March 11, 2005
I've taken to reading Bruce Prescott's Mainstream Baptist weblog because it is so refreshing to encounter moderate and liberal Christian voices. I'm surrounded by them but it's hard to keep that in mind when the news is dominated by (often radically) conservative religious views. So it is with delight that I follow his recent link to Bess Hinson's wonderful essay, Reclaiming Christianity From the Christian Right.
Prescott has been podcasting episodes of his radio show, "Religious Talk." A recent fave is his interview with Rob Boston, author of several books including Why the Religious Right is Wrong: About Separation of Church and State (part one and part two of the interview). Boston points out that Pat Robertson and evangelical Christians like him complain that they're some persecuted minority while in fact they hold tremendous political power. And people believe it! My father certainly does. This is one of the reasons the whole debate about evolution in education is so important to me, along with other attacks against the separation of church and state: it is so obviously not a question of science or even an anti-religious attitude: it's conservative Christians who cannot accept that theirs is not the only voice. Even so, they manage to control the debate and to project a hateful image of their religion. This is why Hinson's essay is such a breath of fresh air.
Oh dear. I just discovered that Mainstream Baptist plays background music. Aargh. You've been warned.
