Personally, this writer does disagree with Dean on only one aspect of his comment. The Republicans calling themselves Christian are promoting an essentially anti-Christian agenda. While these so-called “Christian Right” political leaders claim to speak for the Christians of America, I think they are actually speaking only for a small minority of Christians who are placing Bush Republicanism above the teachings of Jesus Christ.

I am a Southern, white Christian male. I am a fairly conservative Democrat. I completely oppose the entire Republican agenda because my Christian faith and values are deeply offended by the greed and intolerance of Bush Republicanism. These values and the Christian theology behind them were explored in my column “Faith in Politics” written back in October of 2001 (see http://democratictalkradio.com/demvoices002.html ).

Dean should not give the Republicans the benefit of exclusive use of the Christian label for an essentially anti-Christian political message. Real Christians love the poor and look down on anyone with a political agenda designed to benefit the wealthiest of the wealthy. The invasion of Iraq based on lying to the voters and deceiving our elected lawmakers is hardly the behavior of good Christians. A brief look at the Downing Street memo shows that Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair had already started a war with Iraq while the UN’s Weapons of Mass Destruction inspectors were still in Iraq and long before Congress voted to give Bush the legal power to launch his unwise military adventure. Are these the behaviors of good Christians?

The politicization of the Christian church has benefited the Republican Party instead of the Christian church. It is an insult to many real Christians to call the attack on the Separation of Church and State a pro-Christian political agenda. Our Founding Fathers advocated this measure almost universally to protect both the government and our Churches. Politics and money are corrupting many churches especially those led by so-called “Christian Right” preachers.

I urge all Democrats to challenge the Republican claim on the Christian label at every opportunity. I urge all Christians to challenge all their church leaders who seek to promote a partisan political agenda. I want to add my sincere admonishment to all Christians to look for passages in the Bible about helping the poor and not judging others faith or behavior in religious terms. Ask yourself if the Republican agenda financially benefits the poor and helpless versus the rich and powerful before you make the political choices. I think we need to ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?”

"Dear Mr. Crockett:

The Retardlicans would have us believe that Jesus, the Princew of Peace carried an M-16!

Charlie"

and

"I agree with that 100%. These Christian right followers of GW Bush and not
following the teachings of Jesus. Jesus would not say smite thy neighbor, he
would say love thy neighbor. Jesus would not say drop Daisy Cutter bombs on
women and children. Jesus would not say strike first, he would say turn the
other cheek. In my opinion, those people are not really Christians at heart. To
be a real Christian, you have to at least try to follow the teachings of
Jesus.

Murphy"

Perhaps no one said it better than Carl Sandberg:

Carl Sandburg - To a Contemporary Bunkshooter

YOU come along. . . tearing your shirt. . . yelling about
Jesus.
Where do you get that stuff?
What do you know about Jesus?
Jesus had a way of talking soft and outside of a few
bankers and higher-ups among the con men of Jerusalem
everybody liked to have this Jesus around because
he never made any fake passes and everything
he said went and he helped the sick and gave the
people hope.

You come along squirting words at us, shaking your fist
and calling us all damn fools so fierce the froth slobbers
over your lips. . . always blabbing we're all
going to hell straight off and you know all about it.

I've read Jesus' words. I know what he said. You don't
throw any scare into me. I've got your number. I
know how much you know about Jesus.
He never came near clean people or dirty people but
they felt cleaner because he came along. It was your
crowd of bankers and business men and lawyers
hired the sluggers and murderers who put Jesus out
of the running.

I say the same bunch backing you nailed the nails into
the hands of this Jesus of Nazareth. He had lined
up against him the same crooks and strong-arm men
now lined up with you paying your way.

This Jesus was good to look at, smelled good, listened
good. He threw out something fresh and beautiful
from the skin of his body and the touch of his hands
wherever he passed along.
You slimy bunkshooter, you put a smut on every human
blossom in reach of your rotten breath belching
about hell-fire and hiccupping about this Man who
lived a clean life in Galilee.

