I want to make one more important point about the religious right and then I will be quiet on it for a while.
I mentioned before that the FRC seemed to be preaching to the choir. The mistake I feel all people of faith do is let the media define who they are for the general public. One of my commenters said something that I have heard before. He said that we on the right care more about the unborn than we do the born. Nothing could be further from the truth. My Church alone has 85 ministries that serve the poor including helping to pay rent, utilities, and phone. We have a incredible food for the poor program and we are the sole provider for a boarding school for poor children in Guatemala. And that is just a few of our ministries.
In every city I have lived in my Church has been like that. From prison ministries to nursing homes, from additiction ministries to homebound visits, every Church I know of serves the poor in a variety of ways.
The crisis pregnancy center I volunteered for had no paid employees. We provided doctor care, lamaze classes, diapers, baby food, cribs, layettes, car seats, and a book of resources 2 inches thick. If we didn't have it, we would find it for those mothers in need.
There is no doubt in my mind that that Christians in this country do an enormous amount to help and serve the poor, they just don't do a very good job at letting the general public know they do.
I was reading an article by a minister in the Philadephia paper that said that Christians need to relay a message more about what they are for than what they are against. He had a very good point. We are a visual society and Christians have to step up to the plate and show who they really are. After speaking with some of those young protestors, I realized that the misperceptions are enormous.
Here is the problem though. Although Christ certainly called us to care for the poor, I don't think he really intended for us to advertise it.
But still, there must be a way to end the judgmental, finger pointing perception of Christians that the media has siezed upon, and show the true nature of most of the Churches in America. And that is one of compassion, forgiveness, and an abundance of love and caring for the "least of these."
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