"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?"