{"id":550,"date":"2004-11-11T09:48:45","date_gmt":"2004-11-11T13:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=550"},"modified":"2004-11-11T16:48:09","modified_gmt":"2004-11-11T20:48:09","slug":"religious-left-denounces-moral-values-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/2004\/11\/religious-left-denounces-moral-values-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious Left Denounces “Moral Values” Voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Tooley, November 10, 2004
\nhttp:\/\/www.ird-renew.org\/News\/News.cfm?ID=991&c=4<\/a><\/p>\n

At a press conference organized by the pro-abortion Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), representatives of the Religious Left expressed deep angst about the recent U.S. election results. And they warned the Bush Administration not to heed the agenda of socially conservative voters.<\/p>\n

The RCRC officials were clearly disturbed by exit polls showing \u201cmoral values\u201d being the number one concern of a plurality of voters, ahead of the economy, terrorism and the war in Iraq. These moral values voters, motivated by issues such as abortion and same-sex \u201cmarriage,\u201d strongly favored President Bush\u2019s reelection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leaders of the Religious Coalition are outraged at the underlying message of the election story\u2014that religion and morals are the exclusive property of social conservatives,\u201d exclaimed RCRC president Carlton Veazey. RCRC, founded 30 years ago, is a coalition of mostly mainline church agencies that lobby against all potential restrictions on abortion.
\n
\nOther participants in the November 9 press conference were from the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, Catholics for a Free Choice, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not be defined or confined by narrow ideologies and fear-mongering politicians,\u201d Veazey warned. He urged the Bush Administration to be open to religious groups that support \u201creproductive choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Winkler of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society condemned the \u201cReligious Right\u201d for siding with the Republican Party and for being \u201coverwhelmingly white.\u201d Winkler said, in contrast, that \u201cwe\u201d represent diverse America. It is not clear whom he meant by \u201cwe,\u201d but the United Methodist Church\u2019s U.S. membership, like the membership of other mainline denominations, is over 90 percent white.<\/p>\n

No black church group belongs to RCRC. Nor do any Hispanic groups belong to RCRC. A list of RCRC member organizations shows them all to be overwhelmingly white mainline Protestant agencies, several Unitarian groups, several Jewish groups, and several liberal secular groups, such as the American Humanist Association.<\/p>\n

Winkler insisted that the nation faces not a clash between cultures but a clash between \u201cjustice and greed.\u201d He said the \u201creal\u201d problem facing America was not abortion, \u201cgay\u201d marriage, school prayer, flag burnings, or the display of the Ten Commandments. Quoting Martin Luther King, Winkler said the real problem is that the nation is spending more on military weapons than on programs of social uplift. <\/p>\n

It is not clear what Winkler meant here, as about 20 percent of federal government expenditures go towards military spending. Most of the remaining 80 percent goes mostly towards programs that would seem to qualify as \u201csocial uplift.\u201d The inclusion of all state and local spending would certainly increase that percentage.<\/p>\n

Calling his own United Methodist denomination \u201cprayerfully pro-choice,\u201d Winkler said, \u201cWe offer a vision of hope in contrast to the apocalyptic vision of a fiery end of the world offered by [the] Religious Right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State was more outspoken. \u201cThe culture war is real, and it\u2019s about to go nuclear,\u201d he declared. He insisted that most voters did not support \u201cbanning abortion, gay bashing and tearing down the church-state wall.\u201d But the Religious Right was creating this false impression, and the \u201cRepublican power structure in Washington\u201d will \u201cdeclare a culture war\u201d whether the voters want it or not.<\/p>\n

Lynn warned of an impending \u201ctheocracy lite\u201d that would involve prayer in public schools, religious displays on public property, and restrictions on pornography. The nation can choose a path where \u201creligious dogma\u201d replaces science and the Constitution, he suggested. Or it can choose to respect America\u2019s \u201creligious mosaic,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

In a written statement distributed to attendees of the press conference, the President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, William Sinkford, said his denomination will continue to \u201censure equal civil rights for gay and lesbian families\u201d and for \u201cMarriage Equality nationwide.\u201d He also described defending \u201creproductive freedom\u201d as a \u201cmoral duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Episcopal priest Katherine Ragsdale, former chair of RCRC, regretted that the \u201cradical right\u201d had been successful in their \u201clong-running attempt to highjack and trivialize the language\u201d of faith commitment. She condemned \u201cwars of aggression, crony capitalism, and callous restrictions on medical procedures that protect\u2026women\u2019s rights,\u201d as well as \u201cabstinence-only education\u201d and other forms of \u201clies, half-truths and manipulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ragsdale said that the \u201cmainstream religious community,\u201d in contrast to the \u201cperversions of the Right,\u201d will lift up a vision in which women can not only seek abortions that are \u201csafe and affordable and accessible and legal\u201d but will be \u201crespected\u201d and \u201chonored\u201d for their struggle.<\/p>\n

Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, admitted that, \u201cAll of us in the progressive religious movement feel a sense of passion and urgency in the wake of the election.\u201d She insisted that most Catholics, even though they supported Republicans this election, still support abortion rights and at least legalized \u201ccivil unions\u201d for homosexual couples.<\/p>\n

Kissling warned that \u201cliberationist\u201d Catholic bishops have been replaced by the current Pope, the church\u2019s hierarchy is becoming more conservative, there is a growing \u201cultra-conservative\u201d Catholic lay movement that parallels the rise of conservative evangelicals, and conservative Catholics have President Bush\u2019s \u201cear and heart\u201d and will be heard.<\/p>\n

Meg Riley, who directs the Unitarian Universalist lobby office in Washington, D.C., confessed she had a \u201cbroken heart but not a broken spirit\u201d over the election. <\/p>\n

Lloyd Steffen, a United Church of Christ minister and vice chair of RCRC, declared that \u201creproductive choice\u201d but not the \u201cagenda of conservative Christianity\u201d is consistent with \u201cour democratic values.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt seeks to extend its narrow religious influence into our scientific policies, healthcare, government funding of religious groups, women\u2019s health, and sexuality issues,\u201d Steffen fretted. \u201cProgressive\u201d religious leaders can help the nation understand how some religious groups are \u201cenergizing the movement to suppress freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catholics for a Free Choice, the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries, and the Episcopal Church\u2019s Women in Mission and Ministry are among RCRC\u2019s several dozen member organizations.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ird-renew.org\/News\/News.cfm?ID=991&c=4<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Tooley, November 10, 2004 http:\/\/www.ird-renew.org\/News\/News.cfm?ID=991&c=4 At a press conference organized by the pro-abortion Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), representatives of the Religious Left expressed deep angst about the recent U.S. election results. And they warned the Bush Administration not to heed the agenda of socially conservative voters. The RCRC officials were clearly disturbed … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1319,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-moral-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1319"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}