There is even a radical Christian alternative to the liberal/progresive Sojourners group.
Here is an essay by one of the leaders in that movement--a movement that I support and work with:
To: portside at lists.portside.org Subject: Empire Christianity vs Liberation Christianity
By Ruby Sales
Founder and Director of SpiritHouse
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
I want to respond to the question where we go from here when far too many Black people are in the theological and christological grip of white right wing Christians. Chip Berlet, author and political analyst, calls this group the theocrats. He tells us that "Theocrats support a form of government where the actions of leaders are seen as sanctioned by God- where the leaders claim that they are carrying out God's will. "
Berlet goes on to tells us that theocrats promotes a brand of Christianity that proclaims that "people are basically sinful and must be restrained by harsh punitive laws. Social problems are caused by satanic conspiracies aided and abetted by liberals, homosexual, feminist and secular humanist. These forces must be exposed and neutralized. "
As we move forward in this reflection, it is critical that we make a distinction between Empire Christianity and Liberation Christianity. Empire Christianity beats in the veins and hearts of theocrats and their reconstructionist allies.
Liberation Christianity begins with the assertion that God is on the side of the oppressed rather than the side of the Empire. This is the good news of the radical Jew Jesus who challenged the Roman Empire and its Jewish gatekeepers. Jesus made clear the radical nature of his mission: (1) to bring sight to the blind,i.e to bring a new consciousness that freed his community and others from the false consciousness of identifying with the goals of the Roman Empire. (2) to feed the hungry, i.e. a systemic redistribution of resources that is not charity, but systemic economic justice. ( 3) to set the prisoners free, i.e. a recognition that the Empire uses law and order as tools of oppression and domination.
This message of liberation galvanized the southern freedom movement, South African liberation movement and liberation movements around the world. It is a dynamic message that changes the status quo and rearranges our relationship with God and others. It is a justice message of non violence. It is a message that reminds us that we are not entrapped by history; we have the collective power to free ourselves from the bonds of a tyrannical state. It reminds us that we have the power to make a new history and a new world. The view of our collective power challenges the notion that history begins and ends with the Empire.
George Bush and his conservative allies believe the opposite. Their God is the keeper of the status quo. Theirs is a cynical status quo view of God that allows them to be "on the wrong side of history and issues." The Empire religion espoused by George Bush and his white Christian Conservative allies is headed by a white supremacist patriarchal upper class God who stood on the side of enslavement and the genocide of native peoples throughout the globe, including North and South America....
Read the rest of the essay at:
http://www.portside.org/showpost.php?postid=1075 <http://www.portside.org/showpost.php?postid=1075>
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-Chip Berlet
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