In 2006 I Asked on This Site: Is Rick Warren Really a Moderate?
Before we get to that, one quick observation. A surpising number of people conflate evangelical Christiany with the Religious Right. Yes, conservative evangelicals have led the Religious Right political movement, but not all evangelicals are conservative. (Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Jimmy Carter are evangelicals, for example). And while it is true that there are changes and transitions going on in evangelical Christianity; and the Religious Right itself; and that there are openings on such matters as fighting poverty, global warming, and AIDS... the hope for commonalities may not be as great as advertised in light of the actual views of many alleged moderates. Some more careful evaluation of the landscape is very much in order. Here is an exerpt from Parker's, must-read discussion of E.J. Dionne's new book Souled Out, in which he points out that a social justice oriented evangelical like Jim Wallis, who sees the Democratic Party as offering real progress in attacking poverty, for example, is not in any way to be confused with the far right views of the so-called moderate megachurchman, Rick Warren. Indeed, different; or not as extreme; or not a hate monger; does not necessarily make for political moderation, let alone the progressivism inferred when Warren publicly associates with a Barack Obama or a Hillary Clinton.
Here's Warren two weeks ago rebuking a conservative columnist who called Warren a "statist like Jim Wallis" (Wallis--because he actually votes for Democrats, is married to an Anglican priest, and was raised in a Northern evangelical denomination--is still treated like a leper by the most of his ostensibly "new evangelical" colleagues): Rick Warren seemed to break new ground when he invited Barack Obama to speak at his church last year. This was good for Warren in putting some light between him and the rigid idealogues of the religious right. It was also good for Obama to be seen addressing a conservative megachurch as part of his campaign to make the Democratic Party appear more "faith friendly," especially to evangelicals. Similarly, Hillary Clinton also benefitted when she was the only presidential candidate to show up at a Warren hosted AIDS conference. Please understand -- I am not criticizing Obama and Clinton for speaking at Warren's shop. Rather, I am underscoring that Rick Warren and other so-called moderate evangelicals are not necessarily supportive of Democrats or of a moderate or progressive agenda, just because they are civil, or at least not openly hostile in the fashion of Dobson, Falwell and Robertson. To discuss this story, sign up for a free account
In 2006 I Asked on This Site: Is Rick Warren Really a Moderate? | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden)
But then again
(5.00 / 1)
some people like being fed big hunks of baloney and adjusting their political views to conform with whatever baloney the religious industrial complex may be serving -- for years at a time, no matter how rancid the baloney may become.
by Frederick Clarkson on Mon Dec 29, 2008 at 07:53:01 PM EST
A part of the bigger picture
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Warren is NEOLIBERAL, same as Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Bushes, and Reagan. Neoliberalism is part of what we fight against- it's the financial side of their ideology. One can be neoliberal without being neoconservative, or you can be both. (I don't see how someone could be neoconservative without being neoliberal- to quote [or misquote] - a famous line... "That does not compute!")
The end product is the same- the elites (preferably American) will control the world. It's behind the dominionist message- the same ideology, just packaged differently. The sad thing is that people still buy into it, in spite of all of the evidence (and solid research) that demonstrates that neoliberalism and "free markets" mean most people have to do with far less while a VERY few are filthy rich. Nearly every time a market economy is introduced into a locality with a subsistence economy, 99.5% of the people do not see any improvement, and almost all see a significant decrease in their standard of living (many are impoverished, possibly to the point of starvation and total destitution). Only the richest .5% see any increase when a market economy is introduced. I would say that it happens EVERY time, but there may be an instance or two that I don't know of. Neoliberalism, a market economy, and "Free Markets" have destroyed the lives of millions around the world- and it's no wonder that you hear of protests and even riots against neoliberalism. I might add that it's been shown to also be ecologically destructive, when compared with the economic systems that were in place before. There are areas in Africa that used to export food, but after being forced into a market driven neoliberal model, have to import food! Neoliberals forget many things- (1) that the markets are never "free" and are manipulated for the profit of the elites, (2) there is no real control in the markets and no real negative feedback to greed, and (3) the "wealth redistribution" programs starting in the 50's and through the 70's actually WORKED. They were killed by ideologues- neoliberals- who then told lies about the effectiveness of the programs they killed. I've read literally dozens of (peer reviewed) journal articles on the impact of neoliberalism. Many of the articles I'm working with now demonstrate the destructiveness of neoliberalism in connection with homelessness and extreme poverty in this country. In essence- neoliberalism has been shown to be the major part of the CAUSE of extreme poverty and homelessness here and elsewhere.
Neoliberalism is bad news. VERY bad news. It's part of the abusive treatment handed out to the poor in this country (Get a job, you lazy bum!) and if you look at what the dominionists are saying- they're just putting (HIDEOUS) makeup on an ugly (and vicious) boar.
True Christian Capitalism
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If Warren wants to see what real Christian capitalism is, he should look right here.
Perhaps we should all read the works of the New Deal economists, Adolf Berle - as well as his sometimes writing partner Gardiner C. Means and others such as William T. Foster and Marriner S. Eccles. They still offer us a treasure-trove of knowledge.
Moderate? Not likely
(none / 0)
he is a moderate in the sense that Putin is moderate compared to Khuruschev.
In other words, he is a pragmatic extremist. He focuses on things other than Teletubbies or sex in movies.
"People are like the stars. There are bright ones, and there are those that are dim." by agentS on Tue Dec 30, 2008 at 12:11:20 PM EST
The Economic Priorities of the Religious Right
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The market capitalist orientation of the Religious Right shows how much its goals have come to mesh with those of the Republican Party. There was a time some years ago when Newt Gingrich was talking up Marvin Olasky's anti-statist tract, The Tragedy of American Compassion, and making it compulsory reading for Republican office holders. The book highlights the Religious Right's distaste for government intervention in the alleviation of poverty and offers a Calvinist, private-sector approach in which those who get help have to first "prove" they deserve it.
by JSanford on Wed Dec 31, 2008 at 12:41:50 AM EST
In 2006 I Asked on This Site: Is Rick Warren Really a Moderate? | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden)
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