Religion is not a game....or IS IT?????
Posted on 09/18/2006 1:46:59 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Liberal evangelicals, weary of a Republican-centric image, launched a campaign Monday to promote Christian values beyond the issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.
Red Letter Christians, a project of Sojurners/Call to Renewal, announced plans to establish a grass-roots network of 7,000 moderate and progressive clergy members.
"A debate on moral issues should be central to American politics, but how should we define religious values?" said Jim Wallis, an activist and executive director of the Christian ministry, which also publishes the liberal Sojourners Magazine.
The project's name comes from the color of some Bible's type, with words directly attributed to Jesus appearing in red.
Wallis said Christian conservatives have limited the discussion to abortion and same-sex marriage, two fears that mobilized voters in 2004, and that voters care about more than two the issues.
"We must insist that the ethics of war — and whether we tell the truth about going to war — these are moral values issues too," Wallis said. Democrats have pinned part of their midterm strategy on voters' restlessness with the war in Iraq.
The Red Letter Christians campaign plans to use voter guides for congregants and briefings for their leaders to argue education, poverty and the environment are all evangelical issues. Wallis also launched a new blog this week at BeliefNet.com, debating with former Christian Coalition head and failed Republican Georgia lieutenant governor candidate Ralph Reed.
The faith-based group also hired a full-time coordinator in Ohio, where conservative Ken Blackwell is running against Rep. Ted Strickland (news, bio, voting record), a former Methodist pastor. Another coordinator is soon to arrive in Pennsylvania, where Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record) faces a tough re-election bid.
Faith-based get-out-the-vote efforts registered scores of new voters during 2004's presidential election. The Southern Baptist Convention's iVoteValues.com campaign alone reached 400,000 voters, the majority of whom voted for President Bush.
And later this week, the Family Research Council will have its Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C. Speakers will include Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Wallis said the Christian conservatives have lost their independence with too-cozy ties to the Republican Party. He also is quick to note his group is not an extension of the Democratic Party. He is openly critical of Democratic politicians and titled his best-selling book "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It."
When your liberal clergyman spins his Democrat sales pitch into his sermons or Bible studies, walk out. No conservative should cower in submission as liberals campaign for Democrats who have no clue as to the meaning of leading a disciplined Christian life. They should not get away with it.
Religion is not a game....or IS IT?????
Or...a Christian apostate.
This was the Dem's big plan, concocted after the '04 pounding we gave them (thanks to the religious right). We knew about it all along...pathetic. I smelt the stank of it comming when I saw my first "Proud member of the religious left" bumper sticker, over a year ago, co-inciding with the first MSM focus pieces on "liberal religious".
Wait 'till the 08 DNC convention, where they'll reference GOD like never before. It'g gonna look so fake, I can't wait for it. The media is going to desperately try to keep their claims bouyant.
While I will concede that these are three important issues they do not have the weight of abortion
Nor is the Socialist position on these, the Christian position.
A couple of questions. Evangelicals are supposed to spread the Gospel. What gospel are these folks spreading? Do they talk about a personal relationship with Christ? Do they believe he died and was resurrected. Do they believe He is God.
Why Red Letter? Is the purpose of this so that they can ignore everything in the Bible except the Sermon on the Mount? I suspect they are especially uncomfortable with Paul and Revelations and much of the non-Gospel new testament. I wonder if they regard the red letters in Revelations as counting? But they would have to ignore a lot of John's Gospel also and the entire old testament too. I guess since Jesus wasn't there at Pentacost, the whole Holy Spirit thing is out the window also?
"Red" letter Christians?
Somehow, that sounds appropriate............
You have to understand the liberal mind...
Any issue that they don't poll well on is "unimportant" to them...
Liberal Evangelical= Oxymoron
Dorry, I'm an evangelical....you can't be both a liberal and a evangelical.....the author hasn't a clue....nor the organization.
Ah, they did this all in the 80's. Pax Christi, Bread for the World, Witness for Peace, etc., etc., all calling for a nuclear freeze, singing Castro's praises, and calling Reagan dangerous. Nothing new here.
Ask them if Jesus is the sole path to Heaven and they will all fold.
I seek spiritual guidance from my Pastor........not from politicians....from either side.
Amen to that.
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