Why the Religious Right Just Might Be Wrong

Liberal Christians. Is that phrase really the oxymoron that many conservative Christians would have us believe?

I am a liberal Christian who is often frustrated by the "Religious Right." I'm tired and frustrated by the looks of shock, distrust and often disgust when I tell a right-wing Christian that I am a democrat, and a liberal one at that. When and why did liberal become such a dirty word?

Liberals in the United States are often accused of hating our country and incapable of being "true" Christians. Why is it that my Christianity is assumed to be "less than" because I lean to the left politically or that my patriotism is automatically put in to question when admitting I'm a liberal?

Most right-wing, self-proclaiming "Bible-believing" Christians that I've met, can't fathom that my political views are a direct result of my Christianity. When I try to explain my positions they look at me in awe, stunned that I could be making such a claim. "How could any Christian in their right mind think that God isn't anything but a conservative?" Isn't that the message that we are sent? That all "real" Christians, all "true" believers and followers of God and Jesus also agree with the Religious Right? That we all need to guard against the evil liberal, atheistic agenda?

We need more Liberal Christians to Stand Up

There are a lot of Christians in this country, conservative, liberal, and many in between. Yet it seems the primary Christian voice is still that of the Religious Right. There are some vocal "left-wing" Christians out there and thankfully they are gaining more of an audience. There are many others who are speaking up but who aren't identifying themselves as Christian.

I'm not positive why we don't identify our Christian beliefs and heritage more, but I have an idea. I know for me, the verse that condemns praying on the street corners and the charges by Paul in the epistles to not cause others to stumble have prevented me from "exposing" my Christianity when talking politics. But it has also caused me to be careful exposing my politics when in a "Bible believing" Christian environment. Because my politics stem from directly from my faith, my passion often gets the best of me. There's nothing worse than two Christians fighting, so I try (often unsuccessfully) to keep my mouth closed, depending on the nature of the conversation. But, on the other hand, if I'm too chicken to speak, am I truly following Christ?

Could the Religious Right be Wrong?

For the sake of argument, I'd like to pose a question that is admittedly as judgmental as many of the comments from the Religious Right that make me cringe. Aren't most of the policies of liberal Democrats much more "Christ-like" than the policies of conservative Republicans? You can guess my answer.

Except for abortion, liberal policies are generally life-giving are they not? Polices designed to benefit the underdogs, support those in need, lift people out of the miry pits, and such?

On the other hand, what about the conservative strongholds of a strong defense and support of big business over the little guy? Are those life-giving? Don't they in fact go against Christ's teachings? Does it say anywhere in the Bible that we are supposed spend our money on war machinery and getting rich? No. Doesn't the Bible say that "God helps those who help themselves"? Actually, no, it does not. It was Benjamin Franklin who said that, not the Bible.

Just how Biblical are most of the Republican conservative values? Tax cuts to the wealthiest. Is that in the Bible? No. Are cuts to programs that impact our children (education, welfare, health care) Biblically based? No, in fact Jesus says quite the opposite about how we should be viewing children, the poor and the sick. What about social security? Doesn't the Bible say that we're supposed to take care of the widows and orphans? War and defense spending, Jesus definitely would have bombed cities and shot to kill, right? No. Is the death penalty something Jesus would have supported? I doubt it, given his teachings and the fact that he wouldn't even let Peter put up a defense at His arrest. Not to mention, Jesus is pretty much the ultimate example of an innocent man being wrongly put to death, a reason to be against capital punishment, not for it.

Liberal Christian polices that emphasize giving to the poor, helping the disadvantaged, healing the sick can all find strong basis in the Bible. What might happen if the Religious Right actually focused on what Jesus said instead of focusing on Old Testament quotes that fit with their talking points, items that Jesus didn't even take the time to address? Why not focus on the Sermon on the Mount, the Good Samaritan and how to treat the lepers for a while?

Loyalty to God over Country

The Jesus I've read about wouldn't ever have put his loyalty to country before God. Jesus was not "politically correct". He did not align himself with the political parties of the day. Jesus certainly didn't behave like an American conservative or an American liberal. He instead chose conform his actions to God, and Christians are called to follow His lead.

Christians are supposed "to be in this world but not of it" and are to follow Christ even when it might be uncomfortable or seem illogical. We're supposed to trust in God at all times. We are to trust in Him not only during times we don't understand but even when we think we have it all figured out.

What Would Jesus Do? Would Jesus Kill?

All through the Gospels Jesus speaks very, very clearly about non-violence. One of God's Ten Commandments is "do not kill". We're charged by Christ Jesus to love and pray for our enemies. He charges us to cross the street to help the Samaritan. He charges us to turn the other cheek, to forgive, to be anxious for nothing, and to love...always to love.

