This guy is not going to get any brownie points from his fellow conservatives.
He will probably get a lot of hate mail, and a lot of people telling him where he is going wrong and what to do about it. He could lose some work and some friends.
Looks to me like he’s hit a brick wall and has enough sense to say ouch.
I don’t know the guy, his biography is here. He has considerable accomplishments if that is what impresses you.
What impressed me is his column (rant). If credentials count - this guy is Mr. America. Make that Dr. America.
His name is Chuck Baldwin.
No one can honestly question my commitment to pro-life, pro-family, conservative causes. That being said, the Religious Right, as it now exists, scares me.
For one reason, on the whole, the Religious Right has obviously and patently become little more than a propaganda machine for the Republican Party in general and for President G.W. Bush in particular. This is in spite of the fact that both Bush and the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., have routinely ignored and even trampled the very principles which the Religious Right claims to represent.
Therefore, no longer does the Religious Right represent conservative, Christian values. Instead, they represent their own self-serving interests at the expense of those values.
It also appears painfully obvious to me that in order to sit at the king’s table, the Religious Right is willing to compromise any principle, no matter how sacred. As such, it has become a hollow movement. Sadly, the Religious Right is now a movement without a cause, except the cause of advancing the Republican Party.
All of us face doubt, changes of direction, crisis of faith. It seems apparent this man has worked hard for regional religious and political stardom.
More than that, the Religious Right appears to believe that G.W. Bush is the anointed vicar of Christ. But instead of wearing the garb of a religious leader, he wears the shroud of a politico and a military commander-in-chief.
As such, in the minds of the Religious Right, Bush’s war in Iraq is a holy crusade. America is fast taking on the shape of the old Holy Roman Empire and President Bush is quickly morphing into a modern day Caesar.
The willingness of the Religious Right to give President Bush king-like subservience is easily seen in the way they demonize anyone who dares to oppose him. This is very unnerving.
Are we heading for a modern day religious inquisition, this one led not by the Catholic Church but by the Religious Right? Are we witnessing the type of marriage between Church and State that America’s founders originally feared?
I used to believe that liberals were paranoid for being fearful of conservative Christians gaining political power. Now, I share their trepidation.
He has a lot to think through and work out by the way this reads. To work so hard for political change, to focus on a good future for all, to sit at the kings table, to place faith in horses and chariots and to look around and see the failure is a painful place to be.
via The Revealer
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Chuck Baldwin was (and still is, I think) a local talk show host. He pastors a Baptist church in my town. He was also the Vice Presidential candidate for the Constitution Party this year, which sheds some light on his criticism of the Republicans and President Bush. The Republicans have never been right-wing enough for him, if that gives you an idea of where he’s coming from.
Baldwin has always given me the impression that he would just love a Christian theocracy.
Thanks Susan.
I confess I know little about the Constitution party.
I didn’t get the impression his piece is about a party or players as much as a personal crisis of faith and beliefs. It’s like America is (was) as much his god as God is.
Just my take, I could be quite wrong.
It’s like America is (was) as much his god as God is.
That’s pretty much the impression he gives me too. So, it’s no surprise that the Constitution Party holds to the view that the founding fathers were divinely inspired in setting up our Constitution.
We’re cynical:^)
Not directed at you, so please don’t think I’m irritated with you on this one. I’m just tired of people putting out this ridiculous boogyman of “The Religious Right” as though there is such a monolithic creature. Those who believe it are of the same cloth as those who think Hillary Clinton was spot on about the “vast right wing conspiracy.”
The people who invoke this are of the same ilk as the fundies who paint all “liberals” with the same broad brush. Were it not for the intensity of the venom, it would be pathetic. As it is, we all just get splattered with the ricochet barf.
Monolithic thinking is not unique to the US.
Any political system has to have it’s bogey men - as long as they are “other”.
And unfortunately religion does the same thing.
The Catholic/Protestant divide still plays into Canadian politics whether we chose to admit it or not.
It hadn’t occurred to me this gentleman could be politically er, right(?) of Republicans and this just might be more political attention seeking.
Stupid me.
Amen, Rev. Mike. I too am tired of this. There are three things I strongly dislike (this goes for both left and right): over-generalizations, stereotypes and analysis of extreme positions (monolithic thinking, bogeyman, etc.) I don’t see the purpose. It is very judgemental and very un-Christian.
Who are the “Religious Right”? Everyone uses this term. If we are referring to people who subscribe to Rev. Falwell, he is in the minority. It is true that many people are leaning to the right in the US but to lump the entire right as Rev. Falwell (”Religious Right” whatever) is wrong, very wrong and very un-Christian. I definitely could use the same type of analysis as you do to the “right”, “Religious right”, etc. to the left(communist, hippie, pacifist, etc.) but I don’t because I know that the Left is not that as a whole. Those who are on the Left of Left (communist, hippie, pacifists, etc.) are extreme just like those who totally subscribe to Rev. Falwell (Religious Right, Moral Majority, etc.) so I don’t label the Left or Right. Neither should you.