I often wonder why the left doesn't better utilize liberal Christian preachers and religious folks by linking to their blogs and sites. Christians are never going to give up their religion, therefore they need to be informed that they don't have to be a follower of the
Sun Myung Moon molded right to be a good Christian. To be a good follower of Christ, they need to know that they don't have to support the vision of the theocrats, fascists and propagandists who now control the conservative movement and our government.
With that in mind... I was perusing one of the best blogs on the net, that is, Dr . Bruce Prescott's - Mainstream Baptist. Dr. Prescott has a post which lead to Bruce Gourley's site. Gourley is a Baptist minister and the Associate Director of The Center for Baptist Studies of Mercer University.
Gourley has a very informative site including - Iraq Theocracy Watch and an excellent piece on Cindy you may have seen, Cindy Sheehan's "Old-Fashioned" Values - One Mom's courage in championing honesty, integrity and values in the midst of a nation in crisis.
please read on...
But what I am most interested in you all seeing and passing on is Gourley's latest which appears in the January Baptist Studies Bulletin --
In Response To ... Franklin Graham on Separation of Church and State.
Quoting Gourley:
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, leading Baptist evangelist John Leland insisted that church and state should be kept completely separate. He denounced government aid to religion as nothing more than a "mischievous dagger" that polluted the Gospel and sullied the church, and even denounced tax exemptions for ministers.
... Franklin Graham went on to insist that the United States government should "Entrust some of these billions of (relief) dollars into their (the churches) hands." (USA TODAY, November 28, 2005).
Certain clergy, Leland warned two centuries ago, were prone to trying to persuade the government that religious favoritism could be "advantageous to the state." Why did the clergy make this argument? "Chiefly covetousness, to get money," Leland declared.
One of the most astounding betrayals in modern religious history is the legion of contemporary Baptists who not only have vigorously denounced and condemned their own faith heritage of full religious liberty for all and complete separation of church and state, but have went so far as to emulate the 17th and 18th century establishment clergy in colonial America whose persecution of Baptists birthed Baptists' long and arduous journey to ensure full religious liberty and complete separation of church and state in the federal constitution.
Yet Leland's prophetic words do not merely condemn Franklin Graham's call to lower the wall of separation of church and state so that the government can more easily shovel taxpayers' money to churches; they also sound a warning to all contemporary Baptists in America. Leland's warnings against clergy accepting government tax exemptions are no longer heeded by Baptists of any theological persuasions, with only the rarest of exceptions. The only instance I know of a local Baptist church today refusing tax exempt status is First Baptist Auburn, Alabama who several years ago began paying back to the government the taxes they would normally owe. And I have yet to personally hear a single Baptist minister denounce ministerial tax breaks.
Placed in this perspective, Franklin Graham's call to lower the wall of separation of church and state under special circumstances is not overly surprising after all. We Baptist clergy of recent decades have become accustomed to being shown religious favoritism from the government. Why should some in our midst not now expect even greater deference shown to us simply because of our religion? Is Franklin Graham's request for "some of these billions of dollars" not a reflection of the favoritism we are certain we deserve as ministers whose clerical role is "advantageous" to state and society?
John Leland understood that an attitude of expected favoritism from the state, in any form, betrays the Gospel and denigrates the Church. Yet one could argue that virtually all contemporary Baptists (and most Christians overall) in America today expect some form of favoritism from the government by virtue of their faith, whether it be government enforcement of a particular brand of morality, the teaching of certain religious views in our nation's schools, the public display of a portion of our faith's sacred text, or an exemption from taxes.
more
here
Please post any liberal religious sites you surf...
Liberals need to link to these folks who are trying to show Christians there is more to their faith in Christ than tax cuts, reckless wars and supporting the nation's move closer to Moon's theofascist vision.