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Even the praise-the-Lord evangelical types! November 9, 2007

Posted by Zack in Connecticut , trackback

Here’s a little bit more evidence of the progress of the revolution. Conservative columnist Laurence Cohen, in the Hartford Courant today, is despairing because “Even some of the more praise-the-Lord evangelical types have” have joined with those crazy Quakers and bleeding heart liberal mainliners and “begun to scratch the itch to become ‘environmentalists.’ ”

Many of the mainstream Protestant faiths have been led astray by denominational staff that has grown bored with transcendence and prefers to probe the mysteries of air pollution and property tax reform. Even some of the more praise-the-Lord evangelical types have begun to scratch the itch to become “environmentalists.” Which coal-scrubbing technology would Jesus recommend? Apparently, you don’t learn that in chemical engineering class; you learn it at seminary.

In these here parts, the Greater Hartford Coalition for Equity and Justice, for instance, is a church-fueled advocacy group indistinguishable from the lefty fringes of the Democratic Party and irrelevant labor unions. In a sermon in 2003 at the Washington National Cathedral, the executive director of the Christian Conference of Connecticut used the occasion to spew anti-Bush rhetoric that even many Democrats found embarrassing.

Thanks to my Dad for the link.

Comments»

1. Leah Masselink - November 12, 2007

Zack, thanks for posting this…I just finished reading Wayward Christian Soldiers, Charles Marsh’s surprisingly joyful theological critique of the conflation of American Christianity with political power, particularly in the run-up to the Iraq war. He’s talking mostly about folks on the far right, but reading this article made me think about the fact that it’s equally possible for lefty Christians to get caught up in the political at the expense (perhaps?) of what’s distinctive about the Gospel. Definitely not the point you were trying to make in the post, but provocative and challenging anyway…in the current political climate, is it possible for Christians of any ideological leaning to be politically active without becoming power-mongers? If so, what in the world does it look like?

Best to you on all of your travels–I’m jealous!