McChurch - Pandering to the Wacko Fringe

This past week, James Dobson exposed his self-righteous agenda by dismissing non-candidate Fred Thompson as failing the litmus test of being a “born-again” Christian. It seems that Dobson could not support Thompson because he has not repeated the Sinner’s Prayer on Dobson’s program, Focus on the Family. He has not bowed to Boulder.

The notion that some kind of public Christian confession trumps experience and intellect in guiding the ship of state is so screwy as to be almost funny, were the Christian Right not such a factor in the choice of our present leadership. More alarming is the potential of a Christian ghetto-bound James Dobson whispering in the ear of power.

James Dobson, long the Keeper of the Gate in the Christian publishing business, is jockeying now to selectively become the Keeper of the Gate politic. As he has destroyed the careers and witness of many Christian authors who have fallen from his grace, so he desires to guide America into the Millennial Age, stopping for a brief moment at Armageddon.

Is there not in America a leader, Christian or otherwise, who will stand up for what is right or what is just? Or is winning more important than truth? This crop of presidential candidates is one of the most disgusting displays of pandering that we have seen in many a decade. The spectacle of Hillary Clinton preaching in a southern accent to McChurch is revolting. John McCain has lived up to his Arizona reputation of being mentally challenged. Newt Gingrich has already had his fifteen minutes.

What a breath of fresh air it would be for someone – perhaps Fred Thompson – to stand up and say:

It is my expectation today that I will not be elected, but if I am, I pledge to stand for what is right, not necessarily for what is expedient or for what is expected of me because of the support of some person or group. In keeping with that pledge, I ask that those on the extreme right and those on the extreme left vote for somebody else. I do not want to owe either of you anything. I shall look for my support from the 80% in the middle who are being steamrolled by the wacko fringe.

I am reminded of God’s declaration through the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer 25:9), “…my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” This American Evangelical Right that has abused its freedoms to promote a non-Scriptural theocratic agenda, is in dire need of being carried off into captivity to reduce its influence to a faithful remnant. Only then will truth emerge.

It’s time to take off the gloves, folks. For far too long those of us who have been working out our salvation “…with fear and trembling,” have cowed to these righteous bullies in the interest of survival. Now, survival itself is at stake – survival as a nation and survival as peaceful neighbors. With domestic and foreign policy being dictated by worshippers of the words of God rather than believers in the Word of God, the ship of state is without a rudder.

God help us! Can we survive eight more years of ideology in place of leadership?

Is Chuck Colson Losing it?

Diana L. Eck
3:32 PM

The term I use for a step beyond tolerance to real engagement is "pluralism," but I agree we shouldn't quibble over terms. I don't think making a truth claim is intolerant, at least in our voice as Christians. I'm a lifelong Methodist, and when I speak as a Christian to a Christian audience, I make that clear. I also make it clear when I'm speaking in a faith-context with people of other faiths. But General Pace wears the uniform of the US military as Chair of the Joint Chiefs. In that capacity he is pledged to stand on the Constitution. The articulation of his belief that "homosexual acts are immoral" is perfectly appropriate when he's out of uniform and in the church, but our Constitution means nothing if, in our public life, we cannot balance our voice of faith with the voice of citizenship.

Charles "Chuck" Colson
3:35 PM

Please do tell me why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should be disqualified from expressing in public life his moral convictions and the standards he has sworn to uphold for integrity in the military? I would want to know, before confirming any one for high public office, whether they accepted high moral standards and integrity. Why did people object to the homosexual statement and not his criticism of heterosexual adulterous relationships? I still say the Times was very intolerant.

I take Diana's position, and I would strongly disagree that we have taken God out of public life...That is a red herring that feeds on the paranoia of Old Testament Christians...What we have taken out of public life is sectarianism, and that is a good thing...For if your God is sovereign, you have nothing to fear from heretical belief systems and may have something to gain from listening to their take on morality and ethics...

Never in my lifetime have I experienced so great an interest in things spiritual, and I have lived almost 7 decades...In fact, I would posture that we are for the first time in our history bringing God into public life - recognizing that people of faith are impacted by their world view and that it carries over into their obligations to Caesar...

What plagues the Christian Right is that they have fallen victim to a free-will doctrine that requires clever stories to convince people to salvation...In fact, that is not salvation; that is membership in the born-again club...We already have too many saved people, thanks to those great evangelistic rallies; let's work on discipleship!

The Apostle Paul tells us clearly to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling...When American Christians begin to do that, they will shine wherever they are...Until that time, I ask if Baal is the god of America...AND, I am an evangelical pastor and theologian...

As for General Pace, that was a stupid statement in his official capacity...He is an agent of Caesar...While he may very well be right, it adds nothing to the equation to let his troops know that disdain for homosexuality comes from the top...He ought to be fired...Better he had put together a prayer group of like-minded officers on his own time, asking God how to handle the situation...I would remind Chuck that we are all immoral..."There is none righteous; no not one." Christianity is not a religion of moral codes; it is a religion of divine transformation into the ability to adhere to moral codes...

