reality-based educator

From the Washington Post:

Long overshadowed by the Christian right, religious liberals across a wide swath of denominations are engaged today in their most intensive bout of political organizing and alliance-building since the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s, according to scholars, politicians and clergy members.

In large part, the revival of the religious left is a reaction against conservatives' success in the 2004 elections in equating moral values with opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Religious liberals say their faith compels them to emphasize such issues as poverty, affordable health care and global warming. Disillusionment with the war in Iraq and opposition to Bush administration policies on secret prisons and torture have also fueled the movement.

"The wind is changing. Folks -- not just leaders -- are fed up with what is being portrayed as Christian values," said the Rev. Tim Ahrens, senior minister of First Congregational Church of Columbus, Ohio, and a founder of We Believe Ohio, a statewide clergy group established to ensure that the religious right is "not the only one holding a megaphone" in the public square.

"As religious people we're offended by the idea that if you're not with the religious right, you're not moral, you're not religious," said Linda Gustitus, who attends Bethesda's River Road Unitarian Church and is a founder of the new Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture. "I mean there's a whole universe out there [with views] different from the religious right. . . . People closer to the middle of the political spectrum who are religious want their voices heard."

I cannot tell you how often I want to put my foot through the TV when I hear some idiotic TV talking head like Chris Matthews, Tim Russert, Wolf Blitzer, Norah O'Donnell et al. repeat the GOP meme that the religious right and conservative evangelical Christians have a monopoly on the morality and spirituality in the country.

After the 2004 election, all we heard was how religious the country had become and how religious voters in general shy away from secular politicians like Howard Dean (and the Democratic party in general.) We heard how Democrats have to become publicly comfortable talking about their religious faiths if they ever hope to appeal to religious Americans (or "values voters") and how they have to co-opt some of the right's positions on issues like abortion and gay marriage if they want to have a chance to win in the wide swath of Red States in the middle of the country.

Yet we never hear from Tweety or Pumpkinhead how there might just be some religious values beyond abortion and gay bashing. We never hear about the proponents of the Social Gospel who work to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, comfort the afflict, and bring peace to the world (you know, stuff Jesus might want done.) We never hear that the Catholic Church's Culture of Life decries not only abortion but also the death penalty and pre-emptive wars. We never hear that for most of the 20th Century it was the Religious Left that led the way in American politics (the Civil Rights movement, the Women's Rights movement, the Progressive movement) while the Religious right didn't come to prominence until Roe v. Wade politicized the religious right and spurred Jerry Falwell to organize the Moral Majority and work with conservaitve Catholics to overturn abortion. Somehow Tweety Bird and the rest of the parrots assume the Religious Right has always been the more vocal and politically active wing (and thus will always be.)

I'm glad to see members of the Religious Left taking the initiative to remind both the American electorate and the entrenched news media that there is more to religion than the values of the Religious Right and that you don't have to be a Moral Majority member and a registered Republican to claim to be trying to live a moral life.

I remember a while back CNN's Wolf Blitzer calling some right-wing talking head a good Catholic (I think it was Bill Bennett actually, but I can't be sure) and then saying "Here's Paul Begala, who's a Catholic as well, though I don't know if he's a good one." Begala was rightly offended at The Beard's remarks because Blitzer's insinuation was clear: Right-wingers are good Catholics, left-wingers are not. Under the same formula, Likud Party members are good Jews, Labor members are not. The idea is patently absurd and bigots like Blitzer need to be called out on it.

Of course, the biggest reason why I want members of the Religious Left to come to prominence in the media is because their message is important. Wouldn't it be nice to hear the self-described religious people on TV talk about peace, social justice, fair wages, equality and opportunity for all rather than gay-bashing and abortion-banning initiatives?