Posted on 01/03/2005 2:56:16 PM PST by cougar_mccxxi
I Am A Conservative Christian, And The Religious Right Scares Me
by Chuck Baldwin
For those readers who are unfamiliar with my biography (http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.sketch.html), let me here provide a thumbnail sketch of my conservative bona fides:
I attended, graduated, or received degrees from fundamentalist Christian schools such as Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan, Thomas Road Bible Institute (now known as Liberty Bible Institute at Liberty University) in Lynchburg, Virginia, Christian Bible College in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, Florida.
I am currently in my thirtieth year as the Senior Pastor of the Crossroad Baptist Church (Independent) in Pensacola, Florida. I was the Executive Director of the Florida Moral Majority in the early 1980's. I was an active member of the local Christian Coalition.
I have marched and protested against abortion clinics. I have led several pro-life rallies and even led our church to construct A Memorial To Aborted Babies (http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/abortion_crosses.html). I have conducted small and large (some drawing crowds numbering in the thousands) pro-life, pro-family rallies and meetings in the Pensacola area and in many towns and cities across the state of Florida.
When Ronald Reagan was running for President, I helped Dr. Jerry Falwell register more than fifty thousand new conservative voters in my state. I have attended White House functions with former President Reagan and former Vice President George H.W. Bush.
I supported and defended Chief Justice Roy Moore and his fight to display a Ten Commandments monument at a pro-Ten Commandments rally in Montgomery, Alabama and even on national television.
I am an annual member of the National Rifle Association and a life member of Gun Owners of America. I have been the featured speaker at several pro-Second Amendment rallies.
No one can honestly question my commitment to pro-life, pro- family, conservative causes. That being said, the Religious Right, as it now exists, scares me.
For one reason, on the whole, the Religious Right has obviously and patently become little more than a propaganda machine for the Republican Party in general and for President G.W. Bush in particular. This is in spite of the fact that both Bush and the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., have routinely ignored and even trampled the very principles which the Religious Right claims to represent.
Therefore, no longer does the Religious Right represent conservative, Christian values. Instead, they represent their own self-serving interests at the expense of those values.
It also appears painfully obvious to me that in order to sit at the king's table, the Religious Right is willing to compromise any principle, no matter how sacred. As such, it has become a hollow movement. Sadly, the Religious Right is now a movement without a cause, except the cause of advancing the Republican Party.
Beyond that, the Religious Right is actively assisting those who would destroy our freedoms. On the whole, the Religious Right comports with those within the Bush administration and within the Republican Party who, in the name of "fighting terrorism," are actually terrorizing constitutional protections of our liberties.
The Religious Right offered virtually no resistance to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the passage of the Patriot Act, or the recently created position of National Intelligence Director. Neither did the Religious Right offer even a whimper of protest as President Bush and Republicans in Congress created a first-ever national ID card in the new intelligence bill, which eerily has more in common with early Twentieth Century German and Russian intelligence institutions than anything envisioned by America's Founding Fathers.
Another disconcerting feature of today's Religious Right is its attempt to Christianize political entities which it supports and to demonize political entities which it opposes. This trend is especially scary.
When people are told that they are voting "Christian" by voting for Republican Party candidates, it is being intimated that they are voting non-Christian by voting for any other candidate. This is not only silly on its face, it is downright dangerous!
I don't remember anyone saying people voted "Christian" when they elected the outspoken Christian candidate, Jimmy Carter, President. Yet, Carter, in his personal life, demonstrated as much, if not more, Christianity than does George W. Bush. If you recall, Carter even taught Sunday School in a Southern Baptist Church while President.
However, in spite of the fact that President Bush and the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., have repeatedly supported copious unchristian (not to mention unconstitutional) programs and policies, Christians act as if Bush and his fellow Republicans have ushered in the Millennial Kingdom.
More than that, the Religious Right appears to believe that G.W. Bush is the anointed vicar of Christ. But instead of wearing the garb of a religious leader, he wears the shroud of a politico and a military commander-in-chief.
As such, in the minds of the Religious Right, Bush's war in Iraq is a holy crusade. America is fast taking on the shape of the old Holy Roman Empire and President Bush is quickly morphing into a modern day Caesar.
The willingness of the Religious Right to give President Bush king-like subservience is easily seen in the way they demonize anyone who dares to oppose him. This is very unnerving.
Are we heading for a modern day religious inquisition, this one led not by the Catholic Church but by the Religious Right? Are we witnessing the type of marriage between Church and State that America's founders originally feared?
I used to believe that liberals were paranoid for being fearful of conservative Christians gaining political power. Now, I share their trepidation.
Of course, the sad truth is, neither George W. Bush nor the Republican Party in Washington, D.C. represents genuine Christian or even conservative principles. If they did, they would take their oaths to the Constitution seriously and then neither liberals nor conservatives would have anything to fear, for the U.S. Constitution protects the rights and freedoms of all men.
