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
CHUCKIE... come down out of there THIS MINUTE..
(pause)
I'm WAITING....
Well, there is a comprehension problem, but it isn't on this end. Do we take Bush at his word or not? Would he have signed a ban renewal, had it passed? He said he would. Are you saying that he lied?
Not when he is talking to the press.
The press is not our friend, a fact which evidently totally escapes your tiny little mind.
I won't go farther with this, but I think you're going down a misleading road here. Talking to the press is talking to me and talking to you. If he lies to them, as you assert, then he lies to me and to you. Straight shooting is, or was, one of the fundamental positive attributes that Bush had going for him.
If you, an unabashed supporter, take that away from him, it is a serious blow indeed to his credibility. Let's forget you staked out that position. Leave the "says one thing, but believes and does another" to critics. That cannot be what a true believer thinks.
I am making of list of the things that the religious right has done that threatens my family, my life, or my business. So far, my list is up to zero.
So you would rather have had Ari Fleischer say "Bush would veto the AWB renewal if it hits his desk," given the press something to demagogue, had the AWB pass and Bush's veto overridden?
Or would you rather have had Bush "lie" through a spokemen and get what we want.
It's really pretty simple: what's more important to you, dragging your knuckles, or winning?
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.
Good point
Yep. Chuck nails it dead, solid, perfect here.
Ah, yes, the old "it's okay to lie as long as it serves a good cause" reasoning. How low this forum has sunk.
Are you a Constamatooshinalist Party supporter?
You are a fraud. These are not Christian or moral issues. They are constitutional issues and issues regarding the "efficient" (ha ha) administration of the executive function of government.
Like when he said president Bush would not be reelected?
SS Next time you see Chuck ask him why he lied?
Maybe if I would read this article a second time some understanding of Chuck Baldwin's problem would filter thru but I honestly doubt it would help. We did not vote to elect a Pope, and President Bush did not run as a potential such. I believe that George Bush endeavors to render unto Cesare that which is his and to God that which belongs to God. I believe we elected a good man as President but he is not infallible, any more than is Chuck Baldwin. I would not vote for Baldwin regardless of his activist, conservative, resume. He is, IMO, what he says he fears.
Bullseye!
No, that is the simple truth.
You apparently either want to help Moore and Clinton, or are incapable of thinking your actions through.
In neither case should real conservatives follow your suggestions.
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