Pah
Uber all member
When religion gets trashed for politics' sake
As published in the Roanke Times, a letter to the editor.
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary\14887.html
Sandra M. Rushing of Lexington, is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
...
I don't know which is worse, for government to sell out to "religion" or for "religion" to sell out to government. Either way, our historical separation of church and state becomes the wounded offspring of such a sellout.
As a trained theologian and ordained clergy of one mainline denomination, I know that no other person or group can foist their religion upon me. That is forbidden by the very historical documents that made our nation a democracy; it is what American "liberty" means.
Neither can I foist the (sometimes peculiar) values of my religion upon others; they are protected in the same way.
Thus, a new group of "religious" activists, formed immediately after the election, provokes uneasiness?
I am uneasy, as are many others, because American Christianity is far more complex, and multidimensional, than one man or one group of activists. American religions, of all types and of vastly different origins, outstrip the descriptive abilities or control of any one group.
No one else can define my "faith and values" for me, but I am increasingly concerned that there are those who seek to do so.
Viewed through the prism of these "values," I should be trying to convert my best friend, a Jewish woman who is also a cantor.
Viewed from this same rigid perspective, I should be condemning all my friends, who happen to be homosexual as an accident of birth, since Paul (not Jesus) said so.
Viewed through the lens of this "faith" and these "values," a girl who was raped and impregnated by her abusive father should not be able to secure a therapeutic abortion, since the fetus formed from such a hideous coupling would seem to be more valuable than the unfortunate child-mother.
If this is American Christianity, I want no part of it; it bears no resemblance to the life Jesus led.
A man who taught "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God" would be appalled at the excuses used to slaughter thousands of innocent civilians because one man was a tyrant.
A man who lived the mercy encapsulated in the words "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy" would weep to see the ways homosexuals, homeless men and women, and hungry children are treated without mercy in our "Christian" nation.
To call this "Christianity" is to denigrate the name of Christ, and to play a trendy game of "Let's Pretend." It begins with our arrogant notion of superiority in a global arena; it descends into petty ugliness at home.
...
Unconscionable methods to get elected, including incalculable lies about the opposition, were employed in this game, but clothed in a facile pseudogarment called "moral values."
...
Far more unforgivable are the ways these same people were driven by fear and anxiety when they entered the polls on Election Day. Fear was the emotional bludgeon used by a man whose moral bankruptcy is only outstripped by his clever ability to influence thousands of people into believing he invented "faith and values."
A master at manipulation has used "the church" as a tool for political ploys of an unholy order. If the church chooses to become a servant of the state, it is sacrificing its own heart upon a callous altar of pseudovalues.
It will be enslaving its own spirit to a demonocracy.
If the church prostitutes itself for the political purposes of any president, it is guilty of murdering its own soul.
As published in the Roanke Times, a letter to the editor.
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary\14887.html
Sandra M. Rushing of Lexington, is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
...
I don't know which is worse, for government to sell out to "religion" or for "religion" to sell out to government. Either way, our historical separation of church and state becomes the wounded offspring of such a sellout.
As a trained theologian and ordained clergy of one mainline denomination, I know that no other person or group can foist their religion upon me. That is forbidden by the very historical documents that made our nation a democracy; it is what American "liberty" means.
Neither can I foist the (sometimes peculiar) values of my religion upon others; they are protected in the same way.
Thus, a new group of "religious" activists, formed immediately after the election, provokes uneasiness?
I am uneasy, as are many others, because American Christianity is far more complex, and multidimensional, than one man or one group of activists. American religions, of all types and of vastly different origins, outstrip the descriptive abilities or control of any one group.
No one else can define my "faith and values" for me, but I am increasingly concerned that there are those who seek to do so.
Viewed through the prism of these "values," I should be trying to convert my best friend, a Jewish woman who is also a cantor.
Viewed from this same rigid perspective, I should be condemning all my friends, who happen to be homosexual as an accident of birth, since Paul (not Jesus) said so.
Viewed through the lens of this "faith" and these "values," a girl who was raped and impregnated by her abusive father should not be able to secure a therapeutic abortion, since the fetus formed from such a hideous coupling would seem to be more valuable than the unfortunate child-mother.
If this is American Christianity, I want no part of it; it bears no resemblance to the life Jesus led.
A man who taught "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God" would be appalled at the excuses used to slaughter thousands of innocent civilians because one man was a tyrant.
A man who lived the mercy encapsulated in the words "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy" would weep to see the ways homosexuals, homeless men and women, and hungry children are treated without mercy in our "Christian" nation.
To call this "Christianity" is to denigrate the name of Christ, and to play a trendy game of "Let's Pretend." It begins with our arrogant notion of superiority in a global arena; it descends into petty ugliness at home.
...
Unconscionable methods to get elected, including incalculable lies about the opposition, were employed in this game, but clothed in a facile pseudogarment called "moral values."
...
Far more unforgivable are the ways these same people were driven by fear and anxiety when they entered the polls on Election Day. Fear was the emotional bludgeon used by a man whose moral bankruptcy is only outstripped by his clever ability to influence thousands of people into believing he invented "faith and values."
A master at manipulation has used "the church" as a tool for political ploys of an unholy order. If the church chooses to become a servant of the state, it is sacrificing its own heart upon a callous altar of pseudovalues.
It will be enslaving its own spirit to a demonocracy.
If the church prostitutes itself for the political purposes of any president, it is guilty of murdering its own soul.