Unfortunately, when the seed of Bush's unconstitutional policies come to fruition, it will produce large scale fallout economically, socially, and politically. And sadder still will be that, instead of blaming Bush's infidelity to constitutional government and conservative principles, people will blame Christianity and conservatism itself. The result of this miscalculation will doubtless be a massive tide of support for more and greater unconstitutional government, but only under a different name.
Chuck Baldwin
I was getting ready to rip this guy a new vestment, but after reading all the comments, I have to say, thank GOD for all you good conservatives who actually made me laugh. This character is defiantly a liberal. This is what I was going to say before I decided not to do so:
This character is trying to impress with his curricula vita. I’m not impressed. Like Al Gore who managed to flunk out of theological seminary, while GWB was obtaining his Masters from Harvard Business School, this pathetic pawn of the left wing atheist party, is just as laughable.
Right has obviously and patently become little more than a propaganda machine for the Republican Party. To which I say BS (bogus statement) If that isn’t liberal bias than I don’t know what is?
The sound of a democrat is so obvious to me in the following statement: the Religious Right is now a movement without a cause, except the cause of advancing the Republican Party. So vote democrat? Is that the point here?
in the name of "fighting terrorism," are actually terrorizing constitutional protections of our liberties. Don’ make me puke. The use of the word terror to refer to what the Bush administration may or may not be doing with respect to constitutional guarantees of liberty is so obviously a liberal. If he is indeed a pastor, then I expect he is a very confused complex personality.
Mr. Pastor impostor, do not tell me that voting for Kerry is the Christian thing to do when he supports abortion on demand, when he supports late term abortion. Do not tell me that as a Christian I should have voted for any democrat that guarantees gays the constitutional right to engage in anal intercourse.
"Simple question: in your mind and way of thinking, are all religions equally valid?"
No. I think all people are equally valid as long as they do not infringe on someone else's rights. I want to build a tolerant society where not all people get along, but where people do not need to kill each other or put each other down to exist.
"If you want proof then look at the extreme diversity of our population, the different religions and the different ideologies all living together in this country and not one being threatened by another. That is what WE are all about!"
You should find out how many temples, mosques and people ( for having brown skin) were attacked after 9-11. Did you know that a Sikh has more in common with Hindu beliefs and practices than Muslims and they were killed after 9-11 because they where a turban. Did you know that after the Indian government started persecuting Sikhs more of them started wearing turbans. The same is happening with orthodox Muslims, women are wearing the veil in larger numbers. In fact, in the Washington Post I read an article where secular Muslim women are wearing the veil in Iraq more for their safety. We are dealing with large complex populations, and I think that George W. Bush wants you all to belive that the statement above is true about America. And the fact is that it is true for some people, but not for everybody. People hate each other in the US and kill each other for their beliefs, or just the way they look. Is that what WE are all about? Obviously not since you said so above, but I know by the fact that people are abused and killed here, that WE have a lot of work to do to reach the ideal espoused in the statement above.
I will leave that up to you to provide me with those facts since it is your allegation........One has to wonder what propaganda you are reading.
That is an absolute lie and I challenge you to provide evidence for your claim!
Are you trying to tell me that such a society does not exist here in the United States? Or are you implying that WHERE YOU LIVE SUCH A SOCIETY DOES NOT EXIST?
Care to let the rest of us know where it is exactly that you live?
"Dear Sashah:
I have been thinking alot about your keen intellectual insight into the failings of our global interactions. Since I have been unable to come up with any alternatives to what our country is now doing, I humbly ask you what is your profound answer to the global terrorism that has been going on for the past 30+ years?
Specifically, what would you do to counteract all the acts of aggression by the muslim extremists that have occured globally for the past several decades?"
First, we need to look at how these extremist were stimulated into action. But I know among a group of people like this that may be a can of worms. So I'll just say that we need really think hard and deep in our hearts about what it would mean to respect other people's sovereignty, whether it is sovereignty of the nation, the family or the individual. How can we create truly soverign subjects who do not wish to infringe upon nations, families or individuals rights. That is the other first step in realizing a more hospitable world, I think. I mean think about it, WE want to be free to do what we want, to live the way we want. But society is not like that the government infringes upon our freedom all the time, and it also expands them like the road network across this nation that enables us to drive practically anywhere. So one way is to make human rights the marker for who to respect. But some things are more subtle like forcing people to wear a veil, or not allowing it like the French did in their schools. Or not allowing someone to have abortion, or allowing it as we have done in this country for quite a while. Ultimately, I think these questions about the veil or abortion, the government is infringing on the sovereignty of the family and the individual. We need to all talk about and work on where we do and don't want the government infringing on our own sovereignty. So in the case of the mid-east you have multi-national corporations and the US infrnging on multiple levels of soverignty--the government, the family, the individual, the mosque, etc. Or at least that is how the so-called religious extremists see it. The fact that we have supported many of these governments in the mid-east for long time and the fact that those mid-east governments have infringed on the rights of families, individuals and churches in those locales is part of the reason why we are in this mess. It would be nice if they hated us jsut because we beleive in freedom and democracy, but it's just not true; there is a lot more going on and no one is willing to think about it. There is no easy answer and like I said before to actually create a world where people were genuinely tolerant of each other while being wary of abusing or killing each other is almost like a pipe dream. But I like to believe dreams can come true.
