Comments on: A return to the original agenda of Christ http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2013/01/16/a-return-to-the-original-agenda-of-christ/ Secularism, religion, and the public sphere Thu, 16 May 2013 19:41:38 +0000 hourly 1 By: Caroline Williams http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2013/01/16/a-return-to-the-original-agenda-of-christ/comment-page-1/#comment-106723 Caroline Williams Wed, 03 Apr 2013 01:29:35 +0000 http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/?p=36598#comment-106723 The idea of reclaiming the “Pro-Life” stance reminds me of a New York Times article by Thomas Friedman called “Why I Am Pro-Life.” He declares that if someone is to commit to being Pro-Life, then he or she needs to back that up with other Pro-Life views when it comes to supporting environmental legislation designed to protect clean air and water or supporting gun control laws or even supporting programs that aim to educate the public on matters of health and nutrition. The fact that the very idea of being “Pro-Life” has been co-opted by the anti-abortion movement seems to ignore the need for life to be at all protected after the birthing process is complete. Friedman proposes that anti-abortionists should rename themselves as “pro-conception-to-birth, indifferent-to-life conservatives.”

Indeed, I would agree that hot-button issues such as abortion and marriage equality are portrayed in the news media as being the most significant issues for evangelical Christians to the extent where Christians themselves are convinced that they are. Last year, I spoke on a panel about what it’s like to self-identify as both a Catholic and a feminist, and how I reconcile the two. Of course, the first question asked during the Q&A was how my religious beliefs affect my political views. I responded by saying that my political views generally come from my sense of morality, which in turn is definitely impacted by my religion. For instance, my feelings about immigration reform absolutely align with the Church’s teachings about hospitality and providing a home for refugees. My views about how we should interact with the natural environment are also largely influenced by Catholic Social Teaching, which states that we are called to be stewards of Creation, and it is our obligation to take care of the earth and the people living on it. These issues, along with many others, are significantly more important in determining my political views than my stance on abortion, despite what the news media tells me I should believe.

]]> By: Roger Haydon Mitchell http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2013/01/16/a-return-to-the-original-agenda-of-christ/comment-page-1/#comment-98072 Roger Haydon Mitchell Fri, 18 Jan 2013 19:32:35 +0000 http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/?p=36598#comment-98072 My only reservation about the concept of evangelicals “leaving the right” is that it somewhat implies that this is an innovation. The innovation may well have been moving to the right in the first place. I’m wondering whether the writers and readers of The Immanent Frame are familiar with Donald Dayton’s fairly recently republished “Discovering an Evangelical Heritage” (Baker Academic 2011). My own academic work explores the ancient connection of the gospel with the “right”—”Church Gospel and Society: How the Politics of Sovereignty Impregnated the West” (Wipf and Stock 2011). My latest offering “The Fall of the Church” is due to be published later this year. As I see it, this is a move back to our roots that three generations of renewal have been intended to achieve!

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