So why are Christians who lean to the left, calling for love instead of war so often ostracized by the Religious Right? Why are we pressured to conform to a beliefs set by a few highly visible, "preaching from the street corners", Religious Right Christian fundamentalists?

I don't understand it when many of these same Christians claim that they to want to be Christ-like but at the same time are supportive of war. I have yet to read anything in the Bible that suggests that Jesus would have killed anyone or that he would have supported war.

Every Christian who has ever tried to justify to me why war or violence of any type is "ok" with God, has always quoted the Old Testament. If you are a "Bible believing" Christian, doesn't the New Testament "overrule" the Old Testament? And besides, if God was so supportive of killing, why refuse to let anyone kill Cain after Cain committed the first murder? Instead God didn't allow anyone to "touch" Cain. Capital punishment and human vengeance was NOT allowed after the first murder. Doesn't that tell us something about God?

In the Old Testament, God allowed a lot of violence and even responded to prayers, but was "smiting" really His wish or was it His fulfilling of our wishes? Is it possible that the human race at the time, was like an infant who could not understand fully how to interact in the world? Remember, during the Old Testament times, man could not even begin to fathom that the world was anything but flat.

It's Time for the Religious Right to Set Aside Childish Solutions

Is it possible, that just as God expects more from leaders in the Church, He may also be expecting more from later generations of humans? That we should "outgrow" immature ways of behaving and reacting to each other? If we believe that God sent His only son to teach us a new way, shouldn't we try and follow what we were taught? Weren't we instructed to give up our childish ways? Could the ways of violence be some of the childish ways we are supposed to give up?

Jesus Christ came to bring us life, not more death. The fruits of the Spirit are love, peace, hope and joy, not death, destruction, and regime change.

Did Christ teach us to accept the "sad realities of war" or did He propose there was a new reality, a new Heaven. Weren't His expectations for us to live a much higher level? Christ walked among the enemies of His time and welcomed them with open arms. He repeatedly calls us to do the same, as illogical, unfruitful, and dangerous as that may sound to our human minds.

Aren't we to believe that All Things are Possible?

The Bible says, "All things are possible through Christ who strengthens us". I cringe when I hear from the Religious Right, "but we live in a fallen world" as if that somehow justifies Christians behaving as the rest of the world does. To me, claiming that war is inevitable because it's "fallen" means you don't really believe all things are possible through Christ. What does the Bible say and what do you believe about God? "But it says in the New Testament that there will be wars." And there have been. Enough is enough. What does God want us to do? How does our Father want us to treat His other children?

Simple but not Easy

God's commandments were few (ten, in fact) and simple. Not easy, but simple. Christ modified the commandments down to two, 1. love God and 2. love others, which are even simpler to understand. It's tremendously hard if not "impossible" to accomplish love in all circumstances, but the concept of love is simple to understand.

I often wonder if man has devised our own rules that go beyond the Ten Commandments (e.g., "extra" rules in Leviticus, "just war theory") because we find the simple commandments too difficult to fulfill as written. In order to help make sense of the world and ourselves, did we rationalize that the commands directly given by God and Jesus were too "simplistic" in the form given?

I think the great majority of us would prefer to love in all cases, but we fail so miserably at it. Rather than admit we are human and incapable of being perfect like God, have we instead chosen to modify God's rules, in a sense, making our version of God a bit imperfect and therefore more like us? "He must have meant that that we can't murder individuals, not that we can't enemies kill in times of war." "He must have meant we should help the poor in Africa but didn't mean we should provide charity to those on welfare in this country, because they have opportunities to help themselves." Admittedly, it's not just the Religious Right that may be guilty of rationalizations. I believe liberal Christians are also guilty of trying to explain away that in the Bible that doesn't easily fit with what feels comfortable to believe.

Our Truths vs. His Truth

It may boost our self-esteem to develop complex interpretations and rationalizations of the commandments so that we feel we can accomplish them but is that His truth or our truth? Are we denying ourselves the opportunities of experiencing "God Truths" from coming to fruition?

By relying on our own understanding instead of leaning on God and what we've been clearly instructed to do (love God and love others), we can make sense out of our world. That doesn't mean we have discovered the truth of God. It was not just pagans that believed the "truth" that the world was flat. Christians also believed until it became impossible to believe that "truth" anymore. We limit ourselves when trust our own understanding at the expense of a possible "God truth" just because we can't see or touch His truth yet.

God offered us faith for things not seen and touchable. We need to rely on faith more than our own eyes and ears in times of trouble. It takes faith to trust, believe, and truly act on the simple commandments to love God and love others. As Christians, our politics should be guided by our Faith in God, not our faith in our own understanding of God.

The Religious Right may consider me to be a "wrong-winged" Christian, but as long as my "wrongness" stems from a desire to be more Christ-like, that's alright with me.