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betraying their own faith, theology, and history. A friend of mine who teaches at a conservative evangelical Christian college gave me this book and said, "I wish I could teach what this book reveals." This insightful and well-researched book by an evangelical Christian exposes the deceit and hypocrisy at the heart of the Religious-Political Right; how the quest for power has betrayed Christianity and threatened the democratic foundations of the U.S. Although a plethora of books and articles have been written on this topic, this one ranks among the very best, along with Greg Boyd's "Myth of a Christian Nation" and Kevin Phillip's "American Theocracy," particularly because it is written by and "insider." The author reveals seeds of hope within evangelicalism as the the true intentions of this movement are revealed. through manipulation of Scripture and religious-political propaganda. What's equally disturbing is that the "masses" who have responded to the rallying cry of the Religious-Political Right have blindly been caught up in the narrative of a lie.
He makes the point that the Republicans have been in the majority position more than once since then and could have really done something about it, had they been sincere. When I woke up to that cynical manipulation (which shouldn't surprise me, as it's happened to me before in other contexts), I was finally able to use my whole brain and heart to make political choices. He doesn't pretend to be objective - he's been hurt and betrayed by leaders he trusted - but he does provide a historian's perspective nevertheless.
might be handled better by the other party. I am grateful to Mr. I felt manipulated to vote for President Bush both times because I couldn't imagine voting for a pro-choice candidate.
Randall Balmer talks about how he has a "lover's quarrel" with the religious right because he was an insider for so long. They cynically used that one issue to keep people voting for them no matter what other matters of importance (like peace and war, economic injustice, poverty, racial injustice, the environment, etc). Balmer for speaking the truth as he sees it, and encouraging me to do the same.
He really helped me verbalize what I had been thinking and feeling about several subjects, especially about voting Republican on the single issue of abortion.He was part of a conference call in the early `80s when several religious leaders decided, consciously, on purpose, to begin rallying the troops around the issue of abortion and thereby get them to vote Republican. But they have failed to do so.
"The IRS attempt to deny tax-exempt status to segregated private schools, then, represented an assault on the evangelical subculture," (p.14).Most of all, Balmer explains, the Religious Right is contradicting both its historical past and the tradition of the Bible. The author is an evangelical Christian who wants to "reclaim the faith from the Religious Right." (p. He insists the Religious Right has lost its way from the teachings of Jesus and the words of the Bible into a morass of narrowness, legalism, censoriousness, and misogyny. The church is best when separate from the state, promoting its moral vision, not attempting to enforce minority views on society.
Yet, in the New Testament Jesus says nothing about these issues, but plenty against divorce, which the religious have quietly accepted, and don't even inveigh against any longer. Most of all, Balmer laments that the Religious Right has made a devil's bargain with guns, war, and capitalism - forgetting their historic care for the poor, the mistreated, and the oppressed about whom Jesus had very much to say.According to Balmer the search for tax finance for religious schools, and for political power has led the evangelicals astray and away from the best of their historic past. Contrary to their ideological forefathers, today's Religious Right expects the state to enforce their contentions against abortion and gays. It was Baptists who insisted on the first amendment and the Wall between Church and State.
In fact, in 1971 the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a resolution calling for legislation permitting abortion under conditions of rape, incest, or deformity of the fetus. Williams invented and practiced the idea that religion could only be free by separating from entanglement with the state. xii) He is also a professor of history at Columbia University. He describes Roger Williams as both the first Baptist and the founder of the principle of religious freedom.
The occasion was the IRS attempt to revoke the tax exempt status of Bob Jones University for racist regulations. He wants to recall them to Jesus' love of the poor, the marginalized, and the downtrodden, and to the teachings and work of evangelicals of earlier centuries of American history.That the modern Religious Right organized around the anti-abortion fight after the Supreme Court's Roe-vs-Wade decision Balmer calls a myth. The political awakening of the fundamentalists really dates to 1975.
It was refreshing to see an historically accurate recounting of the evangelical movement, rightly pointing out some of its achievements and shining light on its political hijacking by a few cynical folks who wanted to take it away from its social liberal roots and use it for its on purposes. No need to add to other kudos for this book.
Balmer's writing style is always easy to read with personal comments and insights along with reports of conversations. Balmer isn't reticent about his own voting choices (being firmly a democrat) although he is by no means always positive about the democrats and their record in office, but the overall theme of the book - that the Religious Right are hijacking various issues as a power struggle and trying to influence the Republican party - is a persuasive one.Like Englishman Stephen Bates's book on this theme, 'God's Own Country', the reader is left with a healthy fear of some of the excesses of the Religious Right, with the wholehearted hope that most people don't see evangelicals or the church like this, and with considerable concern for the future of evangelicalism in the US unless the moderates get themselves into the fray. Randall Balmer's book is a fascinating discussion about the Religious Right in America and its influence on politics. The usual suspects in this kind of book - Pat Robertson, Dr James Dobson and Jerry Falwell - pop up as examples of the extreme nature of some of the Religious Right and reading some of their words in black and white on the page is pretty frightening. Sobering reading.[.]. He writes from the point of view of a self-confessed Evangelical whose upbringing mirrors that of many evangelicals in the US. However his personal stance on certain issues puts him at odds with the Religious Right, those who claim the mantle of evangelicalism, and this book looks closely at several areas of politics and theology where Balmer believes the Religious Right are wrong and where they are highlighting minor points and missing the vital overarching themes of the Gospel, such as care for the poor and outcast.His subjects range from debates about women priests, homosexuality and abortion to the change in nature of traditional Baptist beliefs; from discussions about creationism and Intelligent design to the Religious Right's desire to remove the wall between church and state.
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