Crossposted from Talk to Action
Pastordan at Street Prophets is sick of hearing the charge that “faithful progressives aren’t doing anything while conservatives pervert their religion.” He says “that’s patently untrue” and he offers a long post in rebuttal. (Along the way he has some kind words for my post dissecting the IRD’s attack on the current UCC ad. But that ain’t all.) He says:
Christians are pushing back against politicized conservatives attempting to take over our denominations. We’re working to undo their dominance in the corporate media. We’re challenging their abuse of tax exemptions for churches. We’ve been working to bring gays and lesbians, among other minorities, to full inclusion in the church. We’ve also made alliances with Planned Parenthood. All that’s left is to start (or build up) an institute aimed at helping families, and pretty much all the bases are covered. Oh, and help get out the message that atheist/secularist does not equal demonic. We’ll work on that.
But don’t tell me progressive Christians are sitting back and rolling over. We are standing tall, speaking out, and moving on. We need the help of progressives of all stripes, and we offer ours wherever and whenever we can be of service.
DarkSyde has the final installment in his excellent front page Daily Kos series “Know Your Creationists.”
Ed Brayton, writing at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, debunks Pat Robertson’s claims linking sex on TV with U.S. teen sexuality.
Over at DefCon, Clark reports that more than 11,000 people have emailed George Governor Sonny Perdue, “demanding he defend the Constitution and veto two bills recently passed by the GA legislature that would put Bibles in schools and the Ten Commandments in court houses.”
Jews on First! has an interesting report on the role of conservative Jews at the recent War on Christians conference in Washington, DC.
The individual training the spotlight on Jews was Don Feder, head of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation. The intended audience for his expressions of Jewish solidarity with the “persecuted” Christian right is not readily apparent. Was it potential Jewish supporters? Or was it Christians who might be encouraged to conclude that Jews are perpetrating the perceived “attacks” on Christians?
Feder evoked a favorite negative stereotypical view of Jews when, according to the Washington Post, he “urged the crowd not to blame ‘the liberal, self-hating Jews in Hollywood. Remember, the people in this audience are more Jewish than people like Barbra Streisand, because you embrace Jewish values, she doesn’t,’ he said.”
In his March 31st column, New York Jewish Week Washington correspondent James Besser reports Feder singling out Hollywood, “which he said makes movies that depict Christians in unflattering terms.”
According to the Forward, Feder is a former editorial writer for the Boston Herald; his anti-defamation organization has no members or paid staff.
Blog from the Capital’s Don Byrd flags a news report on a speech by Rabbi David Saperstein — as part of a Baptist speaker series in Georgia.
Why a rabbi/lawyer/lobbyist to inaugurate a series of Baptist-sponsored lectures? Saperstein began by reviewing what Jews and Baptists have historically had in common:
As groups that “challenged the assumptions” of religious authority, both suffered persecution where religion was linked to politics; both are run by congregations rather than a hierarchy, encouraging diversity within their ranks; as “a light to the nations” both seek to set standards of ethical behavior and social justice for all humanity.
Despite all the differences of theology and practice between the two groups, Saperstein said, they agree that “robust religion free of government control” is an essential component of American freedom and enjoyment of rights.
Chuck Currie, guest-blogging over at the UCC’s Accessible Airwaves, has a long post about IRD related matters, with links to some of his many posts about the IRD over the past few years. The occasion for all this, was the story in Friday’s New York Times about the UCC’s efforts to push back against the religious right inside and outside the denomination. Lot’s of interesting stuff. Here is a sample:
During the 2004 elections the IRD accused mainline churches of partisan political activity in support of democratic candidates. John Lomperis, one of IRD’s staffers, wrote several pieces on IRD’s web site making that charge. The charge, however, was totally false. Mainline churches only engaged in proper and legal voter registration drives and get out the vote efforts. Lomperis never disclosed that he was actively working on the Bush 2004 re-election campaign while make these false allegations.
Members of all mainline churches – such as the UCC – represent many different political beliefs.
