Readers Write: The Religious Left Fights Back

By Jackie Mauro, AlterNet. Posted August 10, 2005.

In The Religious Left Fights Back, Van Jones referred to Rabbi Lerner's 'Spiritual Activism' conference, encouraging Lefties to open up to the (marginalized) religious folks among them.

In their comments, some AlterNet readers responded with enthusiasm, but others remained unsure.

The conference -- held the week of June 25 -- was Lerner's launch pad for the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP). The NSP aims to unite "religious, spiritual and 'spiritual but not religious' progressives" across the country around shared progressive goals. Lerner hopes to "end 'religio-phobia' among progressives," overcoming the Left's mistrust of religious ideas. He also aims to halt the Right's monopoly on religion, and their abuse of it in the political sphere.

Jones adheres passionately to Lerner's goals. As a Christian African-American progressive, he wrote of being outraged by the "shocking levels of anti-religious bigotry" encountered among progressives.

Religion has played a prominent role in the Left's victories throughout history, Jones argued. He remembered the Civil Rights struggle as the last great victory of the Left, and reminds us of how "heroes and she-roes came marching boldly out of church-houses." Likewise, the Underground Railroad was run largely by Quakers, and religious congregations were at the head of the Sanctuary Movement, which opposed Reagan's immigration policies.

The religious Left, according to Jones, is already on the move, with "previously apolitical 'spiritual types' getting involved as activists for the first time." Smaller-scale efforts are springing up around the country, such as Rev. Frances Hall Kieschnick's Beatitude Society. These mini-movements, if brought together, will form what Jones sees as "the only type of progressive movement that stands a chance in a country as religious as ours."

Many AlterNet readers agreed with this assessment of America's current political and social atmosphere. One reader in particular was especially open to Jones' assessment, affirming that "the Spiritual Covenant could give the Democrats and the Greens a coherent and spiritually-sensitive platform" which would lend them the unity they need to take back the country. He is also encouraged by the fact that many on the Left are spiritual people; they merely lack "a supportive environment to articulate that spirituality and to connect it to a progressive political agenda." The reader was Michael Lerner himself.

Another reader, Marcos, shares Jones' belief that religion motivates for good. Referring to the Teologoia de la Liberacion, a movement the reader observed firsthand in Colombia where he saw priests and nuns living with and helping the poor, he says: "People saw the need for change and worked with all the tools at hand. It was just that for many Christ was an enormous well of energy for creating that change."

Many feel that the Right has been manipulating Christianity for their own ends, perverting the message of Christ. Billdake writes: "Cold hearted Christian Conservatives should read the Gospels of Christ and apply Christ's teachings to their life, instead of searching the Bible to spin off whatever works for them." Beetruetoyou asks: "Why do these folks only speak of their faith in terms of judgment, hatred, exclusion, power, wealth, the 'Gospel of Greed' as Jim Wallis has called it?"

True Christianity for a number of readers is very far removed from the Christianity of Pat Robertson or George W. Bush. For them, it's about "the truly radical message of Jesus….remember?… love, mercy, forgiveness, generosity, compassion, being with the outcasts of society, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and on and on" (beetruetoyou). Many readers believe that Christian ideals are progressive ideals.

Some of the progressive religious types Lerner wants to include also weighed in. Paulb describes himself as "a christian who is a 45 year old white male who could not agree with this more."

Bookwoman, a politically moderate Christian, relates her frustration at "being dragged down by the tirades of the Christian Right." Krotos, a Hicksite Quaker and "research scientist who fully accepts that life evolved," denounced the Left's anti-religious sentiment that Jones and Lerner describe: "A lot of liberals, sadly, seem to be too cynical or intellectually lazy to recognize that 'Christian' and 'raving, Bible-thumping wingnut who wants to force his religion on everyone else and return society to the Middle Ages' are not synonymous."

Many readers, on the other hand, did not agree so wholeheartedly with Jones' article. A few readers denied that the Left harbors any intolerance towards religion. Bornxeyed insists "In my experience it is the religious that are the intolerant, close-minded individuals," and adds "It's very rare I see an atheist walk down the street stopping people in an attempt to convert them to athesim or knocking on doors to announce they have witnessed the lack of a god and they are duty-bound to stand in your doorway spewing 'nonsense' until you agree or, at the very least, contribute a few bucks so they can continue to harass the neighborhood."

Joshy1234 believes that accusing the Left of hostility towards religion is not only false, it is actually harmful: "Michael Lerner, Van Jones and others, while clearly providing an important voice for the left, unwittingly amplify the right's bullshit by repeating the charge ad nauseum."

Jackie Mauro is an intern at AlterNet.

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