That didn’t take long. The newly-formed Christian Alliance for Progress (which I mentioned the other day) held a launch event at the National Press Club yesterday. A few hours later, James Dobson’s Focus on the Family was already taking shots at the group for trying to be politically liberal and Christian.
Peter Brandt, senior director of issues response at Focus on the Family Action, said this attempt to dress the liberal agenda in the fabric of faith is a ploy that doesn’t sit well with conservatives.
“A wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf,” he said. “Pushing the homosexual agenda, pushing for abortion rights — those things have nothing to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
What an odd response. Focus on the Family, an evangelical Christian ministry, has, in just the last few weeks, spoken out on estate taxes, the president’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency, tort reform, and media coverage of the Deep Throat revelations. Maybe Focus can explain how any of these issues relate to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Or maybe not.
Still, the fact that Dobson’s group felt the need to lash out at the Christian Alliance for Progress so quickly suggests the religious right is not altogether comfortable with the competition. If liberal Christians had an unpersuasive message, what would be the point of attacking?
For what it’s worth, it sounds like the group’s message is already off to a good start.
“The language spoken by the religious right is Christian. Our view is, this requires a Christian response,” said Patrick Mrotek, the group’s founder, at the National Press Club in Washington yesterday.
The alliance, based in Jacksonville, Fla., wants to go head-to-head with conservative Christian figures such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Dobson, arguing that the Gospel calls for liberal policies.
“Jesus said that your spirituality goes through the front door of your neighbor. If your neighbor doesn’t have health care and you’ve got it, you need to be working to see to it that the same advantage that has accrued to yourself also accrues to this other person,” said Rev. Timothy F. Simpson, the group’s director of religious affairs and a Presbyterian pastor. “That’s how you test your ethics, that’s how you test your spirituality.”
I have a hunch yesterday won’t be the last time Dobson & Co. lash out at these guys.