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John Dorhauer Puts Christian Right on Notice
Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer was a front pager here at Talk to Action years before he was elected General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. The focus of his writing was the role of conservative groups in undermining the UCC and the rest of mainline Protestantism in the name of "renewal." He took office on August 1st, and while he was in the process of moving from Phoenix to Cleveland, (where the UCC is headquartered) he generously took the time to do an interview with me for Religion Dispatches. Titled, Racial Justice Will Be Top Priority for New Prez of the United Church of Christ.
Here is an excerpt from a much longer and wide-ranging profile and interview: |
What do you say to those, like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, who question the authenticity of the Christianity of the UCC in light of your views on marriage equality? And what do you say to Perkins' related idea that religious liberty is really only for those who have religiously orthodox views?
There really isn't much to say to Tony Perkins. His mind is made up and I'm not going to change it.
What I would say to others is that this phenomenon of casting aspersions on the authenticity of a person's Christianity because it doesn't fit into established orthodoxy is nothing new. We read in the early accounts of Scripture that Paul's teachings about circumcision and the law being a curse angered James and the Jerusalem Council to the point that they denounced him and his teachings. The first Jerusalem Council, recorded in Chapter 11 of the Acts of the Apostles, tells the story of a church divided over how far the limits of established orthodoxy could spread.
New ideas stretch old thinkers to the point of condemnation, excommunication--and sometimes worse. Same as it ever was.
I am a part of a movement with the Christian household that tests limits rather than establishes them--that it angers my sisters and brothers in faith neither surprises nor deters me.
As to the question of religious liberty belonging only to those who hold orthodox views? That statement is so blatantly false that I need make no stronger argument against it that it makes on its own. Religious liberty only for those who believe as we do? There is no liberty intended.
Beyond that, the First Amendment not only provides the free expression of one's religious calling, it prevents the government from respecting any establishment of religion. That Tony Perkins wants his government to enforce his worldview and enact his orthodoxy is precisely why that First Amendment was written--to preclude our government from the undertaking. They knew that people like Tony Perkins would gain purchase at times in the marketplace of ideas. They needed something of substance written into our Bill of Rights that no majority could undermine or undo.
That Mr. Perkins and others are asking for a theocracy is nothing new--and once again our commitment to religious liberty will withstand his attacks on it. |
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