Where is the Religious Left?

[doni_georgia]

Been posting on another thread, but decided to move my thoughts to a new topic.

For the past 20 years or so, the religious right has been an increasingly vocal and powerful political force. Not too long ago in American history, though, it was the religious left who made their mark. Christians of a different stripe fought for abolition of slavery, the right of women and minorities to vote, the formation of labor unions, child labor laws, the end of segregation, and reproductive choices for women. These religious Americans were led by their own religious convictions to speak out to end policies and practices that they saw as directly conflicting with their faith. They were successful in every endeavor. So where are these voices today?

We're still here! We have not been silenced. We have not flip-flopped and changed sides. We are still actively pursuing causes based on our own personal religious beliefs.

Mainstream protestant groups are still speaking out for civil rights, social justice, democracy, religious tolerance and freedom, and peace. We work together with peoples of other religions in many liberal causes. And we also work in denomination-specific groups to address these issues. Problem is, we get very little press, except for when we are attacked by the likes of Pat Robertson, or when a more conservative congregation in our denomination decides to leave.

Why is this? Part of the problem is that we do not seek to bring attention to ourselves - unlike our opponents on the right. It isn't about us. It's about walking our walk of faith. Tomorrow there is a march in Washington for women's reproductive rights. Among the co-sponsors of the march are the United Methodist Church, Prebyterian Church USA, Episcopal Church of America, United Church of Christ, groups of liberal Catholics and Lutherans, Unitarian Universalists, ,and various eccumenical organizations. You won't hear about this unless you go to the denomination web sites for these groups, or unless you listen to American Family Radio, where we will no doubt be villified by the right. But tomorrow, in our nation's capital, American Christians will march side-by-side Americans of other faiths or no faith to declare the right of choice for all women.

We on the left in American churches are fighting other fights as well. We are calling for Congress to table the marriage ammendment. We are seeking the right of GLBT people to become ordained ministers (this is an on-going battle in our denominations), and to have the right same rights as heterosexual Americans. We are calling for an end to the war in Iraq.

You hear the hate-filled rhetoric of the right. What you do not hear are the passionate cries of good, honest loving pastors across this nation calling for the people in their churches to be loving and tolerant and resist hate and oppression. My pastor is not great at oratory. You will never see him addressing throngs on TV, but he speaks weekly to us about our duty to love and to speak out for justice. He calls out for peace, and asks us to pray for an end to this war on Islam. He calls for unity in our affirmation of gays and lesbians to have the same civil rights as the rest of America.

We are here, and we are still fighting the fight. We hate what is being said and done by a minority of people who claim to be the same religion as us (of course they do not believe we are the same religion - Pat Robertson calls us the "spirit of the antichrict"). We are Christians who believe that religion is a personal choice. We believe that no religion in America should tell another what to do or believe. Ours is a religion of inclusion not exclusion. We are here and we will continue to fight for justice, freedom and equality.