breaking radio silence from work

[tree_talking]

An Open Letter to All Republicans From a Former Religious Right Activist

THIS.

I often try to explain to people why I am not on the Religious Right (in any way, shape, or form) anymore. This man explains it so well--if a little snarkily. But you see, you deal with this sort of pain with snark.

This doesn't even begin to come close to my own personal story. That one is full of my stupid naivete, my betrayed trust and a semi-nasty case of brainwashing. What it does explain is what is wrong with the Republican party as I see it, and specifically, the Christian Right.

(I'd have NO problem with the Republicans if they would just be fiscal conservatives, and stop trying to make this a "Christian nation"--which it NEVER was. They certainly are not right now, no matter what they say.)

As for what I am right now, I am an Episcopalian. That was what I was raised in for the first 13 years of my life...and now it feels like I am back home. My priest saw my hubby's Obama button and gave him a high five. It feels so good to be able to be a liberal--even in church.

Comments

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

I totally understand your last point.

Thanks. *Hugs.*

If I could be comfortable "being" a Republican without seeming like I support the current leadership, I would. I'm fairly conservative fiscally and middle of the road socially. It's really just a matter of what I can live with, and I can't live with that label anymore.

*Nods.* I understand. I take comfort in knowing that at the state and local level we have Republicans that don't blindly follow the current leadership. A former Maine Republican Party Chairman and former Republican State Representative have formed, "Maine Republicans for Obama". Our Senator Olympia Snowe has been picked by TIME Magazine as one of the Ten Best Senators in the country because of, among other things, "her centrist views and eagerness to get beyond partisan point scoring." As a kid one of the people I thought I wanted to be when I grew up was Margaret Chase Smith. I've lost my fondness for politics as I've grown up, but I still live less than thirty miles from the Margaret Chase Smith Library.

It was pretty much forced on me for a long time.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

OMG, Maine is such an awesome state. :) My parents came from there. I'd love to live there myself.

Having politicians who do not follow blindly is the best thing ever. On either side.

[mincot.livejournal.com]

Well, and while the author may have played a role in the current resurgence of religious fundamentalism, the author completely missed the way in which fundamentalism appeared earlier. The 1950s and the 1920s, the 1870s and the 1830s were all periods of evangelical fervor. Sometimes they were intertwined in politics, and other times they were separate, but thsi most current episode was not the first. It was the slickest, the most prolonge, the most political, and the most entrenched, and it has done a real number on our country.

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the "Great Awakening" et al. While they did do some good things with the temperance movement and such (as well as some awful things), the evangelical movement has been very influential upon American society and morals.

Sometimes to our edification, and sometimes to our detriment.