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

[m-m-m-mother.livejournal.com]

Auuuugggggh I could go on and on and on about the horrible role of religion in today's politics, but I don't know if I could stop, so I'll just say *high five*.

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hear you, believe me. *hugs*

*high fives*

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

I'm not impressed by the article, but then I didn't expect to be when it was titled as an open letter to All Republicans. He isn't talking to this Republican. I am in no way part of what he calls the three sources of today's Republican ideology and energy. I registered to vote and enrolled in the Republican party two weeks after my 18th birthday. In the first presidential election in which I was old enough to vote I voted for Bill Clinton. I've listened to my mother complain, that frankly from the sounds of that article, he and his father ruined her party 20 years ago. I know -- despite the efforts of the "Christian Right" which my mother has always told me is neither; despite the efforts of Neoconservatives who my mother has always told me are more accurately described as "reactionaries" as they don't know a damn thing about real William F. Buckley conservatism -- the Republican party was the party of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt long before his "late father and evangelist ... made 'it' happen." I also know Frank Schaeffer didn't see the same Republican convention I did when he says, "Play back this year's Republican convention and you'll see an all-white crowd." I watched Triumph the Insult Dog try to convince a black Republican at the convention that he had to be lost and in need of a guide to a Democratic function. I saw him either fail to notice or ignore, that the "white boy from the Deep South" he asked about being a Yellow Dog Republican, told him there were blacks in their delegation and while he didn't believe in gay marriage he did believe in gay civil unions. Frank Schaeffer doesn't have to tell me to vote for Obama. It sounds like he does owe me and my family apologies for his part in "making it happen," for painting us with the same brush as the people he helped corrupt our party, and for snarking about the mess he helped make from the sidelines. Oh yeah, vastly unimpressed by that piece.

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

You're entitled to your opinion.

Though two people aren't wholly responsible for the cock-up of that party. There are plenty of others.

I didn't post this to make an argument. I posted this because *I* felt it was valid because *I* am coming from 20 years on the Christian Right.

YMMV, of course. I don't like arguments, and I won't start one with you.

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

You're entitled to your opinion.

Thanks. *Hugs.*

Though two people aren't wholly responsible for the cock-up of that party. There are plenty of others.

I didn't mean to come across sounding like I was blaming the mess the party is now entirely on his father and him. I'm not about to dispute the part of the names he mentioned, from Dobson, Falwell, Robertson, Rove, Reed et al., to Irving Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, Robert Kagan, Michael Ledeen, William Kristol, Frank Gaffney Jr., and Dick Cheney, have in the party being in the state it's in now. It wasn't ruined by two people, and it won't be salvaged by two either. If it could be salvaged by two people my parents would've saved it from the Christian Right years ago.

YMMV, of course. I don't like arguments, and I won't start one with you.

*Nods.* I don't want to argue. I was just reacting to being lumped with Republicans I don't agree with or vote for. I'm very tired of spending 20 years listening to people paint all Republicans with the same brush.

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

I totally understand your last point. 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. It was pretty much forced on me for a long time.

[soundwave106.livejournal.com]

You know, for a long time, it did seem like that Republicans winked at the populist, politically reactionary-religious side and were able to win votes without a whole lot of pandering to that side. In many ways, it was the Iraq-war-loving "neo-conservative" Zionists who pulled the party apart more.

This past 8 years, however, was the first time that I think the "religious right" became a big *distraction*, being behind such incidents as the insane amount of government time spent on Teri Schiavo. Add in the other populist items (eg the hard line on immigration) and the agenda was becoming increasingly incompatible with the business types and libertarians that form the party's other wings.

In some ways, I wonder if the "religious right" movement's alignment with the Republican party will damage the American Christian church more. By ignoring many of the compassionate elements of Christianity, we have a generation, of whom many see Christians as "intolerant", "hypocritical", "self-righteous", "anti-intellectual", or "judgmental"... attitudes that any Bible reader know are strongly discouraged in the first place.

[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.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Party affiliation wasn't always such a divisive thing. It certainly has its foundations in ideology, and that's a wonderful thing. People aligning with one side or another because of the social issues that were represented.

Now I think that (certainly not all but) some people align or don't out of fear of backlash, or because they think it's what's expected of them, or for a whole host of other reasons I don't need to go into here. I've been both Democrat and Independent but I always vote for the candidate I believe will do the best job and who best represents my interest regardless of their party affiliation.

I remember when "liberal" wasn't used as a slur, too, and those who self-identified as liberals were free to be proud of it. Now so many are afraid of having their phones illegally tapped and getting reported for baking the wrong kind of cookies for their weekly book club meeting, where they're reading subversives like Thomas Jefferson and Ernest Hemingway. We live in a weird, weird world.

I am all for change.

[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]

Yes, that's it. It makes it hard for a person like me--a seeker within Christianity--to find their way. I spent 20 years in the neo-conservative Christian right and I'm done with that now.

Now I just have to figure out what my new beliefs are--and try to make sure that I remember to be compassionate and to respect differences.

I'm not perfect, I'm just trying.

I can't stand now when politics and religion go hand in hand. They're meant to be as far apart as things can get.

[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.

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

When I was fourteen, I was told that "I could not be a Christian and a Liberal (Democrat)"...it made a big impression on me, shall we say?

Honestly, I think I was born Democrat, but got sidetracked along the way. ;) I'm not sure when "Liberal" became a dirty word, but I think it was when the R.R. got hold of the term and used it to denote "people from Hollywood" and "Hollywood morals".

Weird world? Definitely.

Change would be good. I have to admit that I'm more pessimistic than I really want to be at this point. It grieves me to see what has happened to our country over the past 8 years.