Religious Left Denounces “Moral Values” Voters

Mark Tooley, November 10, 2004
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At a press conference organized by the pro-abortion Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), representatives of the Religious Left expressed deep angst about the recent U.S. election results. And they warned the Bush Administration not to heed the agenda of socially conservative voters.

The RCRC officials were clearly disturbed by exit polls showing “moral values” being the number one concern of a plurality of voters, ahead of the economy, terrorism and the war in Iraq. These moral values voters, motivated by issues such as abortion and same-sex “marriage,” strongly favored President Bush’s reelection.

“The leaders of the Religious Coalition are outraged at the underlying message of the election story—that religion and morals are the exclusive property of social conservatives,” exclaimed RCRC president Carlton Veazey. RCRC, founded 30 years ago, is a coalition of mostly mainline church agencies that lobby against all potential restrictions on abortion.

Other participants in the November 9 press conference were from the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, Catholics for a Free Choice, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

“We will not be defined or confined by narrow ideologies and fear-mongering politicians,” Veazey warned. He urged the Bush Administration to be open to religious groups that support “reproductive choice.”

Jim Winkler of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society condemned the “Religious Right” for siding with the Republican Party and for being “overwhelmingly white.” Winkler said, in contrast, that “we” represent diverse America. It is not clear whom he meant by “we,” but the United Methodist Church’s U.S. membership, like the membership of other mainline denominations, is over 90 percent white.

No black church group belongs to RCRC. Nor do any Hispanic groups belong to RCRC. A list of RCRC member organizations shows them all to be overwhelmingly white mainline Protestant agencies, several Unitarian groups, several Jewish groups, and several liberal secular groups, such as the American Humanist Association.

Winkler insisted that the nation faces not a clash between cultures but a clash between “justice and greed.” He said the “real” problem facing America was not abortion, “gay” marriage, school prayer, flag burnings, or the display of the Ten Commandments. Quoting Martin Luther King, Winkler said the real problem is that the nation is spending more on military weapons than on programs of social uplift.

It is not clear what Winkler meant here, as about 20 percent of federal government expenditures go towards military spending. Most of the remaining 80 percent goes mostly towards programs that would seem to qualify as “social uplift.” The inclusion of all state and local spending would certainly increase that percentage.

Calling his own United Methodist denomination “prayerfully pro-choice,” Winkler said, “We offer a vision of hope in contrast to the apocalyptic vision of a fiery end of the world offered by [the] Religious Right.”

Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State was more outspoken. “The culture war is real, and it’s about to go nuclear,” he declared. He insisted that most voters did not support “banning abortion, gay bashing and tearing down the church-state wall.” But the Religious Right was creating this false impression, and the “Republican power structure in Washington” will “declare a culture war” whether the voters want it or not.

Lynn warned of an impending “theocracy lite” that would involve prayer in public schools, religious displays on public property, and restrictions on pornography. The nation can choose a path where “religious dogma” replaces science and the Constitution, he suggested. Or it can choose to respect America’s “religious mosaic,” he concluded.

In a written statement distributed to attendees of the press conference, the President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, William Sinkford, said his denomination will continue to “ensure equal civil rights for gay and lesbian families” and for “Marriage Equality nationwide.” He also described defending “reproductive freedom” as a “moral duty.”

Episcopal priest Katherine Ragsdale, former chair of RCRC, regretted that the “radical right” had been successful in their “long-running attempt to highjack and trivialize the language” of faith commitment. She condemned “wars of aggression, crony capitalism, and callous restrictions on medical procedures that protect…women’s rights,” as well as “abstinence-only education” and other forms of “lies, half-truths and manipulation.”

Ragsdale said that the “mainstream religious community,” in contrast to the “perversions of the Right,” will lift up a vision in which women can not only seek abortions that are “safe and affordable and accessible and legal” but will be “respected” and “honored” for their struggle.

Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, admitted that, “All of us in the progressive religious movement feel a sense of passion and urgency in the wake of the election.” She insisted that most Catholics, even though they supported Republicans this election, still support abortion rights and at least legalized “civil unions” for homosexual couples.

Kissling warned that “liberationist” Catholic bishops have been replaced by the current Pope, the church’s hierarchy is becoming more conservative, there is a growing “ultra-conservative” Catholic lay movement that parallels the rise of conservative evangelicals, and conservative Catholics have President Bush’s “ear and heart” and will be heard.

Meg Riley, who directs the Unitarian Universalist lobby office in Washington, D.C., confessed she had a “broken heart but not a broken spirit” over the election.

Lloyd Steffen, a United Church of Christ minister and vice chair of RCRC, declared that “reproductive choice” but not the “agenda of conservative Christianity” is consistent with “our democratic values.”

“It seeks to extend its narrow religious influence into our scientific policies, healthcare, government funding of religious groups, women’s health, and sexuality issues,” Steffen fretted. “Progressive” religious leaders can help the nation understand how some religious groups are “energizing the movement to suppress freedom.”

Catholics for a Free Choice, the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries, and the Episcopal Church’s Women in Mission and Ministry are among RCRC’s several dozen member organizations.

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