The Christian Left is a Facebook page that can be found here. It is an essentially public forum that is intended to provoke discussions by those of Christian belief from the political left. There are many areas of concern that are discussed on that forum that I believe are also concerns of Jesus and should be the concerns of his followers. There are also other aspects of the forum that I do not believe are conducive to christian community.
Jesus was always ministering to those who were marginalized in his society: the poor, women, foreigners, the sick and the imprisoned. He walked among people healing those who were harmed and teaching methods of responding to the injustice surrounding him. His followers continued that tradition through the millennia. Many of the topics discussed on the Christian Left have the intent on continuing that mission. Articles and petitions to respond to poverty abound. Appeals to members to use wisdom in how they interact in the world: climate change and evolution are not false science. Homosexuality is not choosing to shake your fist at the loving God that created you but a genuine awareness people experience from childhood. Government and even taxes have a functions in our communities and dismissing them as interfering busybodies will occur at our own peril. The existence of poverty is an injustice, not an attempt to mooch off those who have done "real work."
The articles on economics and poverty are usually very interesting and the expectation of Christians to respect evidence that science provides and to honor the beliefs of those who believe differently than strict christian dogma is worthwhile. There are, however, things that make me uncomfortable about the site. For one there is a maliciousness against people on the right. Republicans are sometimes treated as the enemy instead of brothers and sisters you disagree with. There is a justifiable anger and frustration with many on the Right, but there is something unloving about how the Christian Left tends to express it. Political figures are mocked and famous people who would disagree with the group are sometimes seen as vile destroyers of the public good or greedy villains out to take after their own interests at the expense of the public good. I don't know if the theorized motivation behind their behavior is accurate. I do know they are children of God and should be treated accordingly. Christians should not root for one team or the other but root for justice. Instead of trying to explain why God is on my side, ask continuously if I am on God's side. This must be true for both the Left and the Right, for some reason neither is willing. So let me try.
There is more than one side to the homosexuality debate. The first is that Jesus respected the law, Matthew 5:17-20. There are certainly passages of the law that do not sound approving of homosexual behavior, interpretation issues aside. I will not go into the passages here( that would be for a different article that I may or may not write.) There is a tendency on the Christian Left to go through all sorts of mental gymnastics to explain why those passages are not what you think. To be fair, sometimes the Christian Left is correct, such as the Sodom and Gomorrah passages. But sometimes the wording is too explicit to disregard this way. Jesus did not discard the law, he simply pointed out the purpose to it, love. On the side of the political Right, there is a tendency to forget that God's purpose for the law was and is to remind people to love. On the sides of the political Left as well as the Right, there is a dismissive attitude towards laws that doesn't fit a modern paradigm. The response on any side tends to be anger and vindictiveness instead of asking questions like why do you believe this law is justified or not? Are there more loving or economical ways to achieve the goals you are looking for? Or simply why do you believe the way you do? And force them to be more specific than "The Bible told me to." or "They are born that way." Regardless of your position on this issue, discarding the rights of people you disagree with or dismissing someone as hateful or bigoted for similar reasons is not loving. There is a place for finding the truth but it can only be done in the context of a respectful relationship between brothers and sisters.
Abortion is always a controversial subject. It is a tragedy in almost every way you look at it. It is a protection against the evils of rape. It is a response by young women who are sexual beings, but who are not ready to deal with the consequences of their actions. It is the outcome of the lack of responsibility by men. It is the result of policies that create ignorance out of the delusion that we are teaching children instead of burgeoning adults. It requires people to treat even potential human life as a curse instead of a blessing on one hand or a woman as a whore and murder instead of as a human being made in the image of God that believes they will lose what they have or will be forced into parenting a child they can't handle. Rationalizing either position is not a choice I would ever be willing to make, and I don't think society should make this decision either. It is a false choice to say one side or the other is a necessary evil, only a lack of creativity or patience in either party.
Evolution is another sore subject for christians. Christians often look delusional when debating evolution because the data is essentially in. Evolution is a better model to fit the facts. However, what is at stake for christians is not facts it is a story that they build their lives on. Evolution is not simply a set of facts, it has a story of its own and the story in many christian's opinions directly conflicts with the story of the Bible from the very beginning. It is a billions year old creation by combat where humanity is insignificant and God is unnecessary. Combined on that there is a tendency by those in power to justify themselves by the stories taken to be true. What happens when your story, your mythos is based on the principle of survival of the fittest? Maybe Social Darwinism, eugenics, Ayn Rand's philosophies, unchecked capitalism and empire? Evolution is rarely debated in this context because scientist are more concerned with it's veracity and christians are simply more interested in discrediting facts they don't like or are to lazy to understand fully. Scientists do not try to reshape the story of evolution because it is not part of their discipline. Christians don't reshape the story for the same reason the church was reluctant to respond to the heliocentric model. False arguments had been used for years to bolster positions that were untrue and outside even the priorities of the church.
I make these arguments because I see in the Christian Left a certainty of position by many posters that I am not sure is warranted or is as mean spirited and delusional as anything said on the Right. Admittedly the site is basically a public forum. Anyone can post, but there are certain arguments that are tolerated that I am not sure should be. People can argue with what I have described above and there is a distinct possibility that I am wrong in quite a bit of it. However, I feel the need to find ways to remind people that Jesus taught his followers to love and respect those they disagreed with or who disagreed with them. This task is extremely difficult and I ask the Christian Left to meet the challenge.
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