President Bush Called "Evil," Evangelicals Equated With Nazis at NCC-Sponsored Conference

The Institute on Religion and Democracy ^ | 5/27/2005 | John Lomperis

[Unam Sanctam]

On April 29 and 30, liberal activists gathered in New York City for a weekend conference on "Examining the Real Agenda of the Religious Far Right." The program consisted of speeches with alarmist titles like "The Rise of Dominionism in U.S. Government," "Is an Unholy American Theocracy Here?," "Christian Jihad," and "Fundamentalism: The Fear and The Rage." There were no conservative Christians on the program.

The conference was sponsored by People for the American Way, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and the National Council of Churches (NCC), along with the left-wing periodicals The Nation and The Village Voice. It was organized by the New York Open Center and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

The tone of the speakers was often quite shrill. "Jim Jones [the 1970s cult leader who led followers in a mass suicide] has gone mainstream!" cried journalist Katherine Yurica. "Today we are living in a nation governed by an unholy cult!" Yurica maintained that the Republican Party had gained power through "Hitlerian tactics." She insisted that evangelical leaders from Billy Graham to Jerry Falwell "had to have read Hitler's Mein Kampf." She explained, "I say this confidently because anyone who has learned to quack like a duck has studied ducks!"

"Our liberties are at stake!" declared the Rev. Bob Edgar, the NCC general secretary. Edgar added that "these may be the darkest times in our history." (It was not clear who or what constituted the "we" for which Edgar spoke. Was it America, the NCC, or the political left that had entered "the darkest times"? Perhaps Edgar's failure to make a distinction among those three was a revealing moment.) According to the NCC leader, all of the gains of the civil rights movement are imperiled by "those in power in Washington" who are "taking us back to the 1940s."

Joan Bokaer, the founder of Cornell University's Theocracywatch.org, decried the rise of an American Taliban, evidenced for her in the fine levied upon CBS for its complicity in the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super Bowl half-time show. Dr. Charles Strozier, a history professor at the City University of New York, described the "basically neo-fascist schemes of the new Republicans."

"We've got a police state-plus going on here!" cried author Mark Crispin Miller. Miller also claimed that there was "significant Christian extremism in the Pentagon" and that the U.S. Air Force Academy is "like a madrassah."

Without elaborating, writer Jeff Sharlet claimed that the government of Norway is controlled "through and through" by Doug Coe's Virginia-based Christian group known as the International Foundation. According to Sharlet, the unifying philosophy for Focus on the Family, the National Association of Evangelicals, and other evangelical groups and leaders is "what they see as the unbreakable bond between Christ and capitalism."

Much of the conference focused on "Christian Dominionism" or "Reconstructionism," a very small and marginal movement that urges Christians to "take dominion" of the state and institute divine law over America. While conference speakers admitted that the vast majority of American evangelicals were not Reconstructionists, they stressed that this movement was "very influential."

An essay by columnist John Sugg, distributed at the conference, claimed that the "nationwide movement" of Reconstructionism has "established a beachhead in the White House." The essay referred to the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church as "Reconstruction-occupied territory." Citing authors Frederick Clarkson and Daniel Levitas, Sugg reported that "Reconstructionists have taken over the Southern Baptist Convention's national leadership" and that Reconstructionism "has been the driving force behind the Christian Right for some time."

Speakers at the conference saw evidence of the vast power of the "theocrats" on every side: in the "Christian nation" rhetoric of some conservatives, in the expressed belief of some prominent officials that governments ultimately derive their authority from God, in President Bush's description of terrorism as "evil," in Bush's promotion of a "culture of life," in widespread opposition to euthanasia, in the Texas Republican Party platform's support of a smaller federal government, in recent tax cuts and alleged declines in government social welfare spending, in the growth of the national debt, and in the elevation of Rick Santorum, a social conservative, to a leadership position among his fellow Senate Republicans.

The speakers condemned Republican policies on Iraq, Israel, taxes, the size of government, abortion, and gay rights, among other topics. At times the animosity towards President Bush became quite personal. Strozier made unsubstantiated accusations regarding Bush's sex life. Yurica called the president a "coward" and a liar, to hearty applause. She said that she identified Bush with "the evil," and she saw him as driven by an obsessive fear that his "real nature will be revealed." Miller declared, "You can't call George Bush a Christian!" (He made the same pronouncement about conservative commentators Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity.) Sharlet, however, made a point of repudiating that judgment as inappropriate.

