You're absolutely right, Aussie. I know nothing about the guy, but his wimpiness and naivete are clear almost immediately. It's disappointing that this ran in the reliably hardcore Human Events. Makes me wonder what other crap they might start to run. I certainly hope this is a rare lapse and won't happen again soon.
The religious left is always stupid and usually obnoxiously self-righteous and arrogant. There is no point in dialogue with them. They must be opposed just like any other political enemy. And contrary to this opinion piece, it is a serious danger. Lots of folks who are conservative but interested in Christianity to the exclusion of everything else can be fooled by this crowd. That is exactly the religious left's aim, so dialogue with some of our own people is necessary on this issue, even though it shouldn't be.
Stupidity is, unfortunately, an extremely powerful force in politics.
We have and continue to throw money at every type of lazy charlatan. People claim disability for back pain, PTSD, ADHD, alcoholism, and every type of nonsense imaginable.
Paul said, "If they will not work, neither will they eat."
Second Thess. 3:10.
Jesus fed the flock and sent them home. He didn't tell them to quit their jobs and recive monthly checks for booze and cigarettes. What is so very hard here?
Depends... The main problem with the Christian Left is their penchant for making their faith subject to their political ideologies.
He's right to highlight abortion. The evidence that he's wet behind the ears is in his irenic tone about Sharpton and Jackson--both of whom are nothing but thugs--blackmailers and baby-killers.
"Fine sentiments BUT am I unChristian to think this bloke a bit wet behind the ears?"
"To the pure, all things are pure." (New Testament Book of Titus, Chapter 1, verse 15.)
oh yeah, we need al sharpton on our side...yeah, in my nightmares...better to reduce the left to a puddle of jelly...christian atheist or jew...to hell with the useful idiots of the Left.
IMO, the religious left is primarily composed of heretics. Christ was undoubtably more concerned about the spiritual health of people than the material needs of the poor. Although I can understand someone who wants to use the government to help others, the religious left usually combines their socialism with support for abortion and homosexuality. That just doesn't square with the Bible.
As for as the Reverend Sharpton goes, how can a professing Christian ignore the sin in people's lives while he works to feed them? If the poor are fed and not saved, they are literally no better off than when they were hungry.
Forgive me, but isn't "Christian Left" sort of an oxymoron?
I'll certainly dismiss it out of hand, because it's hogwash.
My church is well and deeply engaged in assisting the poor. The money I provide to the poor through my church is better and more efficiently targeted to meet real need than any money extorted by government through taxes and paid by some bureaucrat to subsidize the sociopolitical "victim" group du jour.
The entire essay is bunk, authored by someone who is already convinced that the left's peculiar spin on Christianity is holier and superior.
And just how does the left get away with throwing down monuments to the Ten Commandments as violating the separation of church and state, while sniffing and insisting that it's peculiar and insipid brand of wasteful and destructive Christianity be imposed on the rest of us through the tax system and bloated government?
No, conservatives' rejection of the Religious Left is precisely because of the poor and vulnerable - shamelessly exploited by the Left for political gain. They are kept dependent on government for generations, "freeing" the father to impregnate as many girls as he can. They then neglect their duty to the vulnerable - conceived under their policies - by allowing them to be unceremoniously slaughtered.
They do stand up for the right to life... of those convicted in a court of law of taking life.
They do stand up for peace - if the enemies are terrorists and might, just might, face annhilation under a non-leftist government.
It's their hipocrisy that has undermined any potential credibility.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:15).
Traditionally, the definition of "progressive Christianity" is: Christianity with all the unpleasant stuff taken out. Of course, Christianity With All The Unpleasant Stuff Taken Out is a markedly different religion from mere Christianity, in Lewis's apt wordage.
This is fantasy. But, really, I think, the process is not about convincing Al Sharpton but about how we behave.
I do think there are some on the religious left who have pure motivations; they just don't see yet how conservative policies will truly help them reach their goals of helping the poor.
Conservatives, I think are much more inclined to helping the poor even without their policies. Look at the Cheneys. They aren't overtly religious or evangelical, yet they gave what, about 50% of their income last year to charitable organizations?
If you vote democrat you are voting for abortion and become a co-conspirator and are guilty of murder.
The so called christian left are co-conspirators in 40,000,000 murders, yet snivel out loud about the 30,000 dead in Iraq, even though hundreds of thousands of lives are being saved in the process.
A liberal is a liberal is a liberal.
"Christian Left" = Oxymoron
The "Christian" Left's embrace of the American Holocaust, with over 30 MILLION babies murdered since the travesty of Roe V Wade causes the Left's claims of moral high ground regarding social justice to ring hollow and hypocritical...and to lend credence to those who say they are not Christians at all.
But I do agree with the author in that the Christian Right should not ignore the raising of the issue of social justice...I do think it's one of the greater shortcomings of the Christian church as a whole (not to say that nothing is being done...but I don't believe enough is being done).
I'm no more afraid of the Christian Left than I am the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy...
The "Christian Left" will be left to their own devices and be destroyed because they will not follow or acknowledge God's will completely.
Yep - he's a little off base. One might note that those in the Bible, that got the handouts, were crippled, blind, etc. perhaps a return to those standards would do more good than the self-inflating giving away of other people's money to the lazy, has done. The Roman Empire started its downfall with the Dole to support indigent "visitors", artists, poets and such...
He's a bit barmy.
"Conservative" Christian churchs care about the poor and the "vulnerable." We just don't demand that the government seize the earnings of everybody else to enact "social justice" - we use our own resources and talents to do the best we can, and we try to help them end behaviors that make them poor and vulnerable.
Of course, doing so tends to earn us condemnation for racism, homophobia, etc.