Thursday, May 11, 2006
(11:38 AM) | Old - Doug Johnson:
Could There Be a Better Example of the Problem with the Religious Left?
The American Religious Left is still far too fartknocking American. Could there be a better example of what the Religious Left completely unfortunately shares with the Religious right? I received an announcement the other day from Jim Wallis' sojourners: Pentecost 2006: Building a Covenant for a New America!.From the promotional material for those who don't care to link:
The conference will also serve as the launch of a new initiative, the “Covenant for a New America,” a solutions-based agenda for overcoming poverty that transcends ideology. The covenant is based on common-sense ways to end poverty, such as promoting a living family income for all who work, rebuilding neighborhoods and communities, strengthening families and renewing culture, and supporting the Millennium Development Goals to end global poverty. Building this covenant and the movement to overcome poverty will happen because of people such as you, who care enough to put your faith into action. We hope to see you at the conference.Not entirely problematic, but why the hell use goddamned covenant rhetoric? (And that's not the whole of the problem. Take for instance the phrase 'family income for all who work' - throroughly Puritan rubbish.) There is no Covenant for America. Never has been and never will. Or if there ever was, it was and only ever can be a covenant with the devil himself. America has no manifest destiny. Or if it does it is only as yet another Babylon which might perhaps serve some backassward good if it can, quite literally, embarass the shit out of the church. Next Thursday, I'll be saying more in the 'state-racism post' about why covenant political theology is, precisely, the problem.
