First up from the God machine this week is a story about the burgeoning religious left movement, which is borrowing a page from their politically conservative playbook.
A new group called Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good said yesterday that it will distribute at least 1 million voter guides before the Nov. 7 elections, emphasizing church teachings on war, poverty and social justice as well as on abortion, contraception and homosexuality.
The 12-page booklet, called “Voting for the Common Good: A Practical Guide for Conscientious Catholics,” is part of a broader effort by liberal and moderate religious groups to challenge the Christian right on moral values, said Alexia Kelley, the group’s executive director and a former employee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In the last election cycle, a conservative Roman Catholic group called Catholic Answers claims to have distributed 10 million copies of its “Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics.” The campaign materials describe abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and same-sex marriage as “non-negotiable” issues. “No one endorsing the wrong side of these issues can be said to act in accord with the Church’s moral norms,” it says.
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good take a broader approach, rejects “litmus tests,” and outlines seven “key themes of Catholic social teaching” — including “prioritizing the needs of the poor and vulnerable” — and lists 18 “issues important to Catholics,” including immigration, the environment, nuclear disarmament and workers’ rights.
“Seldom does a single candidate or party offer a consistently Catholic set of positions,” it says, adding that “we often must vote for candidates who may hold the ‘wrong’ Catholic positions on some issues in order to maximize the good our vote achieves in other areas.”
Far-right Catholic groups — including the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute and Ave Maria University — are blasting Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which suggests the group is probably on the right track.
Next is an item that follows up on a post from more than two weeks ago, when former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) expressed his revulsion for the religious right and its agenda.
“Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies,” Armey said. “I pray devoutly every day, but being a Christian is no excuse for being stupid. There’s a high demagoguery coefficient to issues like prayer in schools. Demagoguery doesn’t work unless it’s dumb, shallow as water on a plate. These issues are easy for the intellectually lazy and can appeal to a large demographic. These issues become bigger than life, largely because they’re easy. There ain’t no thinking.”
In response, Dobson went out and bullied convinced some members of Congress to contradict Armey and say nice things about the Focus on the Family head.
Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., who served under Armey’s leadership, said it was sad that someone of Armey’s stature would call Christians a “gang of thugs.”
“That would be your listeners and readers, (he’s talking about),” the congressman told CitizenLink. “That would be the many Christians around the United States who devoutly hold conservative moral beliefs — and he’s acting like this is just some kind of political game. And it’s disgusting. I was incredibly disappointed to read these comments.”
Souder said it is important for people to understand something about Dr. Dobson.
“When Dr. Dobson speaks out, he takes the hits and bullets for all of us,” Souder said. “He becomes the easy punching bag. And when someone sees trends changing or they want to pick on somebody, by Dr. Dobson becoming a public figure and taking the lead, he will get the criticism, but he’s really taking it for everybody.”
As Kyle at Right Wing Watch noted, “Apparently Armey’s assessment of Dobson and his ilk as a “bunch of thugs” wasn’t entirely accurate — thugs don’t usually get others to fight their battles for them.”
And finally, this week, I’d like to offer a fascinating interview with Richard Dawkins, the Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, who discussed religious belief this week on the BBC. If you have nine minutes, it’s definitely worth watching.