The Christian Right, or as Wesley Clark calls it the "Christian Wrong," would want us all to believe that they are the only "true" Christians. It's the same thing, by the way, with fundamentalist Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and basically every other religion on the planet. The hardliners, usually a minority, often manage to boss around the more-numerous moderates and progressives in their faith. The religious hardliners also tend to gravitate towards the most right-wing, ultra-nationalistic, aggressive and intolerant political ideologies in their countries. In the United States, it happens to be fundamentalist Christianity and right-wing Republicanism. However, it doesn't always have to be this way. Two stories this weekend, for instance, remind us that there are many deeply religious people who are moderates and progressive politically. First, there's the story in today's Washington Post about an "intensely religious" Mennonite man, Edward R. Myers, who is strongly "devoted to God" but is also "passionate about his opposition to reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools, which Myers believes unconstitutionally mingles God and government and dilutes his religion." According to Myers, mixing chuch and state is "heresy" according to his Mennoniite beliefs:
Government is about keeping civil order. Church is about loving and worshiping God. You don't mix . . . loving God because of free choice with something that's about duty and where you were born.
Interestingly, some conservative Christians appear to have a grudging respect for Myers' opposition to allowing the words "under God" to remain in the Pledge of Allegiance. According to Joe Glover, President of the conservative Christian Family Policy Network:
Not wanting the state to establish who God is? We're in agreement on that. I would hope that evangelicals especially would not jump to conclusions about Ed Myers. I hope they would think through his presuppositions and not assume he's trying to be a fly in the ointment.
Very interesting. We'll see how this case plays out in the Supreme Court, where it appears destined to end up.
The second story involves today's decision by the United Church of Christ's (UCC's) rule-making body, the General Synod, to approve a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage. The Synod, which voted overwhelmingly (80%) in favor of the resolution, was described by UCC's president, Rev. John H. Thomas, as having "acted courageously to declare freedom.'' In addition, the resolution "calls on member churches of the liberal denomination of 1.3 million to consider wedding policies 'that do not discriminate against couples based on gender.''' Wow.
The point here is not to debate the specific issues in question here - having the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and one church's approval of gay marriage. The point here is merely to point out that the political right wing does not have a monopoly on Christianity or any other religion in this country. Quite the contrary, there are tens of millions of deeply religious progressives and moderates who are simply not as vocal, focused, and politically well-organized as their conservative counterparts.
By the way, I personally admire right-wing Christians for their long-term dedication to achieving their goals and their willingness to fight for what they believe. I admire them even though I vehemently disagree with just about everything they stand for. And I strongly defend their right to fight for their beliefs. All I'm saying is that I wish other people of faith would push their own, more moderate and progressive views equally hard in the political arena. When they don't, they simply cede the ground to one specific faction of their faith. And that, in my opinion, is deeply unfortunate.