Socially engaged religious conservatives were repeatedly attacked for being "anti-democratic" and "anti-American." Noting recent political successes of social conservatives, Frederick Clarkson lamented that "the people who are best at democracy are the people who are dedicated to ending democracy."

Yet many people at the NCC-sponsored conference did not seem content to work within the normal democratic process. Bokaer drew enthusiastic applause at two separate times by declaring that, if Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) went ahead with his plan to secure up-or-down votes on all of President Bush's judicial nominees, "I think it's time to get one million people on the streets" of Washington to "shut down the government." Strozier expressed his agreement with an audience member who said, "We need to really push out this administration or we'll reach a point of no return."

"I think John Kerry won this election; I think that he won it handily!," declared Miller to loud applause. He argued that "we have no evidence" that Bush won "other than the official counts," but that "there's several smoking guns" to cast doubt on Bush's victory. Miller also appeared to indicate his support for a revolution, provoking applause by saying, "It's going to take what it took in the Soviet Union, Venezuela, Ukraine, and this country hundreds of years ago."

Edgar shared "The Gospel According to a Religious Progressive." He faulted "the religious left" for having not been active enough in fighting "the religious right." Recalling his previous career as "one of the top-ten most liberal congressmen," the NCC general secretary spoke of how "proud" he had been when the Moral Majority called his uncompromising support of abortion "immoral." Edgar said he "laughed at" that criticism and wore it as "a badge of honor." The NCC, which describes itself as "the preeminent expression in the United States of the movement toward Christian unity," ostensibly takes no position on abortion. Several of its member denominations share the same moral reservations about abortion at which Edgar laughed.

Another featured speaker was Joseph Hough, President of Union Theological Seminary in New York. Hough mocked Southern Baptist leader Richard Land for opposing homosexual practice while not following Old Testament dietary laws. He complained that John 14:6 (Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." NRSV) had been taken out of context to support a "Christian exclusivism." According to Hough, "that one verse is responsible for the Holocaust." Noting that he "strongly support[s]" homosexuality and abortion rights, the seminary president said that he was "fed up with" the strong focus on those issues by conservative Christians. "Not a single leader of the Religious Right and not a single Catholic bishop that I know of" has "uttered a word" against greed, he charged.

The conference demonstrated an interesting symbiosis between secular left-wing activists and liberal church activists. Frederick Clarkson excitedly noted that religious left figures like Jim Wallis and Bob Edgar had denounced a Family Research Council event to mobilize religious support for President Bush's judicial nominees. "This is a dramatic development," Clarkson exclaimed. "The mainline denominations are on the move!" He also called on conference participants to "reclaim faith" from the religious right in a way that includes atheism and agnosticism. Skipp Porteous, a former Pentecostal minister who ultimately "rejected the New Testament as the Word of God" and has "never looked back," called on "the mainline Protestant churches" to "reclaim the Bible." Chip Berlet, editor of Eye's Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash, spoke of his appreciation for the NCC as a counter-voice to conservative Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant clergy.

There were occasional voices of moderation among the more secular speakers. "If we are going to ask the Christian right to stop engaging in demonization, we need to inspect some of our own language," suggested Berlet. He asked conference participants to "avoid terms of derision" such as "extremists" and "radical religious right." Berlet later expressed his disagreement with Bokaer's call to "shut down the government." He drew loud expressions of protest when he urged his audience to "acknowledge that the majority of Americans don't see the world the way we do."

Clarkson similarly encouraged participants to "be civil," noting that "radical religious extremist" is "just an epithet" with no descriptive value. Porteous said that liberals should not be afraid of "proclaim[ing] our ethics and our values" through opposing public indecency and working to reduce the number of abortions. The latter remark provoked a loud "No!" from the audience.

The NCC's Edgar indicated that he has no intention of finding common ground with conservative Christians. When asked by an audience member if "we" should try to reach out to "the religious right" or simply fight it, the NCC leader replied that since "the right already has its structure," the "religious left" should instead focus on organizing itself, "infiltrate[ing] our seminaries," and reaching out to "the middle church, the middle synagogue, the middle mosque." Edgar told his audience of his policy when the NCC is criticized by conservatives. In such instances, he said, he simply sends a memo out to his staff with the instruction: "Find them [the conservatives] irrelevant."

