New Christian left group formed......

[Joanne98]

Saturday, June 25, 2005
“With the stated goal of reclaiming the issue of faith from the Christian right, a new political organization for religious progressives launched Wednesday.”

“For years, we’ve been hearing the name of Christianity be used to speak about hatred, division, war and greed,” said Patrick Mrotek, the Jacksonville, Fla., health-management consultant who founded the group. “We believe we can no longer stand by and watch the language of our faith used in that manner, and we think it is time to reclaim our faith.”

“The alliance (www.christianalliance.org) says it is “founded firmly on the teachings of the Gospel” and “will stand for pursuing economic justice; responsible environmental stewardship; equality for gays and lesbians; honoring the sanctity of childbearing decisions through effective prevention, not criminalization of abortion; seeking peace, not war; and achieving health care for all Americans.”

http://www.ohiohonestelections.org/index.php?p=taliban-americans-push-for-theocracy

[yorkiemommie1]

1. Harper's Magazine August

article by Bill McKibben --- THe Christian Paradox- How a faithful nation gets Jesus wrong.

excellent reading.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. incredibly good readying

by the way Jesus as the Golden Calf came to mind after I finished the article

[_TJ_]

3. There are no Christians on the right

Jesus never killed.
Jesus never bombed.
Jesus never napalmed.
Jesus never tortured.
Jesus never lied.
Jesus never cheated.
Jesus wasn't a hypocrite.

Anyone who thinks it is ok to do these things is NO Christian.

[Montauk6]

5. My favorite line is from "Hannah and Her Sisters"

If Jesus came back today, he wouldn't stop throwing up!

[XanaDUer]

11. That line is a favorite of mine.

Sadly, I think of it a lot nowadays.

[faithnotgreed]

31. that is a good line ~ didnt remember that one

[checks-n-balances]

39. I don't know who wrote that but it was stuck into a serious discussion

It was uttered by Max von Sydow (Frederick) to his live-in girlfriend, Hannah's sister (Lee), played by Barbara Hershey, just before she moved out.

It's a line I think of often, and truly a classic!!

[faithnotgreed]

40. yes

now i recall it when you said it was max von sydow

its a great one all right
thanks for the explanation

[DanCa]

10. Al sharpton says it best

The Christian right arent the right Christians

[Lannes]

4. Thanks

People need to see that there is more out there than just theocrats.

[Kerrytravelers]

6. Thank you for the link.

I'm a progressive Christian and I have added my name to their member list and as a contact to get a local group started.

[Kerrytravelers]

I found this list on their site.

VALUES
Compassion and Care for "The Least of These"
Responsibility and Obligation
Justice for All
Equality and Inclusiveness
Faithful Stewardship
Right Use of Power
Spiritual Foundation


Issues
Pursuing Economic Justice
Responsible Environmental Stewardship for Today
Equality for Gays and Lesbians
Effective Prevention vs. Criminalizing Abortion
Seeking Peace, Not War
Health Care for All Americans

[WCGreen]

20. sounds almost like the catholics I grew up with

[Greylyn58]

23. Amen!!

My feelings exactly stated!!

[Joanne98]

38. Goood for you KT

[UDenver20]

7. This is awesome...

This rocks...

[DanCa]

8. The more the merrier

we got the religious coallition for reproductive choice
and now the christian alliance and the Episcopal Peacefellowship and the Unitarians are thier others?

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DemGirl7]

12. Now these people are what real Christians look like

It's really sad that the fundies have taken over and given the Christian religion a bad name. There should be more of these people and less of the Jerry Falwells, Pat Robertsons, and James Dobsons in the world.

[youthere]

13. anything that gets Falwell in this much of an uproar...

MUST be on the right track.

[Sapphire Blue]

14. And Falwell's on the attack...

Rev. Jerry Falwell Attacks: Christian Alliance is “Hardly Christian”

On July 8th, the Reverend Jerry Falwell sent out an email to the Moral Majority Coalition and the Liberty Alliance attacking the Christian Alliance for Progress. He claims that we are "hardly Christian" in part because of our political views.

On the Sunday following his email, the Christian Alliance received an onslaught of comments that were clearly fueled by Reverend Falwell's words of anger. Many of these messages repeated his bitter tone, but almost none say anything about the values Jesus taught. Click here to see some of the comments that we received from his followers.

It is time to respond to Reverend Falwell, and to tell him that he does not speak for all Christians, that he does not speak for YOU.

Fill out the form & submit your comment @ http://www.christianalliance.org/site/c.bnKIIQNtEoG/b.880941/k.EDD4/Rev_Jerry_Falwell_Attacks_Christian_Alliance_is_Hardly_Christian/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=bnKIIQNtEoG&b=880941&en=aoJDJIPsG9LDKWPrH9LKKVOvF6KLIXNsHcJQJ3PIF

Read Falwell's email attacking the Christian Alliance for Progress @ http://www.christianalliance.org/atf/cf/{E5AFE725-E65D-4060-8796-B8AF6415F5B7}/falwell-email.pdf (PDF document)


Sign the CAP's Jacksonville Declaration @ http://www.christianalliance.org/site/c.bnKIIQNtEoG/b.689007/k.2601/Flash_Movie.htm

[Deja Q]

16. Falwell and his followers need to learn how to READ THE BLOODY BOOK.

Not just pick and choose favorite passages on which to slur, having taken out the context behind the passages.

They'd find out how little homosexuality is truly discussed and how far, far more greed and selfishness is.

[Sapphire Blue]

18. God's Politics: An Interview With Jim Wallis

an excerpt...