Chuck,you're getting a bit senile - forgetting that God has used you in a mighty way to reach millions - all without any bit of public endorsement...I was once introduced to you as the next "Governor of Maine," thankfully wrongly...The first word out of your mouth was "Why?" Because it is possible to bring your faith with you into Caesar's court; that is why...But it will be impossible to do so if McChurch continues to insist that faith means to put the Ten Commandments over the courthouse portico...

You have forgotten that you brought your "faith" into the Nixon Whitehouse...You brought another faith into the courthouse and made a huge impact (by the grace of God, BTW)...

Stan Moody, Christian Policy Institute, author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry."

McChurch - Just War, or Just Fear?

How Many Deaths in Iraq Before U.S. Churches Say Enough?

(I was in my first month as a freshman Republican legislator in the Maine House of Representatives when a non-binding resolution appeared asking the President to exhaust all means of diplomacy before going into Iraq...When the vote was tallied, I was the only elected Republican (out of 81 Republicans) to vote for the measure...Needless to say, I no longer am a Republican...

Stan Moody, author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry.")

Robert Parham
01-02-07

How many more American troops and Iraqi civilians must die before America's churches speak a prophetic word to President Bush that violence only begets more violence and more violence is not an acceptable path forward?

How long before American Christians practice the Christianity of the one called Prince of Peace, who told his followers that peacemakers were the children of God and one disciple to put away his sword? How long, O God, how long?

On Sunday, the 3,000th American soldier died in Iraq. December became the third deadliest month of the war with 111 military fatalities, exceeded only by April 2004 with 135 deaths and November 2004 with 137 deaths.

More than 22,000 U.S. troops have been injured.

Associated Press estimates that over 2,180 Iraqis were killed in December, the worst month for civilian deaths in 20 months. The average daily death rate in December was 75 people. Iraqi Body Count estimates civilian deaths between 52,297 and 57,871.

An estimated 1.6 million Iraqis have fled from their homes but remain in Iraq. Another 1.8 million Iraqis are refugees in neighboring countries.

On the day that American newspapers carried front page headlines in extra large type about the hanging of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity, one news story went largely unnoticed.

The Pentagon will request nearly $100 billion more in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than the $70 billion appropriated in September. The military wants $170 billion for fiscal year 2007, representing a 45 percent increase over what Congress approved for 2006. Congress has appropriated over $500 billion for Iraq, Afghanistan and other anti-terrorism operations since 2001.

How much more treasure must be wasted? How much more blood must be spilled?

President Bush's answer is more spilled blood, more wasted treasure.

The Bush administration is reportedly pushing for a massive surge in troops, an undefined "short-term" increase of as many as 30,000 troops, to achieve an undefined mission in a nation locked in a civil war.

Bush, who often said he would increase troop levels if commanders asked for more armed forces, now appears to be pressing military leaders to ask for more troops.

Neoconservatives, who play a pivotal role in the rush into war under flawed pretenses, are campaigning for the military surge. One has advocated a "permanent surge" in armed forces.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that the Bush administration had not offered a clear purpose for additional troops that would justify more American casualties. He expressed doubt that a surge in troops would work.

If all politics really are local, then local churches are the linchpins to politics. If churches are the linchpins, then church pulpits are the center point to the politics of war. If church pulpits are the center point to the politics of war, then the church pastors are the core to a new direction in Iraq.

The war in Iraq is the preeminent moral issue before the American church, and clergy are at the heart of what the nation does next.

The war in Iraq is neither a Democratic nor Republican political issue. It is neither a pro-military nor anti-military issue. It is neither a pro-Israel nor anti-Israel issue.

It is not a negotiable moral issue, as preacher Rick Warren said when he endorsed Bush in 2004, identifying five non-negotiable moral issues such as gay marriage, stem cell research and abortion.

The war in Iraq is the preeminent moral issue of our time.

Make no mistake. The American public opposes the war for pragmatic reasons. It isn't working. The reasons given for it were false. The promised progress was a lie. No victory is near.

The public doesn't need more understanding of the issue. The public doesn't need to be more patient. The public does need moral clarity that informs their growing opposition to the war.

Surging troop levels violate three of the time-honored rules of a just war. First, a surge does not provide a reasonable hope for success. It only prolongs the failed war. Winning the war is a myth. Second, a surge does not ensure non-combatant civilian immunity from war. It only escalates in a civil war the number of deaths and disfigurements. Third, a surge increases the war's costs which already outweigh the original goals for the war.

Now is the time for churches to speak with moral clarity, as moral surge protectors, from a reckless escalation of the Iraqi war.

Robert Parham is executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics.

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