http://www.faithinpubliclife.org/blog/house_subcommittee_takes_up_pu/ Advancing faith as a powerful force for justice, compassion and the common good. Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:20:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://www.faithinpubliclife.org/blog/house_subcommittee_takes_up_pu/#comment-8 David Buckley Mon, 26 Jun 2006 09:42:13 +0000 http://localhost/mywordpress/?p=8#comment-8 Interesting comments Geoffrey. I agree that the Right is reaching a breaking point with SOME of its conservative religious supporters who are beginning to realize that they're being manipulated for their numbers. If more progressive Christians can seize the opportunity to make their voice clearly heard on issues like poverty, the environment, and AIDS, the old Religious Right may start to show the internal diversity that's been there all along. Some will become depoliticized, which has historically been the state of a large part of evangelical America. Some will show a willingness to take the progressives up on their offers to work together on common ground issues. A third substantial group will remain dedicated to the old religious right agenda of abortion and gay marriage, but with any luck the days when those were the only two priorities of religious people in American politics are at an end. Interesting comments Geoffrey. I agree that the Right is reaching a breaking point with SOME of its conservative religious supporters who are beginning to realize that they’re being manipulated for their numbers. If more progressive Christians can seize the opportunity to make their voice clearly heard on issues like poverty, the environment, and AIDS, the old Religious Right may start to show the internal diversity that’s been there all along. Some will become depoliticized, which has historically been the state of a large part of evangelical America. Some will show a willingness to take the progressives up on their offers to work together on common ground issues. A third substantial group will remain dedicated to the old religious right agenda of abortion and gay marriage, but with any luck the days when those were the only two priorities of religious people in American politics are at an end.

]]> http://www.faithinpubliclife.org/blog/house_subcommittee_takes_up_pu/#comment-7 Geoffrey Kruse-Safford Fri, 23 Jun 2006 17:14:48 +0000 http://localhost/mywordpress/?p=8#comment-7 While I agree with your view that this is a dangerous piece of legislation, especially the provision on lawyer's fees as it could put a practical obstacle in the way of another Consitutional right, to petition the government to redress grievances, there is another issue that I feel it necessary to address whenever the issue is the religious right. My own feeling is that Christian conservatives are beginning to understand that after nearly a generation of political activism, they have remarkably little to show for it. Richard Viguerie threatened to keep the religious right at home on election day, a threat that was directly responsible (in my humble opinion) for Pander Week in the United States Senate. Except for such a display of nonsense - and hearings such as those described above - the Republicans have yet to deliver in any fundamental, systematic way on its promises to the Religious Right. That the Republicans are playing conservative Christian voters should be obvious by now. That the Republicans are institutionally incapable of delivering on the bulk of the promises whould be obvious to any political observer. The questions are, (a) how do the Christian conservatives react; and (b) do progressive Christian reach out in faith to our brothers and sisters of differing politics, to discuss a whole series of issues surrounding the current electoral system in the United States. Personally, I feel that is a huge challenge to all Christians of whatever theological and political stripe. While I agree with your view that this is a dangerous piece of legislation, especially the provision on lawyer’s fees as it could put a practical obstacle in the way of another Consitutional right, to petition the government to redress grievances, there is another issue that I feel it necessary to address whenever the issue is the religious right. My own feeling is that Christian conservatives are beginning to understand that after nearly a generation of political activism, they have remarkably little to show for it. Richard Viguerie threatened to keep the religious right at home on election day, a threat that was directly responsible (in my humble opinion) for Pander Week in the United States Senate. Except for such a display of nonsense – and hearings such as those described above – the Republicans have yet to deliver in any fundamental, systematic way on its promises to the Religious Right. That the Republicans are playing conservative Christian voters should be obvious by now. That the Republicans are institutionally incapable of delivering on the bulk of the promises whould be obvious to any political observer. The questions are, (a) how do the Christian conservatives react; and (b) do progressive Christian reach out in faith to our brothers and sisters of differing politics, to discuss a whole series of issues surrounding the current electoral system in the United States. Personally, I feel that is a huge challenge to all Christians of whatever theological and political stripe.

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