On Wednesday, Reverend Jim Wallis, author of “The Great Awakening,” and Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, appeared with John King on the CNN Situation Room. Both were critical of John McCain, and his perceived unwillingness to bring the Republican Party together as we move toward the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Perkins made the stunning statement that he “was not sure McCain understands American values.” Mr. Perkins … Did you bump your head? Where were you when John McCain was being tortured and having his bones broken by his North Vietnamese captors? This is just one more example that demonstrates why it should be crystal clear to any thinking adult that evangelical churches in America are in decline. The narrow-mindedness that has been inculcated by the Religious Right has become a divisive force in America.
Rev. Wallis and Mr. Perkins, functioning as pit bulls for Dr. James Dobson, misrepresented Senator McCain’s position on Iraq as advocating permanent war. Senator John Kerry, in criticizing Vice President Cheney this week, stated, “I was reminded of what Marine Corps 3-star General Gregory Newbold, the former Operations Director at the Pentagon, said about the war in Iraq: ‘The commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions - or bury the results’." The same criticism ought to apply equally well to these two representatives of the Religious Right. Dr. Dobson and John McCain clearly do not see eye-to-eye personally, but for the representatives of the Religious Right to skew the views of the Republican nominee to further a personal rift is disingenuous and counter-productive. What’s new? What they do not like about Senator McCain is that he has told the truth … they are purveyors of intolerance in American society. Once again, they paraded out their litmus test issues (family, marriage and life), and protested that McCain has not spoken enough about his views on these issues to pacify the extreme Right. Oh, what has happened to the good old days?
Alexis De Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America of a different time in our nation’s history: “There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth. I have remarked that the American clergy in general, without even excepting those who do not admit religious liberty, are all in favour of civil freedom; but they do not support any particular political system. They keep aloof from parties and from public affairs. In the United States religion exercises but little influence upon the laws and upon the details of public opinion; but it directs the customs of the community, and, by regulating domestic life, it regulates the state” (De Tocqueville, 183-184). Reverend Wallis, Mr. Perkins and Dr. Dobson, leader of Focus on the Family, are witness of the loss of traditional influence religion has had on the domestic life in America, and so they seek to prolong their impact on our nation by trying to influence the formulation of the laws. I guess some influence is better than no influence. Rather than attacking Senator McCain, why do these ‘religious’ leaders not examine themselves to discover why their brand of religion is having a diminished impact on the domestic life of average Americans? Why is Right Wing extremism increasingly rejected by everyday people?
Americans generally view their religious convictions as a private matter. Whether it is right or not, they want the ability to integrate their faith into everyday life in a manner that is meaningful to them, and most bristle when someone else tries to dictate how they worship. The last twenty years have witnessed the fall of many flamboyant ministries in American culture. To say that this has harmed the perceived moral leadership of the church in our society is an understatement. Those who have been jaded by those dramatic falls respond to the hypocrisy with the words of Jesus in Scripture: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? … First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye" (Matthew 7:1-5, NIV). This goes to the heart of why the Christian Right has lost influence in American life, and why they have chosen to get politically active in order to maintain some relevancy.
Christian churches of many denominational creeds have become hypercritical and dogmatic. Instead of being respectful of our thoughtful differences, too many have become militant, taking a stance in life that is uncomfortable for a lot of people. Age has taught me that there are few things in life that are as black and white as we would like them to be. There is much gray, and, hence, room for accommodation and meaningful compromise. When the Right Wing of the Republican Party professes to know the answer … even before the questions are asked … the vast majority of people just guffaw. The complexities of our times require a more thoughtful and inclusive response. Finding ways to build bridges, rather than enlargen the walls, represents a more accurate view of the current sentiments of American society. For these pragmatists, the Moral Majority and Religious Right have become caricatures. James Dobson, Jim Wallis and Tony Perkins would do well to honor Senator McCain as the national war hero that he is, and express the profound thanks of our nation for the sacrifices that he has physically borne. He has lived the American values they only intellectually profess to hold. I firmly believe that Jesus frowns on the narrow-minded, litmus-test oriented zealots of the Christian Right. You fish with a line instead of a net, and you spend more time scattering the sheep than shepherding them in love and understanding. Shame on you.
©Rev. Gerry Young, MDiv, DD (Hon.), PhD (Candidate), 2008
