As if he has any clue (which he does not), Richard Land says on the Frontline special last night that “the left doesn’t think God has a side on these issues”….and I said aloud to the TV screen: “Yeah they do, it’s just that they think you’re on the wrong side”…..which is true for just about every social policy issue there is…..due to his (and much of the SBC Leadership’s) view that spirtual values are largely confined to personalistic issues, and that “God has ordained the magistrate” to work his purposes in all the “political and social” areas of life……in this case, the “magistrate” is the Bush administration, on whom the Religious Right heaps their blessing, further alienating the deeply spiritual people who care about the social and economic chasms between us in this country. These caring folk have learned to dismiss Christianity as they have seen it at the hands of the Religious Right. I don’t believe they are rejecting Christ at all, but only a pale , distorted imitation of it; one which is almost indistinguishable from a crass nationalistic, triumphalism, filled with macho calls to “bring it on”. Sojourners.com has a quote of the week:

“My view and the view of the British chain of command is that the Americans’ use of violence is not proportionate and is overresponsive to the threat they are facing.”

– A senior British Army officer in southern Iraq. Source: Christian Science Monitor

This is closer to the view I have of what “the left” is all about. It’s about “practical matters”, while the Religious Right is about lifting up a compromise with the powers that be. You never hear this kind of language from the religious right (words like “powers that be”, for they do not see their role as that of correction and thatof the prophet, but to provide a theological justification framework. This has been the role of the “court prophets” for millenia: prop up and support the “cause of the King” , and continue to draw the benefits of the employ of the king —- in this case, it’s “our American Way of life” as defined by the administration. “If we can just jump over these hurdles like “throwing money at social problems” , over-burdening companies with too many environmental regulations, and having to worry about “the dregs” of society” (who are all there because they’re lazy and on drugs), and also “show the world who’s boss” and tell them to “bring it on” — or better yet, “send it on” to them pre-emptively before they ever launch their theoretical attacks.