Mark's Notebook

Serving notice: View from the religious left

Daytona Beach News-Journal

By Sam Harrison

The religious right, validated by their perception of Biblical support and buoyed by a message that plays to a deep-seated sense of pious entitlement, have assumed a self-imagined moral higher ground, from which all manner of social, environmental and ethical damage can be justified.

Even a casual reading of the New Testament Gospels, which narratively describe the ministry and message of Jesus, paint a clear picture of a radical teacher who intentionally turned the religious and social thinking of his day upside down, a teacher whose primary advocacy was for the poor, the marginalized and the cast aside, and, as a result, was executed by religious conservatives. His disciples and followers were told to give away their possessions; their community was, by definition, socialistic.

Acts describes the early Christians, after the death of Jesus, as deeply concerned with social welfare, pooling their belongings, supporting widows and orphans with their gifts. The revolutionary nature of the movement permeates the Pauline letters, as a vibrant but often persecuted church fought to spread a message of love, hope and forgiveness. The remaining epistles echo this same insistence as, throughout, what the great liberation theologian Gustavo Gutierrez has called "the preferential treatment of the poor," is espoused.

Many of us of the religious left believe Jesus would find little in common with today's religious conservative movement. We see a great disconnect between scripture and policies that advocate decimation of the natural world in the name of profit; between opposition to abortion and literally applauding death sentences; between sitting in church and supporting a pre-emptive, trumped-up war in which thousands of civilians have been killed. Love your enemy indeed.

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Last updated Tuesday 13 May 2008