Friday, June 1, 2007

Bad Rap For Conservative Christians


Quote of the day:
“Children unfamiliar with the world in time become easy marks for the dealers in fascist politics and quack religions.”
--Lewis Lapham

Quote of the day no. 2:
“I am talking about a distorted portrayal of conservative Christians as a detached and fanatic lot, who care only about a couple of free-floating issues, abortion and sexual behavior, and who could not care less about anything else going on in the country.”
--Star Parker, Scripps Howard, May 28, 2007.

I was surprised to read Parker’s comment. I thought the whole point of the conservative Christian attempt to influence the national agenda was to focus on personal behavior.

Am I wrong to observe that about 95% of what conservative Christian political leaders have focused on in the last six years have been issues of personal behavior and individual morality? How can we not conclude that they don’t care much about other issues?

This always seems backwards to me. Given the choice between personal, private behavior and public, institutional behavior, shouldn’t our government focus primarily on the latter? I’ve never understood the exclusive obsession with issues that concern consenting and individual adults.

Especially when there is so much serious work to be done in such areas as boosting corporate responsibility, preserving the environment, building international understanding and aiding the sick and the poor.

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