Birmingham Blues

…because the organization isn’t really interested in doing Christian things.

ORLANDO, Fla. - The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America has declined the job, saying the organization wouldn’t let him expand its agenda beyond opposing abortion and gay marriage.

The Rev. Joel Hunter, who was scheduled to take over the socially conservative group in January from Roberta Combs, said he had hoped to focus on issues such as poverty and the environment.

“These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about,” said Hunter, a senior pastor at Northland Church in Longwood, Fla.

Good for him.  What will it take to get his compatriots to pull their heads out of the sand (or some other location) and realize that it’s not all about imposing their own personal morality on the masses?  Or, given recent scandals, the morality they claim to have but don’t actually practice?  Holy texts are full of admonishments to care for the poor and speak for the powerless.  When Jesus speaks of the final judgment, he says those who did these things will sit on his right hand.  Nothing about forced childbirth or stopping the homos.

Maybe it’s time for the “Christian” Coalition to change its mission — or maybe change its name and stop pretending to speak for all followers of Christ.  Should I hold my breath?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 2:06 pm and is filed under Religious Wrong. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.