Religious Right or Religious Wrong?

Not only do they lie; they deceive and insult people for wanting to help the poor.

blog.beliefnet.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Even though we have repeatedly written to the people from "News Issues" asking them to not fill our news mailbox with their ultra-right wing nonsense, the group continues to relentlessly drive their agenda onto our doorstep.

Now they have given me an opportunity to show the true spirit of the conservative, religious right, in all of its non-glory. This is a group that practices almost the exact opposite of what Christ taught. They taunt peace, and they use all types of less than flattering references to describe those who champion the rights of the poor. It's bozo hour at your local church.

What a bunch of screwheads.

The religious right is an abomination of bull and this is a point our religious writer Ken Ramey frequently exposes. While much of Ken's writings approach the subject from a historical context, this article allows insight into the fake Christians of the 21st Century.

The article sent to us today from "News Issues" is titled Barack Obama’s Newest Spiritual Advisor and it seems to originate from DiscoverTheNetworks.org and FrontPageMagazine.com.

It begins with: Now that he no longer draws spiritual succor from Jeremiah Wright—the America-hating, racist demagogue who served as his pastor and spiritual mentor for twenty years—Barack Obama has turned elsewhere for guidance in the task of carrying out his political duties while remaining true to his religious values.

Give me a break! Rev. Wright was right in his description of this broken system and the religious right is wrong. The injustice that the Rev. Wright grew up under is not something the average white person can even begin to comprehend, because they never had to deal with it.

No empathy, but also no sympathy; racist behavior. Then always remember that while the religious right strongly abhors the notion of ever paying the black race for the injustice they suffered, they insist that the tax dollars of hard working Americans are shoveled into Israel.

So, if black people are "wronged" that is OK, even if our own country did it. But the Holocaust means that you and your neighbor fund the needs of Israel's citizens from here to eternity.

Of course the average citizen of Israel lives better than you do and their economy is in better shape. I know I've never received a thank you card over it.

The article explains that the "most notable" of the President's spiritual advisors today is his friend of many years, Rev. Jim Wallis. Wallis is the founder of the Sojourners organization.

In describing Wallis, The New York Times wrote that he “leans left on some issues” but overall is a “centrist, social justice” kind of guy.

The "News Issues" article then states, "But a closer look at Wallis’s background reveals him to be nearly as radical, if better at disguising the fact, as Jeremiah Wright."

The first thing they attempt to take Wallis apart for is his participation in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.

The reality is that black Americans were still being treated like animals in the south in the late 50's and early 60's and even in supposedly progressive places like Los Angeles.

My older brother Ken King who grew up in LA during this time period remembers how there was a particular street in LA that black people weren't allowed to cross. If they did, then the local white kids from upper middle class families would attack and sometimes kill them.

Fully in step with the typical point of view of the religious right, the article stated that, "His participation in peace protests nearly resulted in his expulsion from the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, a Christian seminary where he was then enrolled."

That should make a real Christian's blood boil.

You have to appreciate that to the average consumer of this yellow trash parading as a news article, a desire to see peace exist in the world is a negative thing. The religious right is the slant of warmongers and it is packed with people who have never worn a uniform or heard a shot fired in anger.

The point of their article is not to teach or educate; it is to anger and misinform. Perhaps they use some real quotes, but they couldn't take their point farther into the trenches of bad imagination, nor wash off the sludge.

After this, the article runs up one side of Wallis and down the other with paragraphs about his politics and the fact that he wanted to try to minimize the Cold War and bring Americans home from the non-winnable conflict in Vietnam that claimed the lives of over 58,000 Americans.

They allege that Wallis is a Communist and a Socialist, while other research shows that his statements were very much in keeping with his contemporaries of the time.

I can't imagine how I would behave or what I might say if my people were being assaulted and the attackers were protected by the laws of a nation that claims to offer equality to all men. The United States was so far off track for so many years with racism by policy that no person in their right mind would have accepted it.

The only thing for us to do as Americans today is hang our heads low and acknowledge that we were not fair to people of color throughout history; that's it. If people could get their minds around that we would have a healthier country.

Jesus Christ told people to turn their other cheek; not attack innocent people out of fear. He told us that we were not supposed to judge, and that our mission was to spread peace and goodwill among men.

"News Issues", "DiscoverTheNetworks.org" and "FrontPageMagazine.com" are the sores on our feet that will not let the United States regain its stride toward becoming a real nation of freedom.

The funniest part, is that the religious right constantly speaks out of two sides of its mouth.

They published this: "Wallis continues to lament 'all the bad stuff in America—the poverty, the racism, the human rights violations, and always the wars … the arrogance, self-righteousness, materialism, and ignorance [about] the rest of the world, the habitual ignoring of the ones that God says we can’t [ignore], the ones Jesus calls the least of these.'"

They they write about (his) "leftist agendas as working with AIDS victims in Africa or helping illegal immigrants in America achieve legal status so they can continue to live with their U.S.-born children."

Saving little kids with AIDS is leftist? I don't think Jesus would agree.

Sick, sick people.

Their closing thought is, "The country, meanwhile, may be properly concerned that the president has sought spiritual counsel from a figure as removed from the political mainstream as Jim Wallis."

Ever heard of the Westboro Baptist Church? Perhaps they are the tip of the spear in this church war on Christian values. That religious right group openly professes their hatred of soldiers and gay people. Other religious right zealots profess their hatred of gay people and poor people, or people who are black, or those who want peace in the world. Either way it is misusing religion and faith for false purposes and I suspect some day they will have Hell to pay for it.

I say run 'em out on a rail, and I see it as is a reminder to all that "America - Love it or Leave it" can really come back to haunt them in ways they never imagined.

-----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor.
Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 in Afghanistan with Oregon troops. Tim recently returned from Iraq where he covered the war there while embedded with an Oregon Guard aviation unit. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators.
You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com