The Fall of the Evangelical Nation is a new book by former Dallas Morning News reporter Christine Wicker. From her site and in her new book, she rips the religious right a new asshole. I listened to an interview with her on Sam Seder's show (which is on it's way out...). Ms. Wicker posts this tidbit from The Tennessean:
“When Christian beliefs become political weapons, the manifesto says, “faith loses its independence, Christians become the ‘useful idiots’ for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology.”It would appear from what Wicker says, the the mega-church-going, rabid haters the conservative right touts, are mostly fictitious. The right is smaller than it appears.
The manifesto seeks to redefine evangelical as a religious term, rather than as shorthand for social or political conservatives.
But Robert Parham, director of the Nashville Baptist Center for Ethics, said the manifesto was too little, too late. Many of the signers were supporters of the Religious Right, he said, and have now changed their tune as conservative Republican political power has waned.
“It’s kind of hard to see how they are now going to advance a kindler, gentler evangelicalism based on their past behavior,” he said. “Had they begun by saying that they were wrong on the war in Iraq, wrong on global warming, wrong on torture, then they might have a little more credibility.”
Finally, a little good news. I'll post a link to the audio as soon as its up.Audio is up.
