commentaries

Americans should rejoice at the news that the Evangelicals (the American Taliban) are losing influence in our political life. Their devisiveness shall not be missed. Their intolerance will not be missed. Finally, their utter hypocrisy will not be missed.

Unless younger evangelicals radically increase their giving, the movement will be further strained.---Maybe the young have figured out that money is their goal; not the "word" that they espouse.

Maybe if the evangelicals would just follow the teaching of their savior Jesus they'd figure out that bigotry and intolerance are incompatible with christianity, end of story. I grew up in a "charismatic" lutheran church in the early 80s replete with speaking in tongues and the raising of hands. Even at age 10 I could see much surrounding organized religion was a sham, a front to raise money for the evangelists. The best example of how the evangelical movement is a sham was displayed by Billy Graham when he endorsed Mitt Romney. Months before Romney was considered a "cult" member, but somehow Billy found it in his heart to change his mind and accept his brother (yeah right). Maybe the evangelical movement will simply involute and leave us.

For starters look at the church's position on abortion. 50 years ago in the US "conservatives" supported abortion (look it up yourself). Now it is a right-wing republican tool used for political gains. They've turned religion into a political organization and then they wonder why people are turned off.

I respect everyone's religion (legitimate ones, not the First Gospel of the Rocking Chair, eg). But what modern evangelicals forget is that in the U.S. we have separation of church and state and your group, Mr. Dickerson, has forgotten and ignored that in recent memory. But more concerning is your ego-centric view that you are absolutely right and in being so, the rest of humanity is wrong and inferior. You forget that you MAY be right, but equally just as wrong, since no one I have heard of has come back from the other side and let us know what is actually there (not even Jesus has done that yet). And yes, your outright lack of compassion for the human condition has not helped either.

While growing up, my parents tried to infuse me with their Methodist teachings, even going so far as to require I go to Sunday school every Sunday. When I came home one day with a note from the "teacher," saying I was not welcome back there because I had questioned everything he said, they gave up on getting me to accept their religious beliefs. To this day I cannot, for the life of me, understand why anyone would be willing to accept at face value the existence of some diety and that diety's alleged writings, who is all-loving, all-knowing, and "our savior," when we see the things going on in the world that speak of just the opposite. I cannot help but ask why would someone such as the entity named Jesus or God or Mohamed, or yahweh or whomever, stand idly by and allow 20 children and 6 adults to be innocently gunned down in cold blood? Why? For what possible purpose? The parents of those children who lost their lives on Friday are likely this very minute asking those same questions, and probably many more. And please don't tell me its because "God acts in mysterious ways." If you do you will be able to hear my scream all the way down in the cities from up north. History tells us that every war in history has occurred in one way or another due to religion or the wrong religion or the only one TRUE religion, etc. Yes, I know, someone is bound to tell me that wasn't God acting, that was humans who wrongly interpret or "practice" their religion by attempting to interpret God's word incorrectly or intepreting it at all. They read their bible "religiously" looking for asnwers. From my perspective, it simply gives those who "believe" and want or need to an excuse to shed responsibility for their actions because God forgave them. I respect you for your beliefs, but I find exceptionally difficult to accept those beliefs. My moral compass does not come from a book or from soneone's evangelizing. It comes from learning what is "right" and what is "wrong" in life. No book can tell you that.

Here's a point of view. Christians may be right about sin, and especially the sin of homosexuality, and that perpetuation of this sin by individuals and a society may lead to justice and condemnation by God and a tour in perpetual hell. And further, Christians might be less interested in being "right" than in saving that individual's soul. Since human mortality is currently running 100%, maybe it is a point of view worth pondering. (?)

Who needs evangelicals in the first place? Jesus certainly didn't. He roundly criticized the scribes and pharisees (the evangalicals of his day). Then read what he said in Matthew 6: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Enough said?

The Evangelical movement even in its heyday of Jerry Falwell and James Dobson had shallow roots. The real power was never what could be done politically but too many evangelicals forgot that the heart is desperately wicked and real change always started there. The evangelical culture was always looking to the secular culture for which way to go in a misguided attempt to sway that secular culture. It woefully failed as the Willow Creek Association admitted in its own findings. To be a truly effective force the Evangelical movement will have to desert all secular avenues as change agents and seek God first and let Him change hearts even if that means moving underground.

Whatever the official number of evangelicals is deemed to be, subtract off 50% of what is membership attributed to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (the ELCA). I sit there on weekends listening to leftist rhetoric- today it was the evilness of guns, which I fully anticipated hearing- and I just wonder how long it will be until this denomination poisons itself? No doubt it is about to splinter into one, if not several, factions. Were it not for my firm belief that a church is the body of its people, rather than attitudes expressed by its leadership, I would have bailed for the exits too. From my perspective, the ELCA has completely lost the distinction between being "in the world" and "of the world." They ran through that line with a Caterpillar dozer.