Posted on 12/18/2004 7:37:17 PM PST by ambrose
I Am A Conservative Christian, And The Religious Right Scares Me, Too
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By Chuck Baldwin
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The Covenant News ~ December 15, 2004 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those readers who are unfamiliar with my biography, 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. 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 chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com Chuck Baldwin Live http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com
I Am A Democrat, And The Religious Right Scares Me
MORE LIKE IT!!
Hey, Chuck baby, no matter how much you and your pals in Hollywood want it, I'm not gonna' vote for a Democrat!
reality check bump!--never vote for a label, vote for character and those who support the Constitution, personal property rights and protections, Biblical values, the Ten Commandments and Israel.
That said, I voted for Bush and am very glad he won. Now we need to keep his nose to the grindstone like every other politician....
Should I yawn? Laugh? Scowl? Send Chuck a nice note?
Your going to catch a lot of flack on this one, but I agree with most of the article. - good post.
I vote the party more than the man. The Dems are a hotbed of ANTI-religious zealots.
Looks like Chuck's off his meds again.
There are people who call themselves Republicans but who support John McCain. So I guess Chucky is a CHINO (Christian In Name Only?)
Chuck Baldwin is a moron of the highest order and gives Christians a bad name.
AS I said in 2000, Bush wasn't the best Republican for the job, but he was infinitely better than Gore or - what was his name? Oh, yes, Jim Kearney and his running mate Stu Ped.
This is the liberal tactic of the day: paint all religious conservatives as Jim Bakkers on steroids that want to come to your house, take everything you own, and give it to some rich guy.
I agree. Round up the 'Religious Right' and take them back to the leftist inquisition. Far less scary 'eh?
Let me see if I understand this correctly. Bush and the Republicans aren't perfect, so we shouldn't vote for them?
In "The City of God," St. Augustine wrote that as Christians we aspire to be citizens of heaven, but in the meantime we are "peregrinatores" in the City of Man, which in his time was Rome. When possible, we have a duty to work together with and help our neighbors in the City of Man.
This is simply a development of what Jesus said not long before he went into Jerusalem to be crucified: "Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God that which is God's." That doesn't just mean we have to pay our taxes; it means that where it doesn't conflict with our duty to God we owe a duty to the nation or state in which we live.
Sure, if Bush betrays his religious base, they will be pretty angry, and they won't vote Republican again in 2006. Bush understands this, and hopefully Karl Rove does too.
No politician is ever going to give us everything we want. But unless both the candidates are plain evil, it's usually best to vote for the better of the two. In the case of Bush, you don't even have to hold your nose.
Well, no. Not IMO.
Christians are more concerned with things of an eternal nature. Not really concerned with comfort and accommodations “now.”
Church, state… whatever.
It’s a finesse game. Not something everyone will “automatically” achieve due to occupying space and breathing air… despite what they’re told, IMO.
He has yet to move on from the denial phase. Give the lad some slack! It's tough admitting that you're a democrat!
Man, I was soo fired up for a zot, and you aren't a Troll lol.
Huh??? Protecting one's nation against terrorism is anti-Christian??? Hogwash. This guy has some good points and some bad ones...as our pastor used to say about such, approach it like you would a fish; eat the meat and discard the bones.
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