[lit-ideas] faith and politics

  • From: eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:58:17 -0400

Hi, Phil,
This was the part of Lawrence's post that I was referring to:


From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Religion and politics
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:02:04 -0700

Nonsense Veronica. Christian Fundamentalists do not intrude themselves into public policy decisions. They voice their opinions. No one is even campaigning for a Christian position since Falwell died. Most of them believe fervently in the separation of church and state like the rest of us. Most of them, if they are hard-core Fundamentalists, won’t run for office because “the time is
near.â€

My point was that they DO voice their opinions--and do very much have an agenda. I actually did not mean to say that it was 'good' or 'bad' that they did so. I was just trying to point out that they are doing so--and who some of the major players still are

You are correct--that is not all of them nor is it the ones who have been trying to rise up and create an opposite "Christian" point of view--like the 86 Christian evangelicals who signed a global initiative dealing with global warmingpeople like Rick Warren come to mind-but it was argued against bof the more Far Right Christian Fundamentalists--see the NY Times article at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/national/08warm.html?_r=1&ex=1155787200&en=19d0c89eb3b4f5c6&ei=5070&oref=slogin Peope like Brian McCla ren have gone through alot of criticism for not holding fast to the fundamentalist agenda but still focusing very strongly on doctrine [the emerging church world-- Not to mention people like Jim Wallis who has always been active in trying to turn the focus of the Christian agenda towards the caretaking of the living--in very different ways than the fundamentalists You are absolutely right--we do tend to bring our belief system to the table--as people like Former Sen Jack Danforth have stated in his book Faith and Politics.

But, Jerry Falwell, while raising the bar and pushing forward the agenda of the Far Right, is by no means the only leader in that world. (Nor is Pat Robertson)

Best,
Marlena
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