called for.
Radicalism whether from the right or the left is incompatible with democracy. By definition democracy can only function moderate center. Democracy will be fatally injured if radicals from the left wing should co-opt power in this country or if radicals from the right wing co-opt power.
The Radical Christian Right preys on the weak, the down trodden, those who cannot think critically and the fearful. Convincing someone whose life is not all they might have wished for here on earth that they are going to burn eternally in Hell's fire is a very powerful weapon. That weapon is wielded to the max. It is used not only to sway beliefs but to open pocketbooks and billfolds to scam money from those who can afford it least and enrich the powerful.
When the knife is at its throat, American always comes to its feet, unites and wields its awesome power. We're down right now. But we're not out. The same can be said for the people of God. Through 6000 years of recorded history, times have more often been rough than serene, but the people of God and the Gospel of Christ have endured. It's too bad that radicals in the name of God, undermine the Gospel itself, but undermining it is not killing it. And even if Christianity as we know it is ended, the Gospel will remain and it will arise. It always has.
Jack Scott
Jack,
Me try to bait you? Never!! I agree, that for the far right Christians, it is all about power, control and, of course money. Ditto for the Catholic Church hierarchy.
The failure to confront the radicals/haters is something that I believe will hurt Christianity in the long run. Based on my own children and many of their friends, the younger generations are leaving the institutional churches because they view them either as a foul evil or utterly ineffective in fighting evil.
Yes, religion will survive, but how much damage will be done and how many lives harmed in the interim? Bad things happen all too often because good people fail to act.
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