Posted on 04/20/2003 11:37:44 PM PDT by kattracks
Edited on 07/12/2004 4:02:45 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The war in Iraq is coming to a victorious close, and members of the American-led coalition are now focusing on the next step in the liberation of the Iraqi people. But, on the homefront, the war goes on.
This domestic war has been simmering for decades, but fighting has intensified since September 11 and, more recently, the Iraqi war. It is the struggle for the soul of America, which is being carried out by two diametrically opposed armies. One is made up of traditional Americans with Judeo-Christian beliefs, who contend, as President Bush does, that America is a force for good in the world, which is ruled by God.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
| Posted by razorbak to jude24 On News/Activism 04/11/2003 7:44 AM PDT #106 of 107 War support more likely in pews than from pulpits By Robert Stacy McCain THE WASHINGTON TIMES Antiwar rhetoric rings from many U.S. pulpits, but the people in the pews support President Bush's policy in Iraq. U.S. Christians back war with Iraq by about a 2-to-1 margin, according to the latest survey, even as many clergy have emerged as leading voices opposing Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Pew Research Center found 61 percent of churchgoers support the war versus 28 percent who oppose it. That gap between clergy and laity is not surprising to Bishop C. Joseph Sprague of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church, who has been outspoken in his opposition to war. "You see these same kind of figures when you look at other issues, when you look at gender inclusivity," he said. "I remember when you saw the same gap on issues such as race." A conservative Methodist layman agreed the gap is not new. "This chasm between church bureaucrats in the mainline denominations versus the people in the pews is a chasm that has existed for years," said James Heidinger, chairman of the Association for Church Renewal, which advocates a return to traditional theology in Protestant churches. "Our dilemma [in the United Methodist Church] is that about 70 percent of our membership describe themselves as 'conservative' on moral and theological issues -- and, I would add, probably on social issues as well," Mr. Heidinger said. "But it is our leadership and those who have moved to posts in our boards and agencies, and the National Council of Churches, who are very liberal in their social views and politics." Martin E. Marty, a leading church historian, noted that unlike the war in Vietnam, when clerical antiwar activism grew slowly as the conflict turned into a quagmire, American clergy opposed war with Iraq long before the first bombs fell. The clergy have not been so visibly opposed to the outbreak of hostilities since before Pearl Harbor in 1941, he told the Associated Press. The Pew survey found the biggest gap of opinion on the war between shepherds and their flocks appears among Catholics and among "mainline" Protestants -- such denominations as Methodists, Episcopalians and Lutherans. Such surveys shouldn't influence the clergy, said the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches. "The prophets of the Old Testament never had a majority, never took a poll, never took a vote to see what God's will is," said Mr. Edgar, an opponent of the war. One reason Protestant laity and clergy differ on the war, Bishop Sprague said, is that some mainline pastors are reluctant to address controversial issues. "On the part of many of our clergy, there has been a hesitancy to do the hard teaching that needs to be done on matters of peace and justice," said Bishop Sprague. Mr. Edgar compared clergy who are afraid to criticize the war to the Sadducees and Pharisees. "I think it's the same problem Jesus had. The Sadducees and Pharisees who were the religious leaders of that day didn't want to listen to his prophetic voice," Mr. Edgar said. "They, too, were on automatic pilot and not engaged in their society. They didn't understand Jesus when he said, 'Love thine enemy.' They hated their enemies. And when he said, 'Care for the least of these, thy brothers and sisters,' they didn't get it." Bishop Sprague said "social witness in the world" has traditionally been important to Methodists. He noted that both President Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney are Methodists, but said Christianity in America is "largely fascinated with individual piety, not so much with the corporate social mission." Bishop Sprague said much argument about the war involves "just war" theory, a Christian doctrine first articulated by 5th-century theologian Augustine. "But I would posit that very few people in the pews know what the theory is," the bishop said. Antiwar pronouncements from church leaders don't always influence the faithful because churchgoers of every denomination "tend to discriminate between what their clergy can speak to with real competence," said the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a Catholic priest and editor of the conservative journal First Things. "When churchmen talk like political leaders, making prudential judgments in areas where they have no particular competence, the laity very understandably tends to discount what they say," he said. He also said that Catholic teaching says "war is sometimes justified, and even a moral duty." An exception to the clergy-laity divide is the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), where pastors and their congregations mostly see eye-to-eye on issues of war and peace. "Southern Baptist clergy are very supportive of the war, by and large, and so are the laity," said Richard Land, chairman of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Life Committee. That agreement "shouldn't be surprising, because each Southern Baptist congregation votes to call its own pastor," Mr. Land said. "The rank and file elect their leaders, so it would be understandable that there would be far less disconnect between Southern Baptist ministers and their church members." Mr. Land contrasted that congregation-based selection method with other denominations, in which clergy are appointed by the church hierarchy. "No bishop tells a Southern Baptist congregation who to call as pastor. They call their own pastor," he said. "I'd say at least 75 percent of Southern Baptists support the president's policy on Iraq, and there would be virtually no difference between the ministers and the laity," Mr. Land said. "But that shouldn't be surprising since about three out of four Southern Baptists voted for President Bush [a Methodist], against a Southern Baptist, Al Gore." Whereas conservatives fought a long struggle to gain control of Southern Baptist seminaries, Mr. Heidinger said liberal seminaries have an important influence in mainline denominations. Asked why mainline Protestant clergy tend to be liberal, Mr. Heidinger answered: "Unfortunately, they went to seminary. I think most of the mainline denominations have seminaries that are very liberal in their theological understandings, and they produce clergy that are liberal, both theologically as well as politically. "When theology is no longer central in the life of the church, something inevitably steps in to fill the gap," he said, "and among mainline Protestant liberals, that something is political ideology." <\b> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; War on Terror; Click to Add Topic KEYWORDS: Click to Add Keyword -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Report Abuse | Bookmark ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saw this on the front page of the Washington Times. I'm a Southern Baptist, so I found this interesting. One drawback with a non-heirarchical denomination is the inability to tell an individual church to kick a reprobate member out [i.e. Bill Clinton]. But the heirarchical denominations usually don't exercise that perogative anyway, and the heirarchical denominations tend to become liberal more quickly than decentralized denominations. |
It was about three years ago that I discovered that the United Methodist Church as defined by its official doctrine was not a church at all, but was in fact an extreme left-wing, socialist political party. After discovering what the UMC was really all about, I couldn't get out of that organization fast enough.
The unfortunate thing is that most of the good people in the UMC focus on their local church and have no idea what the UMC is really all about. They don't realize that their contributions are being used to fund political action that they would find repugnant.
The local UMC churches in my area operate primarily as social clubs and are used as such by people who don't even attend the UMC church. I know many Catholics who send their children to the UMC church for social activities and for day care -- but that's another story.
Schliemann took his duties seriously. His vision of those duties was clear, and quite at odds with the notions of most newer priests. He had little patience for the social-activist clergymen, whatever their denomination. They seemed to want to make their churches into gathering places for the envious and self-pitying. They were infinitely willing to use politics to impose their visions of good upon others. Father Heinrich Schliemann led no marches, signed no petitions, and never talked politics. While the prelates of the American Church tacitly permitted the social-activist priests to convert the legacy of Saint Peter into a stained-glass staging area for the crusades of special interest groups, the pastor of Onteora parish remained exclusively a man of God.
My readers were almost unanimous in their expressed wishes to have, or to know, a pastor like that.
What was it Christ said about rendering unto Caesar? Our clerics and prelates seem to have forgotten.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
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