[lbo-talk] split on the religious right?

[jrdavis]

There has always been a significant religious left in
the USA. What the article is describing is a shift
amonsts consersative evangelicals. There is a
significant shift to left triggered by a growing
concerning for enviromentalism (steawardship) which is
divorcing many evangelicals from their right-wing
leadership. An new religious movement amongst
evangelical youth called "Emergence" is also a
significant factor. Probaly the most widely read (by
Chritstians and I would say its sales have outstripped
most left single book publishing in the US) left-wing
manifesto in years "Jesus for President" by Shane
Claiborne was recent published by the usually
conservative christian press Zondervan.

--- Shane Mage <shmage at pipeline.com> wrote:


> 
> On May 8, 2008, at 9:17 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> 
> Why lump all Protestant Evangelicals as "religious
> right?" Jimmy  
> Carter???
> Why not recognize the emergence of something that
> (in American terms)
> should be called the "evangelical left?"
> 
> > [via Mike Allen]
> >
> > EVANGELICAL SPLIT - 'Evangelical leaders say their
> faith is too
> > politicized,' By AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll:
> 'Prominent
> > evangelicals urged Christian conservatives
> Wednesday to support 'an
> > expansion of our concerns beyond single-issue
> politics,' angering
> > some leaders on the religious right who have been
> closely allied with
> > the Republican Party. In a 19-page document called
> 'An Evangelical
> > Manifesto,' more than 70 theologians, pastors and
> others said faith
> > and politics have been too closely mixed. They
> warned against
> > Christians adopting any one political view. ...
> >
> > 'Many veteran Christian activists on the right
> side of the political
> > spectrum do not support the declaration. James
> Dobson, founder of the
> > conservative Christian group Focus on the Family,
> reviewed the
> > document and was invited to sign it, but did not,
> said Gary
> > Schneeberger, a spokesman for Dobson. ... Richard
> Land, head of the
> > public policy arm of the conservative Southern
> Baptist Convention,
> > the largest Protestant group in the country, said
> he was not asked to
> > sign the document.'
> >
> > Ed Stoddard of Reuters calls it the movement's
> 'latest sign of
> > emerging fractures as some activists seek to
> broaden its agenda
> > beyond hot-button social issues': 'Michael
> CROMARTIE, vice president
> > of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said of
> the statement: 'It's
> > a sign of maturation of the evangelical movement.'
> '
> > ___________________________________
> >
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
> 
> Shane Mage
> 
> "Thunderbolt steers all things...it consents and
> does not consent to  
> be called Zeus."
> 
> Herakleitos of Ephesos
> 
> 
> 
> ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
> 

peace,

   

  Jim Davis 
Ozark Bioregion, USA 

  New Edition of my book on the Ismaili Muslim faith: 

  http://www.lulu.com/content/955673