An Open Letter to James Dobson

From God's Politics courtesy of AlterNet:

You see, I'm an evangelical Christian, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. As you know, we share a common Nazarene heritage that introduced both of us to a relationship with Jesus Christ, nurtured us in the development of our faith, and educated us through their colleges.

And

But somewhere along the way, I fear you have lost your way. Your message of hope has turned into a message of partisan politics. Instead of words of encouragement, your words seem to continually blame someone else for the problems of the world.

I just read your words that were posted on your Web site on Friday about the Foley scandal, and I must say I was very disappointed, but not surprised. While thankfully you did condemn the acts of Rep. Foley, you spent the majority of your time attacking "the liberal media," the Democratic party, and gay people, who according to your thinking are the real problem in America.

Unfortunately, I don't think your statement rings true for millions of evangelical Christians, who believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus and the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures ... inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation (Church of the Nazarene Manual). Your statement comes across as the same kind of partisan rhetoric that you claim to be fighting. More hubris than humility. More politics than principle.

Click here for the rest.

I've been wondering for years when something like this was going to happen. The minister who wrote this letter is, like Dobson, a fundamentalist: I'm sure that he doesn't have the influence or power that Dobson has, but the fact that this has been written at all is significant. The problem facing fundamentalists today is that they don't really seriously advocate or adhere to the most central principles advanced by their Lord, you know, love, forgiveness, tolerance, compassion for the poor, refraining from judgment, that sort of thing. I'm not sure why all these people have essentially warped Jesus into his exact opposite--perhaps the strange bedfellow alliance with the cutthroat capitalists of the GOP bears the most responsibility. But, once the change was complete, it was only a matter of time before one of them actually read the Bible and noticed what was going on. That is, the seeds of fundamentalism's destruction were there from the beginning of the movement back in the 70s. The harshness of fundamentalism is simply incompatible with the teachings of Jesus, and therefore, anti-Christian. Finally, it looks like these people are waking up.

I sure hope this becomes a movement.

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