Recently, I had the pleasure of stumbling across www.crossleft.org, a website with the stated goal of "balancing the Christian voice." People who blog on the site include traditional Democrats, supporters of the Green Party, and others who are simply tired of the Christian voice being seen as in support of one candidate or set of ideals. Crossleft is a great website for those interested in politics, Christianity, or both.
For many years, many in the media have only presented one side of the Christian voice. We have seen and heard ad nauseam about the “Christian Right.” We have heard about the “moral issues” of abortion and homosexuality. We have not heard, however, in most quarters, about the moral issues associated with progressive ideas. We have not heard much of biblical calls for equality among followers. We have not heard of the Book of Genesis’s reference to men as “stewards” of the earth, that is, we have not heard much of God’s command for us to take care of the environment. The likes of Pat Robertson or James Dobson rarely speak about caring for the poor, the sick, or the imprisoned. Those are not the principles which are convenient. They are, however, the principles which are prevalent in the Christian Bible, and which the men and women at Crossleft which to remind us of.
Regardless of your politics or your religious views, this is an interesting site to check out.
Website for Christian leftists
By john w connelly jr - Posted on November 9th, 2008
Those are not the principles which are convenient.
That about sums it up perfectly.
It's easy to picket and protest gay marriage and abortion clinics. It takes little effort and gives those people an inflated sense of righteousness. But as soon as many Christians are reminded they're called to love their neighbor and help the poor, called to social service and social justice, they conveniently forget that such a teaching was the one most advocated by Jesus.
At the expense of social justice, equality, and compassion, too many are deciding, instead, to battle their own definition of evil.
These are all personally motivated by someone's own sense of wanting to feel righteous. They have almost nothing to do with the actual teachings of Jesus. Ask people to give up their money in taxes to help the poor, or clean up trash from the neighborhood and plant some trees, and watch how quick they are to dismiss the teachings they proclaim to follow.
Action that actually requires you to give of yourself to ensure others are meeting basic needs (food, clothing, shelter, etc.) is much less appealing than letting people know how immoral they are and that they need to change. Both make you feel good on the inside, but only one lets you promote your own agenda of letting people know what you think is evil.
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Your analysis of Christian teachings versus Christian rhetoric is spot on. I think that you would probably really enjoy the site I recommended.
Thank you for the website suggestion. I'm an atheist, but i still think it's unfair how Christians get portrayed as only being one way, and my family and friends are left leaning Christians.
Actually, I think the way that Christians are portrayed (as far to the right and closed minded) might have something to do with why some people lose faith in Christian doctrine..
"when you hold a pen, you are at war" Attributed to Voltaire
I think it definitely does (not for me though)
what was the reason you decided to adopt atheism
"when you hold a pen, you are at war" Attributed to Voltaire
I was born an atheist and adopted Christianity. I realized early on that what I was supposed to believe did not make sense to me. (Much) Later I realized I did not believe in God and it would be impossible to make my self believe in something that no longer existed to me.