For religious right wingers, where is the love?
by Chris Edelson

I was not raised religiously, and, for many years, did not know very much about various religious beliefs.  I was interested in politics, and much of what I thought I knew about Christianity came from Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and other religious right wingers.

I was surprised to eventually learn that (a) Christ’s message is one of love–even to love one’s enemies.  This was not a message I heard anywhere in the hate spewed by the religious right and (b) not all Christians are like Robertson or Falwell.

Unfortunately, the religious right has been pretty successful in making Christianity, in the context of politics, synonymous with the Falwell/Robertson school.  There are plenty of Christians (including here on this site) who fundamentally disagree with the religious right and are starting to make the point that Christianity is not a monolith.  (Of course, Christianity is hardly the only religion, and should not be squeezing other faiths out of political debate–but, in the United States, right wingers have been pretty successful at making this so).

As I have been thinking about Dr. George Tiller’s murder, I have noticed that Christianity is used as a license for hate.  As I noted, signs grotesquely displayed at Dr. Tiller’s funeral read “God sent the shooter” and “Baby killer in hell”.   This is not unique to the anti-abortion movement.  Opponents of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people mix hatred with religious language, arguing that Christianity provides a justification for discrimination against LGBT people.  An elected official claims (and she is not alone) that “the homosexual agenda is destroying the nation” and poses a bigger threat to the United States than terrorism, claiming that these slanders are justified because “according to God’s word, [being gay] is not the right kind of lifestyle.”

Where is the message of love?  I see messages of hate everywhere–those who call Dr. Tiller a baby killer, who say he got what he deserved, who take pleasure in their belief that he is damned.  How do some (not all in the religious right of course) who claim to follow a philosophy of truly revolutionary love, the vertiginous idea that one must love even one’s enemy, fail to display love, choosing instead to spew out messages of hate?  Where are the leaders–why do the leaders of the religious right and their political allies fail to insist on love, even for one’s enemies?  Something isn’t right here, to say the least.

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