"America, Return to God?"

I recieved at church this week a 128-page magazine from "Great Commission Center International" entitled America, Return to God. I believe every church and pastor in the country was sent this -- an indication of the kind of funding backing up the effort. Edited by Thomas Wang, it includes articles by such right-wing luminaries as Francis Schaeffer, Bill Gothard, David Barton, Tim LaHaye, James Kennedy, and of course James Dobson. And lots of quotes from Presidents, and the Founding Fathers (no Mothers).

It rails against the ACLU and "liberal judges," tracing the downfall of America to 1962 when mandatory public prayers were banned in school, thus causing all manner of evil to happen, including the destruction of the family.

And all the usual evils were cited: abortion, homosexuality, liberal media, feminism, and pornography. To avert divine wrath ("It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God," they helpfully remind us, quoting from Hebrews 10:31) they recommend prayer, repentance, and purposeful, energetic political involvement. Only "the Godly" should be elected. That is, of course, only those who espouse a right-wing agenda.

What is most striking and profoundly sad about this "restoration" movement within Fundamentalist Christianity is that in the entire 128 pages there is not a mention of the horrific war in Iraq -- the 10s of thousands killed, the 100s of thousands of people around the world who hate us for that war, the massive debt that war is incurring and the accompanying cuts to social programs that war is causing. No word of judgment on a nation that attacks another, unprovoked, on false pretenses, because of the overwhelming hubris of a few foolish, foolish men (and one woman - Ms. Rice). It's as if Iraq never happened.

The legacy of right-wing Christianity in these past ten years will be that they elected George W. Bush to office, and blessed him on his way as he waged war abroad while at home he made the rich richer and the poor poorer. Is this in any way "Christian?"

Cal Thomas: a Reflection of our Worst Nightmare

I wouldn't read Cal Thomas at all if it weren't for the fact that he identifies himself so openly and proudly with the same faith I claim as my own, namely, Christianity. I know pretty much what he'll say about a given issue, and I know that I will nearly always disagree with him politically; and besides that he states his opinions with such a mean-spirited sarcasm that he's depressing to read. But his religious affiliation keeps coming back at me, and I suppose I think I should know what such a prominent spokesperson of the far right is saying, right out loud in front of God and everyone else.

Today's article -- Jury Lets Terrorist Claim Victory -- deserves some comment. He thinks (no surprise here) that Moussaoui should be executed for not divulging information that could have thwarted 9/11. Living under the Old Testament law as he does (and a surprising number of Christian Fundamentalists do) Thomas follows this logic: "If human life has the highest value . . .then the only way to validate its worth is to deprive one who takes it of his or her own life." "An eye for an eye," that is. It would follow that if a person took, say two lives, society in order to be just would have to take two lives . . . the killer's, and perhaps his/her spouse. If three lives, then we could proceed on to a child, or lacking that, a parent.

There are societies, as I understand it, who do in fact practice such a system, with families taking it upon themselves to "settle the score" with an offender -- someone who has "dishonored" the family. Perhaps a "more civilized" approach is to have the State avenge the death or deaths. But I doubt it.

Thomas claims that "America's soft underpinnings" were exposed when the jury sentenced Moussaoui to a mere lifetime of solitary confinement, rather than hang him, or shoot him, or electocute him, or inject him. To the contrary, the mark of a more humane society is that it can refuse to return evil for evil.

I shudder to think what our nation would look like if it were ruled by those who espouse the views of Cal Thomas. We might be more orderly -- for fear of being attacked by the morals police -- but we surely would not be a free society. My worst nightmare is that Christian Fundamentalists have their way with us, inflicting their rules on the rest of us. This is their agenda. And it is an agenda so far from what I see in Jesus that I wonder if my faith and Thomas' faith has anything at all in common, besides the name.