When are you going to quit making the carpenters build
emergency hospitals for women and girls driven
crazy with wrecked nerves from your gibberish about
Jesus--I put it to you again: Where do you get that
stuff; what do you know about Jesus?
CONT:

You tell people living in shanties Jesus is going to fix it
up all right with them by giving them mansions in
the skies after they're dead and the worms have
eaten 'em.
You tell $6 a week department store girls all they need
is Jesus; you take a steel trust wop, dead without
having lived, gray and shrunken at forty years of
age, and you tell him to look at Jesus on the cross
and he'll be all right.
You tell poor people they don't need any more money
on pay day and even if it's fierce to be out of a job,
Jesus'll fix that up all right, all right--all they gotta
do is take Jesus the way you say.
I'm telling you Jesus wouldn't stand for the stuff you're
handing out. Jesus played it different. The bankers
and lawyers of Jerusalem got their sluggers and
murderers to go after Jesus just because Jesus
wouldn't play their game. He didn't sit in with
the big thieves.

I don't want a lot of gab from a bunkshooter in my religion.
I won't take my religion from any man who never works
except with his mouth and never cherishes any memory
except the face of the woman on the American
silver dollar.

I ask you to come through and show me where you're
pouring out the blood of your life.

I've been to this suburb of Jerusalem they call Golgotha,
where they nailed Him, and I know if the story is
straight it was real blood ran from His hands and
the nail-holes, and it was real blood spurted in red
drops where the spear of the Roman soldier rammed
in between the ribs of this Jesus of Nazareth.

1684 KIA
$250 Billion TDR
DRAFT Republicans NOW!

and at the Magic City Morning Star in Maine
http://magic-city-news.com/article_4006.shtml

and linked at Buzzflash.com
http://www.buzzflash.com

"Stephen, thank you for this thoughtful article. You are correct to challenge the Republican right wing for their hypocrisy. I don't understand why more Christians aren't coming forward with this truth. In fact, I thing this very insalubrious group of people are really just xenophobes, trying to justify their infirmity with religion.-Donnie "

and this one from Maine

"Excellent piece! Right on target!!

- Ron"

and it was published at Outrage Nation.com
http://www.outragenation.com

"Just read your latest piece. Nicely done!

Every one of the world's great religious traditions worries about -- and warns against -- greed. How sad that we let our pols drape greed in religiosity.

Sam Pizzigati
Editor, Too Much http://www.cipa-apex.org/toomuch/ ,
an online weekly on excessive income and wealth
Author of Greed and Good: Understanding and Overcoming the Inequality That Limits Our Lives http://www.greedandgood.org/ ,
an "extraordinary book," American Library Association Choice magazine, March 2005 "

and at TV News Lies
http://www.tvnewslies.org

and at the Wyoming Network family of websites 6-9-05
http://www.codynetwork.com/today/news/opinion05.asp

and at the East Bay Democrats site in California
http://ebaydemo.org/forum.htm

and at We Are Michigan
http://www.wearemichigan.com

"Thank you for sharing this letter with Democracy for America. It is very well written and gives voice to some very important concerns.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to your continuing involvement.

Sincerely,

Pat Hanson

Democracy for America
http://www.democracyforamerica.com "

"Stephen,

I caught your essay at OpEdNews today and I intrude with the hope that
you might find merit in natural philosophical views, where your views
are clearly correct and find larger context.

Blue skies to you and yours,

Gerry

http://www.jeffersonseyes.com
http://www.axisoflogic.com "

"Dear Mr. Crockett,
It was a great relief to read your column
('Republicans, the Anti-Christian, Christian Party'),
as it reaffirmed my own position that the G.O.P. has
calculatingly seduced many Christians into voting for
a group whose actions (and policies) are fanning the
flames of fires that might be better let alone.

If one looks critically at Republican-owned TV
networks, doesn't it seem like the shows and
advertisements they broadcast shamelessly cater to six
of what used used to be called the "Seven Deadly
Sins", to wit:
Pride; pandering to arrogant nationalism
Envy; driving force behind consumerism (keeping up
with the Joneses)
Wrath; beating the drums of war/ultra-violent
"entertainment"
Avarice; endless obsessive talk of money, money, money
Gluttony; shall we supersize that, sir?
Lust: Brittany "can't imagine" what they mean by 'sex
symbol'?

Sloth alone is missing, as refusing to participate in
the voluntary slavery of a Antichristian mainstream
culture is the only thing that IS considered wicked
anymore, at least according to the TV.

