By: DAVID RICE
Re: The Unholy Truth, re:CC

The Unholy Truth about the Christian Coalition Copyright? by HOPE magazine


EDITORIAL: In the name of religion, there is talk of a
Christian culture, a Christian nation. Yet we know that
the greatness of America is its ecumenical character and
commitment to religious tolerance.

Let us remember that the Christian Coalition is not new.
During slavery the economic forces in the "Christian"
Coalition rationalized slavery by saying that African
Americans were three-fifths human. Their scientists,
predecessors of Charles Murray, rationalized slavery with
the cephalic index and argued that Black people's brains
were smaller. The church rationalized "the peculiar
institution" by saying that Africans were the cursed
descendants of Ham, just as the persecution of Jews was
based on the lie that it was they who killed Jesus.

The Christian Coalition is not new. Germany had a
Christian Coalition. They appropriated the name
"Christian" but lacked the character of the faith.
Theirs' is a spirit of retribution and selfishness that
goes against the teaching of the church.

And yet, the Christian Coalition has also provided us with
an opportunity for coalition and bridge-building. Their
mean-spiritedness is not limited to Blacks. There are no
Jews in the "Christian Coalition," by definition. People
tend to forget but Dr. King's letter from the Birmingham
jail was written to the Christian Coalition, to the white
preachers who stood against racial equality, against civil
rights, against voting rights, against Schwerner, Goodman,
and Chaney. We have long fought together against the
exclusionary spirit of the Christian Coalition. Now we
must come together and challenge the values they are
putting forward.

Just as we, as a nation, have called upon nations abroad
to honor the religious beliefs and cultural traditions of
their own citizens, so must we safeguard this precious
right at home.

We must take this critical opportunity now offered to us
by the rise of the religious right in our nation to renew
our covenant with each other and with our faiths. We must
replace their "Contract With America" for the few with a
covenant for all. The "Contract With America" is, in
reality, a contract for a few. It does not carry with it
the moral authority of the covenant for all of us: "Give
me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses."

The very first "Contract With America," the United States
Constitution, similarly profited a privileged few. At the
time, only white male land-owners benefitted from the
rights and privileges delineated in that document. The
Constitution excluded the white working-class, women, and
African Americans. While the Constitution was an exclusive
contract with the aristocracy, it was not until the Bill
of Rights that an inclusive and moral covenant was
established, saving the soul and shaping the character of
our nation.

The religious right may have temporarily captured the
political center, but we are concerned with maintaining
the moral center. We must name what we see.

If this were Germany, we would call it fascism. If this
were South Africa, we would call it apartheid. In America
we call it conservatism. And it provides a cover for a
public policy of scapegoating, exclusion and distrust.


... Blasphemy is the breastplate of the heartless.
* Shy.David@EdenBBS.com
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 * Origin: "She blinded me with science!" (1:124/9005)