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Give Up Moralizing and Politics

• Posted by Theresa on July 30th, 2006 filed in My Musings, Believe It or Not

The religious right has used religion as a sword against everyone they disagree with. The sword causes me to disrespect them and their God, on whose behalf they claim to speak. It is hard to carry on a conversation with them because they are so set in their belief that they are right. I find that the extreme Bush-lovers are the worst. I clarify that by saying that I don’t think that everyone who voted for Bush falls into this catagory, but some people are more adamant about Bush being right they are about anything else.

President George Bush is not the Pope - he not infallible! He is a man that sometimes does the right thing and sometimes does they wrong thing. I wish the religious right/Bush-lovers would be just a little more open instead of having to be right.

I read about a pastor of a church that has my admiration- Rev.Gregory A. Boyd. He says the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a ‘Christian nation’ and stop glorifying American military campaigns.

“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”

Some of my friends are Bush Believers and they think that if you are Christian you will vote for Bush. Mostly I don’t say anything when they discuss politics, because there is no way to discuss with them. I usually make no comment and hope they just move on. Luckily, not all of my Christian friends are like that.

Reverend Boyd has a new book out: “The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power si Destroying the Shurch” based on the series of sermons that he preached that lost him about 1000 members (out of 5000). Not to many people would take the risk to speak out about something like that, especially when it affects their paycheck.

“There is a lot of discontent brewing,” said Brian D. McLaren, the founding pastor at Cedar Ridge Community Church in Gaithersburg, Md., and a leader in the evangelical movement known as the “emerging church,” which is at the forefront of challenging the more politicized evangelical establishment.

“More and more people are saying this has gone too far - the dominance of the evangelical identity by the religious right,” Mr. McLaren said. “You cannot say the word ‘Jesus’ in 2006 without having an awful lot of baggage going along with it. You can’t say the word ‘Christian,’ and you certainly can’t say the word ‘evangelical’ without it now raising connotations and a certain cringe factor in people.

“Because people think, ‘Oh no, what is going to come next is homosexual bashing, or pro-war rhetoric, or complaining about ‘activist judges.’ “

I recommend reading the whole article on Rev. Boyd and his sermons. To sum it, when one of his congegation asked him, “So why NOT us? If we contain the wisdom and grace and love and creativity of Jesus, why shouldn’t we be the ones involved in politics and setting laws?”

Mr. Boyd responded: “I don’t think there’s a particular angle we have on society that others lack. All good, decent people want good and order and justice. Just don’t slap the label ‘Christian’ on it.”

Here, here, Reverend Boyd.

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