Posted on 07/21/2005 7:38:31 AM PDT by SmithL
Liberals have complained for two decades that conservatives misuse religion for political gain, but it wasn't until well-organized evangelicals powered President Bush's election in November that some decided that they had to do more than gripe.
The latest post-election attempt at transforming the spiritual energy of the left into political clout began Wednesday at UC Berkeley, where 1,200 people attended the opening of a conference on "Spiritual Activism."
The goal of the four-day conference is to create a spirituality-based platform to counter the religious right, but organizers are also intending to connect with "religio-phobic" liberals through seminars such as, "I Don't Believe in God, But I Know America Needs a Spiritual Left."
"This is not an attempt to put spiritual words on the old liberal agenda, " said conference organizer Rabbi Michael Lerner, an antiwar activist in the 1960s who is now editor of the Tikkun magazine in Berkeley. "This is about transforming the society away from materialism and selfishness."
After a follow-up conference scheduled for February in Washington, organizers hope to see a spiritual politics caucus in both the Democratic and Green parties in the coming years. They're counting on participants to return to their communities and launch a spirituality movement that is rooted in values that transcend religion, such as eradicating poverty.
One conference speaker who thinks the culture will be receptive to this message is Jim Wallis, the liberal evangelical author of the best-selling "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It."
Fresh off a tour in which 80,000 people attended his book-signing events in 49 cities, Wallis said, "Something is happening out there.
"It will be easy for the religious right to dismiss...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Thanks, Interesting read.
This shouts failure by design. You cannot build a movement and recruit believers with core beliefs. It's also another example of liberal symbolism over substance.
Let's all chant: "Kum-buy-ya"
Actually, it's not. In much of the world, leftist movements derive their authority from Biblical teachings, and many prominent leftists are church leaders in their respective countries.
"I think it'll be Wicca, Gaia worship, transcendental meditation, Scientology, etc. that'll be their "spirituality".
Well, obviously. But, how to get all those yahoos in flyover country to buy into it? Twist a few biblical exhortations to individual mercy and charity into an endorsement of forced wealth redistribution, maybe? Layer than on top of "good stewardship of the earth" and "respect" for all manifestations of belief in "a" god? Hmmm. That might work. Then again, might not.
I doubt that it has anything to do with the Bible. They are going to invent their own religion. Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses. If you believe that, then it makes sense that you would want to have a religious dogma that you could use to keep your followers in line.
If it leads them to becoming more honorable, more honest, more responsible - that will be fabulous.
"Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses"
Marx is the opiate of progressives.
"If it leads them to becoming more honorable, more honest, more responsible - that will be fabulous."
But then again, it's all a ruse in order to fool the yahoos in flyover country into voting for them, isn't it?
They'll connect alright, they just better be ready for reaction.
everyone on the democrat plantation
religious or not
will be getting religion
in time for hillary's run '08.
True. Only in American Protestantism are capitalism and prosperity often seen as good and Godly. Catholicism tends to view material success as evil, and poverty as noble and Godly. That's why "liberation theology" has done so well in Latin America.
From the article:
"The latest post-election attempt at transforming the spiritual energy of the left into political clout began Wednesday at UC Berkeley, where 1,200 people attended the opening of a conference on "Spiritual Activism.""
I think the hard core liberals do not believe in God. Their own actions and words clearly speak to this. I think this disingenuous campaign will fall flat on it's face, because you cannot fake faith. And the fact that they think they can successfully fake faith only goes to illustrate how little they understand it. I've long thought that people who feel compelled to prove the sincerity of their faith in front of any audience they can gather, has already unmasked themselves. Sincere faith should be self evident, not well advertised.
Gee, the left's tree-hugging, god/goddess self-love, new agey mish-mash not working for them as a unified front? Hmm, how could it with all the self-adoration involved? That is why their attempts to use religion will also fail - too many egos to assuage.
Based on whay my former supervisor used to tell me about her weirdbeard lib "church" in Willow Glen, it sounded like they were making it up as they went along.
All form -- church gave her the opportunity to get all tarted up once a week. No substance.
Kinda like Jumbo shrimp
Do you have a source for this accusation?
I think you are confusing being "poor of spirit" with actually being monetarily poor. Big difference.
Yet for now, said UC Berkeley linguistics Professor George Lakoff, spiritual liberals aren't strong enough to use their moral authority to challenge conservatives on the issues of the day, such as Bush's nomination of John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"No, it's not strong enough now, unless it organizes very quickly," said Lakoff, who has become a favorite among liberals since November for his contention that the left has the right ideas -- it just needs to "frame" issues in a different context.
...
Thandeka, a Unitarian Universalist minister from New York who is African American and goes by one name, said she is optimistic that nonwhites -- as well as people living in conservative-voting "red states" -- will eventually join up.
"Once we speak to people about what they're feeling, then they will start relating to us and stop voting against their own self-interest," Thandeka said. "Then we will get back Kansas."
Cross post: Truth and Reconciliation Commission, FaithAction
Anybody read this? Why do the right supposedly get it wrong? Hmmmm....
How much tooling with the religion will the Evangelical's have to do to appeal to the Berkeley new agey spirits? How could it work? Christian values don't typically appeal to them and what will morph out will scarcely be recognizable as Christian.
Lord, am I really supposed to pray for these idiots?
O.K,O.K.,O.K., Here it goes...Lord, only you can fix stupid...
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