You know, my fiancee and I went to a wedding in Fort
Worth a few weeks back, and our friend there (the
bride, who's from New Mexico) was explaining how
Texans just love Dubya, they're so proud that one of
their own is in the White House, haven't had a Texan
in there since L.B.J.... I asked her, as gently as I
could manage, "Umm, don't any of these folks ever
comment on the fact that Bush is actually a
boarding-school-educated preppie, a Yankee
carpetbagger from Massachusetts who drank his way
through Yale and then came down here to buy himself a
political career 'cause nobody would vote for him back
home?"
She laughed pretty hard at that, as she's a native New
Mexican (they take pride in making fun of Texan
loudness, Texans throwing their money around in Santa
Fe, Texans getting themselves punched out (by
Chicanos) for telling Mexican jokes in barrooms,
etc.). "Nope" she replied. "They don't even want to
look at that stuff."

Well, I guess a lot of people don't. But it's nice to
hear a voice of moderation out there. Great column,
sir. Hope you get to write lots more like it.

Best wishes,

Joseph
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(WMD Capital of the World)"

and at Common Ground Common Sense
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=31075&st=40

and linked at the A Little Left of Centrist blog
http://leftofcentrist.blogspot.com/

"VALUES
Embracing Theocracy?

America is a deeply religious nation, but it is not a theocracy. Yet,
increasingly, the small but powerful assemblage of Christian Right religious
organizations are forming overlapping agendas with local, state, and federal
conservative politicians. This is both harming religion – threatening to turn "a
sanctuary into a political platform," as Rev. Dr. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite,
president of the Chicago Theological Seminary, points out – and pressing our
nation closer to what some suggest is a creeping theocracy.

POLITICIZING FAITH: Perhaps the most alarming example is found in the Ohio
Restoration Project. Presbyterian Rev. Dr. John Lentz writes that the group
"plans to target 2,000 pastors throughout the state to become 'patriot
pastors.'" Those patriot pastors will be "briefed on a specific political agenda" and
"asked to submit names of their parishioners" to a large database, which
will come in handy when the pastors are "asked to place voter guides in their
church pews." This plan is being strongly backed by Ohio Secretary of State Ken
Blackwell ®, a gubernatorial hopeful, who "will be featured on 30-second
radio ads promoting this group's agenda and supporting the 'Ohio for Jesus'
rally set for the spring of 2006."

CONSERVATIVES SEE WARNING SIGNS: Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) says his
conservative colleagues are embracing a "theocracy." John Danforth, President
Bush's former U.N. ambassador, says that conservatives have "gone so far in
adopting a sectarian agenda that it has become the political extension of a
religious movement." And Christine Todd Whitman, former EPA administrator under
President Bush, recently warned of right-wing "fundamentalists": "It's the
people who will tell you that they would rather focus on SpongeBob SquarePants
holding hands with a starfish than they would about Social Security.... It's
about a movement here. And that's why I try and define the term as social
fundamentalist."

RELIGIOUS RIGHT HARMING YOUR WAY OF LIFE: Whether it's pressing our
government to interfere in the most private and personal medical decisions, like
end-of-life decisions or abortion; endangering patients' health and denying their
rights by refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control and emergency
contraception; leading the fight against life-saving scientific research into
stem cells; or inciting religious divisiveness by claiming that certain
political views mean one is "against people of faith," the result is the same:
Americans overwhelming oppose it; right-wing politicians embrace it.

GOOD FOR RELIGIOUS RIGHT, BAD FOR AMERICANS: Even conservatives are turned
off by the Bush administration's ideological activism. By a 50 to 37 percent
margin, the Wall Street Journal found recently that conservatives think the
federal government should be "less active" on social and moral issues. And in
this week's ABC/Washington Post poll, nearly 60 percent of Americans said Bush
was focusing on issues that weren't important to their lives."

also found it briefly on several Christian sites and numerous news sites like Alta Vista

Dean used the word Christian as a pejorative. And that's not just
unmistakably offensive, that's also unforgivingly dumb.

My response

According to the Dallas Morning News, here's what was actually said, "the
chairman of the Democratic Party has now called the GOP 'pretty much a
white, Christian party.'"

How does that statement use the word Christian as a pejorative? Unless you
think Christians should be ashamed to be called Republican, which is
certainly arguable, but what does that have to do with Howard Dean? I gave
you a link to an article where a prominent Republican said almost the exact
same thing.

