If people who call themselves Christians want to see any influence in the culture, then they ought to start following the commands of Jesus and people will be so amazed that they will be attracted to Him. The problem isn’t political. The problem is moral and spiritual.

I bet you can’t guess who said this…It was actually Cal Thomas, a frequent commentator on the Religious Right. It’s part of a column in the Washington Post written by Kathleen Parker. Apparently some on the Religious Right believe fighting the culture wars through the political process is a lost cause.

The reason why some Religious Right leaders have lost their faith in politics is because they “too often settle for lesser evils in exchange for electing Republicans.” That’s right – the Republican Party takes the Religious Right for granted and doesn’t act on their agenda.

This leaves me scratching my head. It’s hard to imagine how the Bush Administration could have been more aligned with the Religious Right. From a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, to the Terri Schiavo fiasco, to teaching creationism in public schools, the Religious Right had the White House on speed dial. And the 2008 election? Don’t even get me started. The Republican candidates pandering to the Religious Right was constant and frightening (and so was the pandering done by Democrats, too).

But I have to applaud Cal Thomas and his like minded compatriots. There is absolutely nothing wrong with attempting to improve society’s moral compass through non-governmental means. I may not agree with the heading on that particular moral compass, but America was founded as a free and open marketplace of religious ideas.

The problems arise when one religious viewpoint is imposed on the people through the coercive power of government. Thus the only way for any of us to be free to practice our religious beliefs (or non-beliefs) is if the government stays out of the business of forcing one religion on a diverse society.

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  • Paul Maurice Martin

    I agree completely and would just add that Thomas’ idea of attracting converts to Christianity by mass exemplary Christian conduct is unrealistic. Christians are human. Like any large group of humans, they’re not morally or intellectually superior to other large groups of humans.

    Btw, this is the second week in a row that the first letter in the comments box is cut off. I’m assuming it’s your site and not my computer since I don’t see this anywhere else but here – but then I’m not so, uh, technically superior…

    Paul – originalfaith.com

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