Friday, June 10, 2005
Post the First
I thought it would be perfectly logical to begin a left - leaning blog with a quote from one of the 1960s leading conservatives....
"On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being.
"But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.
"I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of conservatism."
~Barry Goldwater
This man ran for President of the United States in 1964, on the Republican ticket. How did we get from there to here in 40 years? How did the Christian Church allow itself to be so prominently identified with one political idealogy? How did that view of politics allow itself to be so totally dominated by one group of people?
I know that there are many, many Christian people who's views on neo-conservative values, as expressed in today's political climate, range from suspicion to abhorrence. But how have they lost their voice? Why has ground been ceded to what is really just religious extremism, to the point where in the non-Christian mind, Christianity = right-wing politics?
"On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being.
"But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.
"I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of conservatism."
~Barry Goldwater
This man ran for President of the United States in 1964, on the Republican ticket. How did we get from there to here in 40 years? How did the Christian Church allow itself to be so prominently identified with one political idealogy? How did that view of politics allow itself to be so totally dominated by one group of people?
I know that there are many, many Christian people who's views on neo-conservative values, as expressed in today's political climate, range from suspicion to abhorrence. But how have they lost their voice? Why has ground been ceded to what is really just religious extremism, to the point where in the non-Christian mind, Christianity = right-wing politics?
