Question for Christians. Where is the "religious left"?

[Uncle Sinister]

No disrespect intended, and I KNOW there are a fair number of progressive Christians out there. But why don't any have a TV show, or serious face time in MSM. If TV was my only source of info, I'd come away with the impression that ALL Christians were evil, intolerant, and stoopid.

I know that's not true, (I work for a Catholic charitable Org. that just rocks) and I'm serious about not intending disrespect; but really, y'all have a SERIOUS image problem.

[MichaelHarris]

1. The left

usually doesn't wear their religion on their sleeves nor do they toss in other people's face. Religious lefties don't need the airwaves since they don't preach hate. The right has to have a stage in order to judge, hate, and recruit.

[lvx35]

2. Religious left is strong, but really low profile.

I've been in religious left groups. They meet in people's living rooms, invite atheists and others to chat with, drink mulled wine. That kind of thing. Its not about mega-churches and mega-bucks, they have no centralized structure or PR capability.

[murielm99]

3. Jim Wallis, Jim Forbes...

Go to beliefnet.com and click on an article about the Who's Who of the religious left.

They are underrepresented in the media, just the way the rest of the left is, but they are out there doing things.

You may find their articles and publications if you look for them. They are not all over the TV stealing old ladies' pensions and living high on the hog. They are out there doing what the Bible tells them to do, such things as helping the poor and visiting the sick.

They got more publicity in the 1960's for protesting the war, and often going to jail for civil disobedience. Some of them are protesting now, but you know that the left gets little publicity for any of its protests. They keep doing what they do because it is the right thing.

I think the religious right is losing its clout. Its leaders are getting old and many people have a negative view of them.

Jimmy Carter represents them well, too. Read "Our Endangered Values."

[Uncle Sinister]

5. Wallis I'm familiar with, Forbes I'll look up.

Haven't been to beliefnet.com in quite awhile. It could make me as weary as GD:P

It just would be really REALLY nice to be channel surfing some day and hear a tele-preacher talk about love, and tolerance, and peace, and feeding the poor.

Of course, it would be equally nice to someday see secular progressives get exposure and fair treatment as well.

*sigh*

[angstlessk]

4. Point me to an honest, honorable TV Evangelical and there is your "religious left"

there are none you say..because TV Evangelicals are in it for the MONEY!

[Babel_17]

6. Tony Campolo explains ...

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=149102

"Red Letter Christians"

The Red Letters refer to how in some bibles when Jesus speaks the lettering is in red.

Huh, I just checked, he's really popular on youtube evidently.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Tony+Campolo&search_type=&search=Search

I remember when he used to be on a show where just him and a right wing religious guy would debate.

[murielm99]

7. I should have mentioned his name too.

He is a good guy.

[knitter4democracy]

11. I've always liked him.

He's funny but very solid. I've gotten to hear him a few times back when I was a Nazarene.

[Meshuga]

8. The religious left doesn't get enough tv play because they're not controversial enough

I think there are some grassroots action groups who take political action for progressive issues but if you don't say crazy shit, like a Pat Robertson type would, you get no TV time or front page headlines.

[TechBear_Seattle]

9. Robertson doesn't get much air time because he is a nutter

He gets air time because he owns a vast Talibangelical media conglomerate that put out extremely conservative and far right wing religious broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

[Meshuga]

13. That too

But I still can't believe how much air time he gets from the MSM. Any air time outside his "empire" is too much air time.

[TechBear_Seattle]

10. The religious left is off following the Gospel

Just a few quotes from the Revised Standard Version

And behold, one came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?"

And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments."

He said to him, "Which?" And Jesus said, "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

The young man said to him, "All these I have observed; what do I still lack?"

Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Matthew 19:16-24

And (Jesus) sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came, and put in two copper coins, which make a penny.

And he called his disciples to him, and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living."

Mark 12:41-44

And my personal favorite:

31] "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?'

And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'

Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'

Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?'

Then he will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.'

And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Matthew 24:31-46

In summary, the religious right pursue a path towards Money and Power. That gives them the resources to fund vast media corporations to broadcast their "message" 24/7 and the political connections to guarantee them a prominent place in American society. The religious left, on the other hand, pursue a path towards God. That gives them very little in the way of money and earthly power, so they do not have media empires or a seat at the table of governance.

Edited title for clarity.

[knitter4democracy]

12. It's about money.

If a leftist church has funds to start a video recording studio in the back of the sanctuary so they can tape their services and get them on basic cable or to start up a soup kitchen, they do the soup kitchen.

Why would we spend money on PR and image when there are so many hurting who need our help more? It's far better to use our resources the way our Savior told us to rather than to hire tv producers and editors.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. That's basically it

The religious right is ultimately all about making money. The religious left doesn't get funded under the table by the Coors Foundation and other right-wing money sources, and if it happens to get some money (usually from someone's will, in my experience), it will try to think of a constructive use for it, like starting a new community service program or relief for disaster victims.

[Uncle Sinister]

15. Thank you all for the thoughtful and intelligent replies

As you can tell, I'm pretty new, and until now have spent most of my time in the GD:P. It's nice to see civilization exists here! I'm becoming tempted to steer clear of the GD boards until after November, and explore the other forums here.

:hi:

[JerseygirlCT]

16. Hot sells. Sane doesn't.

The crazy, inflexible, fundamentalist, literalist, fire and brimstone, kill everyone we don't like types attract the attention. You know the old newspaper saying, right? "If it bleeds, it leads". This is like that.

I don't know that there's much market for some reasonable people discussing morals and religion in today's society, calmly. I think the call to help the least of us also makes people uncomfortable. It's ever so much easier to just hate the women, liberals and gays and feel good about yourself, you know?

[Uncle Sinister]

19. Wow! I had never considered the correlation btw fundie religion and...

"If it bleeds, it leads." I've known the newspaper adage for 20 years, at least, but had never stretched the analogy. It is, honestly, a small lightbulb going on.

Threats of hell draw more people to the alter than promises of heaven.

Football outsells baseball.

Violent movies almost always outsell love stories.

Tough, macho cars outsell efficient, safe ones.

It's not that any of those is a new insight, but "if it bleeds it leads" provides a very nice (and mainly accurate) peg to hang all those phenomena on. I don't know why the connection didn't occur to me before? (except that, mea culpa, I can be a very lazy and sloppy thinker)

Thanks, JerseygirlCT, for a new insight!

[JerseygirlCT]

20. Hey, you're welcome. In fact, you made my night! nt

[Uncle Sinister]

21. I am SO glad I finally started exploring outside the GD:P board! eom

[JerseygirlCT]

22. I love these sort of discussions,

especially when they can be had civilly.

There are some good people over in this forum - glad you're here!

[struggle4progress]

17. There's no chance corporate media would give airtime to anybody on the left

The ruling class sought control, of the instruments of mass production of consciousness, to obtain one objective: namely, to constrain the formation of opinion in order to consolidate and maintain power

As a result, a number of events, topics, and opinions predictably receive almost no coverage whatsoever

[Uncle Sinister]

18. true that. Edwards just proved it.