I'm actually just thinking off the top of my head about sovereignty and rights, but I do feel that what I said would make a good paradigm to follow to avoid conflict. Unfortunately, in this war there is a lot more at stake like the US economy: oil, reconstruction contracts, the weapons industry, racism, religious intolerance, geopolitical strategy, etc. I would love to do laundry list of how to stop acts of agression by muslim extremists, but the fact of the matter is that they see us as extremists too. When we both see each other as the antagonist, who is going to suck up their pride and say "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry we got into this mess. Let's stop killing each other." Is it going to be you?
We Christians belive in loving our neighbors, as well as our enemies. But our God has also warned us that there are those who will only listen to the sword...and the agents of our government are authorized by God to defend the weak and the oppressed with the sword, if need be.
Look it up on google for yourself, so that you cannot assume that it is propaganda. It seems here that anything I say or provide may be propaganda. In addition, it saddens me that you think I am lying, I am giving my perspective and what I have learned. If you do not repsect it or wish to know if it is actually true by making the effort to learn, then you have already proved that we are heading in a direction towards more intolerance and violence. How do you think somebody gets to the point of wanting to kill somebody else?
She's probably right. Any society with that many Muslims is going to have massive violence. The difference is that the Hindus and others in India don't respond with candlelight vigils (as in Spain) or ACLU lawsuits (as in US). They take matters into their own hands - and a lot of us respect that.
"Do you acknowledge that there are people in this world who do not want to "get along" and who do not feel the need to negotiate? That there are people in this world who do not tolerate others in society, and believe that the sword and the bomb are the only way to get what they want? And that they only respond to in-kind force? That is the real world that we live in."
I know. But do you want to change that? How does change happen? I was at a Methodist church in San Francisco (where I live, come on with intolerance...I know you wantto say it) on the day after Christmas and the reverend said, "you cannot change people, you can only change yourself." I don't exactly believ this, but I do believe that the change you make in yourself is what is ultimately matters. So I'm asking you all to just start think about creating a new kind of world without the violence and intolerance that currently exists.
"Any society with that many Muslims is going to have massive violence."
This is a racist statement. You know nothing about why there is Hindu and Muslim violence in India. You know nothing about the partition or about how so many did not wnat it to happen. But if there is Mulsims there is going to be violence. I'm sad that this type racism circulates these forums and permeates our society and world.
"This is a racist statement."
You're right - sorry.
I meant to say any society that has that many Muslims paired with that many non-Muslims is going to have massive violence between the Muslims and non-Muslims. I can name many, many, examples to support my assertion - how many can you name to dispute it.
"Your complaints are vague and some are straight out of Far Left conspiracy theories.
So let's see if you'll be more specific": -Calif Conservative
Ok, here we go :)
Item 1, state, not federal issue.
Item 2, state, not federal issue.
Item 3, good luck Mr. President.
Item 4, state, not federal issue.
Item 5, Time will tell; maybe the Russians have some insight on this one.
"Whatever. What a worthless article." -Dr. Frank fan
Can it be judged as a worthless article considering the size of your commentary regarding the subject?
"Yeah, and Bill Clinton carried a 20-pound Bible with him to church on Sundays when he was president."
You think that Bible was real? I always figured it was a balsa wood Hollywood stage prop. With his degenerate drug-weakened muscles, he used to kind of swing it around way too easily.
Iraqi Freedom is a great mission of hope; I say this meaning two things. The first hope is that a democratic government will take hold in Iraq and be the seed for spreading representative forms of government throughout the region making the world safer. The second hope is that it will work at all.
Is Iraqi Freedom based on noble grounds? Of course it is, no doubt. However, nobility is not necessarily the equal of logic or common sense. One needs to be balanced in their emotions and their logic.
Bob - are you suggesting I'm a "seminar" blogger? I listen
to Rush often and know exactly what he means by "seminar
caller." Again, I may be misunderstanding you so forgive me
if I ask for a clarification. Yes, I am a conservative and
everything I've written on FR clearly indicates that. More
to the point, what did you think of my commentary?
Excuse me for interjecting this into your dialogue with Bobl but Pakistan was originally part of India and the
Indians were so brutally persecuted by Muslims in the
northwest of India that the British created the new nation
we today call Pakestan in 1947. In essence, Pakestan was born out of Islamic fanaticism.
Thanks you for kind message, and please accept my profound apologies.
My comment was directed at the original poster of this thread, because it seemed to mimic exactly what Rush gets on the radio. I wrote it as a message to you and others (explaining the original poster's tactic) precisely because I fully agreed with your comments.
I have absolutely no problem with your comments and will be much more careful in the future to identify my intended targets.
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