ACTION:

E-mail the Rev. Bob Edgar and comment respectfully on the NCC's sponsorship of this conference and his remarks at it. redgar@ncccusa.org If your denomination is a member of the National Council of Churches, prayerfully consider presenting a resolution to your church council opposing any nominal or financial support for a body like the NCC that undermines Christian unity rather than promoting it. If you live in New York, contact your representatives in the state legislature and city council to protest the inappropriate use of tax dollars to fund one religious group (the religious left) in attacking the beliefs of another set of religious people (conservative Christians).

[mlc9852]

I didn't read it word for word but my general impression is that these people are NUTS!!!

[Semper Paratus]

The the National Council of Churches attending this is akin to Bnai Brith attending the Nazi rally at Nuremberg.

[lilylangtree]

Would have loved to see James Dobson and John Hagee on the panel. Talking about something really fiery, those two would have taken these liberals apart piece by piece.

[Jaded]

At the Convention of the Terminally Clueless? These people really need to quit doing illicit drugs.

[Semper Paratus]

"we have no evidence" that Bush won "other than the official counts,"

LOL!

[SoDak]

wow...

[peacebaby]

these folks are scared sh*tless that they might become believers. Extreme insecurity.

[msf92497]

Just when life gets a bit tedious or mundane, the lib whack-jobs give me pause to guffaw.

Thanks looney-libs!!!

[TheBigB]

He argued that "we have no evidence" that Bush won "other than the official counts,"

[Ff--150]

President Bush Called "Evil," Evangelicals Equated With Nazis at NCC-Sponsored Conference

All that's left is Hillery's conversion to Catholicism, and be forgiven of her sins and voila! Lady president.

Keep hammering and hammering and hammering at this "evangelical" denomination and the sheeple will turn against Protestants!

[anniegetyourgun]

"Christian Jihad"?????? Evidence??????

Okay, if these nutbags are going be extremists, I'll go out on a limb and call them the spirit of anti-Christ in our age....

[T Lady]

Oh, good grief! This is worse than the spamming I've gotten from a couple of rotten apples lately. I do wish they'd stop the 'Bush Is Hitler' nonsense already!

[Pete]

The problem these folks have is that they are delusional. It is very hard to be effective when you live in a fantasy world.

I say that in all seriousness.

[Steve_Seattle]

"these are the darkest times in our history"

Hmmm, darker than when slavery was legal? Darker than the days of Jim Crow? Darker than the Civil War and its 600,000 dead? Darker than WWII? Darker than the Great Depression? Darker than when tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans were interred in relocation camps? Darker than when women didn't have the right to vote? Darker than when atomic bombs were dropped on Japanese cities? Darker tha the Vietnam War with its 50,000 dead? As another poster said, these people are NUTS. Simply, irrevocably wacko.

[anonymoussierra]

aya aya aya

[Steve_Seattle]

"Noting recent political successes of social conservatives, Frederick Clarkson lamented that "the people who are best at democracy are the people who are dedicated to ending democracy." . . . "I think it's time to get one million people on the streets" of Washington to "shut down the government."

Notice that the very people claiming that conservatives want to end democracy then announce that they want to shut down the duly-elected government through mob action.

[dandiegirl]

I wish someone would meekly ask WHY they think Christianity is so evil. I'd like to hear their answers.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Any Freeper attending ANY "church" on this list is helping to promote these anti-Christian, anti-American, pro-Communist extremists. GET OUT NOW!! They're working against everything you believe.

African Methodist Episcopal Church

The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

Alliance of Baptists

American Baptist Churches in the USA

The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

Diocese of the Armenian Church of America

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Church of the Brethren

The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America

The Episcopal Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Friends United Meeting

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Hungarian Reformed Church in America

International Council of Community Churches

Korean Presbyterian Church in America

Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

Mar Thoma Church

Moravian Church in America Northern Province and Southern Province

National Baptist Convention of America

National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.

National Missionary Baptist Convention of America

Orthodox Church in America

Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

Polish National Catholic Church of America

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.

Reformed Church in America

Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada

The Swedenborgian Church

Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America

United Church of Christ

The United Methodist Church

See also: The Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA)

[peacebaby]

I think you are right, that this is the work of the Devil - the anti-Christ. Folks may roll their eyes at this notion, but I'm serious about evil's work.