Sunday, January 14, 2007
Religious left: More left than religious
The Campaign for Working Families PAC cogently explains that the so-called religious left is more left than religious:
"A new report by the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) casts some very revealing light on the National Council of Churches (NCC), the vanguard of 'religious Left' movement in America. While Big Media ceaselessly frets about the political activity of the 'religious Right,' it rarely takes on the 'religious Left.'
"But the report by IRD ought to raise a few eyebrows. The NCC’s primary spokesman has been the Reverend Bob Edgar –- a former Democrat member of Congress. It seems that as membership in liberal mainline denominations has declined over the years, Edgar has been reaching out to some of his former political allies for help in fundraising.
"According to IRD’s report, the NCC now receives a majority of its funding not from churches or religious groups, but leftwing secular organizations with no interest in faith or religion at all. For example, the NCC received grants from the Sierra Club, the Ford Foundation, Ted Turner’s United Nation’s Fund, and another group connected to George Soros. The NCC also applied for a $100,000 grant from the radical Left lobbying group MoveOn.Org!
"As it turns out, only six of the NCC’s top 16 funders are church organizations. Could it be that the National Council of Churches and the 'religious Left' generally are more 'left' than 'religious'? That would likely explain why Big Media never complains when the 'religious Left' injects its values into the political arena."
"A new report by the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) casts some very revealing light on the National Council of Churches (NCC), the vanguard of 'religious Left' movement in America. While Big Media ceaselessly frets about the political activity of the 'religious Right,' it rarely takes on the 'religious Left.'
"But the report by IRD ought to raise a few eyebrows. The NCC’s primary spokesman has been the Reverend Bob Edgar –- a former Democrat member of Congress. It seems that as membership in liberal mainline denominations has declined over the years, Edgar has been reaching out to some of his former political allies for help in fundraising.
"According to IRD’s report, the NCC now receives a majority of its funding not from churches or religious groups, but leftwing secular organizations with no interest in faith or religion at all. For example, the NCC received grants from the Sierra Club, the Ford Foundation, Ted Turner’s United Nation’s Fund, and another group connected to George Soros. The NCC also applied for a $100,000 grant from the radical Left lobbying group MoveOn.Org!
"As it turns out, only six of the NCC’s top 16 funders are church organizations. Could it be that the National Council of Churches and the 'religious Left' generally are more 'left' than 'religious'? That would likely explain why Big Media never complains when the 'religious Left' injects its values into the political arena."
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Sunday, January 14, 2007 
