The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) Rob Christensen column
By Rob Christensen, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
It is a question to ponder as we approach both the Christian holy season and the final weeks of the political primary campaigns.
As the former U.S. Sen.
Consider the "Moral Monday" protests in the state capital, led by the Rev.
The Moral Monday protest movement has a strong representation of the clergy.
"We must not give up the high moral ground to the right-wing extremists," Barber said earlier this year at a speech in
Barber said there are 300 verses in the Bible that talk about justice and poverty issues and only three that talk about sexuality, and "none of them give you a license to hate somebody."
NC-grown Religious Right
The conservative religious movement was fueled, in part, by opposition to such social issues as abortion, greater acceptance of homosexuality and a breakdown of traditional families.
One of the major candidates in the
While Democrats such as Barber say their Christian faith informs their backing of programs that help the underprivileged, some conservatives see helping the poor as primarily a function of churches and charities and not of government.
"Sometimes these big government social welfare programs are immoral," Phillips told a conservative conference in
He cited a
"It is immoral to dump millions of more Americans, our fellow citizens, into a program where they will die sooner," Phillips said. "That is wrong."
Dr.
No room for compromise
Some conservative political figures fill their speeches with references to God. During a recent talk to the conservative conference, Lt. Gov.
"We have forgotten God," Forest said. "We have kicked him out of the home. We have kicked him out of the school, and we have kicked him out of our culture. We call it everything except sin."
Our Judeo-Christian beliefs, of course, inform our laws. Religion has been a powerful force whether in the movements for abolition, temperance or civil rights.
The risk in mixing religion and politics too closely is it leaves little room for compromise, or opening yourself to other views. Governing is about the ability to get people of different views and backgrounds to pull together to work for the common good. That is true for running a country, a state or a church.
If you believe God is whispering in your ear -- and there is only one divine or moral position on, say,
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