Christians from political left and right sign 'Civility Covenant'

[sabra]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- A group of more than 100 prominent Christians ranging from evangelical minister Jim Wallis on the political left to Nixon White House aide Chuck Colson on the right released a document Thursday calling for an end to the fight club tone of the national political discourse.

Called the "Civility Covenant," the document says that churches have too often "reflected the political divisions of our culture rather than the unity we have in the body of Christ."

"Members of Congress have been calling me saying 'It's never been as bad as it is now, but we can't do much about it because we're not credible to a lot of Americans,'" said Wallis, who leads the progressive group Sojourners. "They said to the faith community, 'please help us.'"

Wallis said the covenant is the result of those conversations. It has 114 signatories from a broad swath of Christian traditions, including the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, the head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, a major Pentecostal denomination.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/26/christian.civility.covenant/

[No Elephants]

1. Unless hate talk shows sign it, too.....

[Tempest]

2. And the tea bagger leaders

Without those two groups, the document isn't worth the paper it's written on.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Recruits must be down.

:think:

[Mithreal]

6. +1

:applause:

[Catshrink]

4. Who will muzzle Old Pat?

[Mithreal]

7. Thank you for posting these.

:thumbsup:

[superconnected]

19. These are great! Thanks!

[Dogtown]

5. That will not do any good whatsoever.

Maybe they should try praying....

[liberation]

8. Delusional people...

... who think that singing non binding nonsense is going to somehow stop their march into the irrelevant trash heap of history.

I find it ironic those who operate in the real of superstition are making please for credibility, which lives in the realm of reality and fact. The doublethink is delicious among the religious community.

[Bonhomme Richard]

9. They will be Frummed right out of the republican party.

Hah! New word.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. Wallis and his lot sat on their hands while those in their 'faith

community' slandered millions in every possible manner. Of late, he's suddenly upset because his image is threatened by Glenn Beck's anti social justice slams of religious people. You see, his own start being critical, and he's hysterical about it. But all those months of racism and homophobia from Beck, all those years of so many preachers saying so many utterly disgraceful things, while Wallis and his crowd held their coats. I am just disgusted at how quickly this merchant in the temple got riled when he was called out, compared to how happy he was to be silent when others were subjected to the vicious language of those he calls brother, the Conservatives and the evangelicals.
The banners and placards of the Phelps clan never got a rise out of Wallis. Oh no, for years he had not a word to say, save of course that he too opposes equality. His agreement with the worst was all he offered before he got added to Beck's list.
So I guess now, they will be nice to each other, and focus on being hateful to the minorities they are religiously sworn to hold in contempt.
Oh and one more thing. Chuck Colson. I rest my case.

[Duer 157099]

11. How about if all of them, left and right, just keep their religion out of politics?

And if they cannot separate their ideologies, then just stay the hell out of politics altogether. Don't even vote. Just go live in your "fellowships" and leave the rest of us alone.

[SkyDaddy7]

14. Your comment is my dream!

[LanternWaste]

15. We should keep all wholly man-made imaginary constructs

We should keep all wholly man-made imaginary constructs which exist no where but our own imaginations out of politics-- including any and all religions, any and all philosophies, and any and all ideologies... yeah-- that'll work.

[Duer 157099]

17. Man made is fine. Because then it can be discussed

It's when the "God-made" enters into the discussion that no debate can be had. Get it?

[Dogtown]

18. Nice riposte, Duer 157099!

It's an important distinction.

[pampango]

20. The concept of God is man-made. A human thinking something is God-made doesn't make it so.

I can believe in the Tooth Fairy, but that doesn't make the quarter under my pillow Tooth Fairy-made. I may pull my tooth out before it is ready and go to sleep as soon as I can (go through all kinds of machinations because I think the Tooth Fairy is real), but my believing that the Tooth Fairy is real and put the quarter under my pillow is a man-made construct, not Tooth Fairy-made.

[Duer 157099]

21. Well of course I agree with you

But the point is that those that believe something is God-made do not agree with us and therefore there can be no rational discussion with them because we disagree about the premise and furthermore, they will not budge one whit because they don't believe that man is allowed to question something that is God-ordained. That is exactly the problem with having religion in politics.

See?

[LanternWaste]

24. Not really

"See?"

Not really-- you simply seem to be saying some imaginary concepts are off limits in the political spectrum while others aren't with no clear, relevant difference between any of them.

Each has its own set of tenets, rules, protocols, etc. And of of those rules, protocols and tenets come from no where else but our own minds.

[DCKit]

25. Magical thinking could get you a whole lot more for that tooth.

You might even consider pulling the teeth of random strangers to make even more $$$ - that's about the level of the mentality we're talking about.

[LanternWaste]

23. Religion is man-made, yes?

Religion is man-made, yes?

[Duer 157099]

26. Yes. Logical people agree about that

And those people are welcome in the political discussion.

The people who disagree, the ones who think certain ideas/concepts/rules/etc are of divine origin and thus are completely non-negotiable, I would like them to stay out of the political process because THEY DO NOT USE LOGIC but rather rely on dogma rained down upon them from heavan that they then want to force everybody else to abide by.

[paulsby]

22. yea. like should MLK have stayed out of politics

after all, he said many of his viewpoints on racial justice etc. were inspired by his religious beliefs.

darn those religious beliefs!

[ccinamon]

12. It's a trick...don't sign it!

They will only use it against Dems,,,,the repubs will continue to get a pass.

And WHERE THE HELL WERE THEY FOR THE PAST 10 YEARS???

Sorry, too little, too late.

[yurbud]

13. this reminds me of college when they'd have date rape education seminars in the dorms

the only guys to show up were the ones least likely to get as far as even the date.

[kenfrequed]

16. Hmmph

The typically quiet and overly meek liberal churches have decided to make nice with the fundamentalist evangelicals. Great...