Jim Wallis: The Right is comfortable with the language of religion, values, God talk. So much so that they sometimes claim to own that territory. Or own God. But then they narrow everything down to one or two issues: abortion and gay marriage.

I am an evangelical Christian, and I can’t ignore thousands of verses in the Bible on subject, which is poverty. I say at every stop, “Fighting poverty’s a moral value, too.” There’s a whole generation of young Christians who care about the environment. That’s their big issue. Protecting God’s creation, they would say, is a moral value, too. And, for a growing number of Christians, the ethics of war—how and when we go to war, whether we tell the truth about going to war—is a religious and moral issue as well.

I think the Right has made a serious mistake in adopting a moral-values strategy, because they’re winning in the short run. in the long run, they’re going to lose this debate because they won’t be able to restrict it to two issues. Once you open that door to a values conversation, it’s going to undercut a right-wing economic agenda, which values wealth over work and favors the rich over the poor, or resorts to war as the first resort and not the last. To quote the White House, when it comes to moral values in this discussion, I say, “Bring it on!” Let’s have the conversation, because the Right’s going to lose this debate in the end. But not if the Left doesn’t even get in the conversation.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2005/03/gods_politics_jim_wallis.html

And now the Left has gotten in the conversation!

[DanCa]

19. Falwel can read? :D)

I thought he just parrots what every other rwing cultist says and never looked at the bible to begin with.
Fawell + Phelps = :nuke: :Nuke:

[MarianJack]

25. Cherry Picking the Old Testament...

...and some of the Epistles while ignoring the Gospels and Jesus' ACTUAL teachings, them pound it into the softest heads you can find.

Thats the tried & true religious right tactic!

[WCGreen]

27. Coooollllll

I firmly believe they tacked on revelations jst to scare people....

[shelley806]

30. Hardly Christian is MUCH better than Non-Christian like Falwell...he

doesn't deserve the title Reverand.

Rev. Jerry Falwell Attacks: Christian Alliance is “Hardly Christian”

[Sapphire Blue]

34. I hope you submitted a comment to Falwell on the CAP's website!

http://www.christianalliance.org/site/c.bnKIIQNtEoG/b.880941/k.EDD4/Rev_Jerry_Falwell_Attacks_Christian_Alliance_is_Hardly_Christian/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=bnKIIQNtEoG&b=880941&en=aoJDJIPsG9LDKWPrH9LKKVOvF6KLIXNsHcJQJ3PIF

[Deja Q]

15. And they have a link allowing us to write directly to jerry falwell!

Jerry 'tinkle winkle' falwell's followers had this to say about them:
http://www.christianalliance.org/site/lookup.asp?c=bnKIIQNtEoG&b=886319

The article leading to the link above, complete with the ability for you to respond to Unkie Falwell is here:
http://www.christianalliance.org/site/c.bnKIIQNtEoG/b.880941/k.EDD4/Rev_Jerry_Falwell_Attacks_Christian_Alliance_is_Hardly_Christian/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=bnKIIQNtEoG&b=880941&en=kmJQJ8OZKgLQJdOXLcJQJbNWKpL2I9M0LqKZJfM5JwIfG

[Finder]

17. The Catholic church was the only one strong enough to battle...

the protestant fundies. Thanks to the so-called pedophile scandal, they were wounded. A new Christian left is much needed. UU and a few other small liberal churches are not enough to fight the sectarian wars.

[WCGreen]

21. I always thought the christian right

Is lost in the old testament.....

the only part of the new testament, which is, in part, refuting the old way of looking at god and man, the christian right seems to care about is Revelation.....

they sprinkle just enough Jesus in the mix to justify their naked lust for power....

Cause what it really is all about.... No moral, no values, just pure and naked lust for wealth and power here on earth....

[MarianJack]

26. WOW, WCGreen,...

...your post is almost identical to mine (#25).

It must be that great minds thing going on!

[AuntiBush]

22. They Have Been On The Front lines form Sometime Now.

They're in my bookmarks! Another organization fighting the powers.

I thank them with much gratitude.

[dhinojosa]

24. These people may save our country.....

I hope they don't become fanatics themselves. Heres to balance!

[UrbScotty]

28. Amen amen AMEN!

:toast:

[AmBlue]

29. I will check them out.........

THANKS!

[faithnotgreed]

32. i have to give this a mighty kick

Christ does not hate
period

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

33. Good to hear

Christianity at its core has always been a faith associated with social justice, and assistance for the poor and downtrodden, not the strong and powerful. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was a revolutionary. For corporatist, warmongering right-wing crazies to appropriate the Christian faith is to make a mockery of all the things the early Christians suffered for. It's time to take our faith back.

[I Know How To Do it]

35. Sorry, I don't trust any of them.

[Sapphire Blue]

36. I definitely understand your distrust, given the current face of ...

... Christianity (Falwell, Dobson, Robertson, et al). You might be pleasantly surprised if you check out the Christian Alliance for Progress (CAP), though.

http://www.christianalliance.org/site/c.bnKIIQNtEoG/b.689007/k.2601/Flash_Movie.htm

The current crop of Dominionist 'Christians' (Falwell, Dobson, Robertson, et al) are hardly representative of Christianity... remember, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Christian... a Christian who talked the talk... and definitely walked the walk... both figuratively & literally. The Christian Alliance for Progress is a movement to reclaim Christianity from the radical RW Dominionists.

[Beaverhausen]

37. Monday kick-

If they pissed Falwell off this group looks like its on the right track!

I'm not a christian but I know there are good christians out there. Good to see they now have a way to organize.