I hope you will think about something very carefully. The employees of the
right-wing elites are paid extremely well to find and/or manufacture reasons
to raise ruckuses about Democrats, and amplify them throughout their echo
chamber. (The Wellstone funeral comes to mind. Republicans had decided in
advance to scream and holler about it, and they dug hard to find a reason.)
Their goal is to discredit Democrats and marginalize us as much as possible.
When members of the Democratic establishment buy into their ruckuses and
start criticizing our own for saying or doing nothing wrong, we are simply
handing them more years of power.

Meanwhile, and this is very important, we have no vehicle whatsoever on our
side to pay people like me and other Internet activists, who defended your
guy Kerry strenuously, even when we thought he was wrong or did something
silly.

As I've said over and over again, I think we should actually be
manufacturing things for the wingnuts to be up in arms about. Keep them
furious! Keep those neck veins popping! That's how ordinary Americans will
come to really understand them, and therefore figure out what they're doing
to rob us blind.

And we must find a way to get financial support for talented thinkers,
writers, speakers, cartoonists, and so on who can break through the
propaganda and also help Americans understand what's happening to us.

[This coming week's Granny Bee will have something to say about this. Not
so veiled hint: If you haven't made a contribution to MakeThemAccountable
lately, please do so http://makethemaccountable.com/contribute.htm
now.-Caro]

Lots more really good stuff at MakeThemAccountable.com
http://makethemaccountable.com/.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Philosophical question: If a Bush commits a crime and no one hears about it,
has a crime really been committed?

http://demookie.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17849&SearchTerms=republicans,the,anti-christian,christian,party

http://demookie.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17846&SearchTerms=republicans,the,anti-christian,christian,party

In evangelical world, a liberal view steps up
Following Carter’s lead, progressives work to transform movement

By Alex Johnson
Updated: 2:46 p.m. ET June 9, 2005

When thousands of Southern Baptists gather later this month in Nashville for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, former President Jimmy Carter, one of the world’s most famous Baptists, will not be there. He broke with the convention several years ago, distressed at its takeover by conservative Christian fundamentalists beginning in 1979.

In an interview last year with Newsweek http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6392183/site/newsweek/ , Carter bemoaned the “melding ... between the Republican Party and the more conservative Christians,” saying: “This is not only an anomaly, but I think is contrary to the best interests of our democratic principles.”…

“People like Karl Rove and people like Ralph Reed have done a brilliant job of wedding the evangelical community to the Republican Party,” said Tony Campolo, a spiritual adviser to President Bill Clinton in the White House. “And so when you begin to think about evangelicals, you begin to think in terms of the values of the right wing of the Republican Party.”…

Like Jimmy Carter, Tony Campolo is a tireless campaigner for social justice, especially for the poor, for the environment and for oppressed populations in the Third World. Like Carter, he is also an evangelical Christian — a Baptist minister, in fact…

“I think there’s a certain bias in the broader secular media world against evangelicals that kind of enjoys making us look silly,” said Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action. “Nobody does that much better than Falwell, and so Falwell gets enormous press, even though ... the vast majority of the evangelical center and progressives — which is to say more than half of evangelicals — are regularly embarrassed by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.”…

“In a nutshell, we hold to the same kinds of theology. We just read the Bible differently than our right-wing friends. When we read the Bible, we see a Jesus who is much more radical,” Campolo said…

“[T]he problem with [James Dobson, head of the right-wing Focus on the Family] is he’s so narrowly focused on a couple of issues,” Sider said. “The Bible says that God is concerned about the sanctity of human life and the poor, about the family and racial justice and creation care. And so any faithful Christian will have that biblically balanced agenda.”…

If leaders of the progressive evangelical movement had their way, social activism would be divorced from politics. They envision a day when all of the awesome organizational skills and economic power of the conservative evangelical structure could be brought to bear on feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and leveling the uneven playing field of modern society.

There is a base to build on, because so much of liberal evangelical thought grows out of very conservative theological philosophies. Campolo allowed, in fact, that “when I look at the Republican Party, there’s much about their agenda that I embrace.”

But “it’s time for us to stand up and say Jesus is not a Republican; Jesus is not a Democrat,” he said. “I hope that the answer to the religious right is not to create a religious left in which we get a bunch of Christians who are saying if you don’t vote Democratic, you’re out of the will of God.”…
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8131907/