From American Revolution Blog:
As an Evangelical Christian, what aggravates me about the religious right (and Barton in particular) is the fact that SERIOUS scholarly inquiry and discovery are completely rejected in the name of “Christian” values. Facts are often distorted, ignored or even altered simply to “fit” a particular agenda or belief. This sentiment of theological arrogance, which is used to trump sincere intellectual inquiry is one of the main reasons why so many in the mainstream community have a problem with the religious right today. If Barton would cease to publish such rubbish, which is blatantly false and biased, perhaps people would feel differently.
This is exactly what I’ve noticed, but there isn’t a lot of noise about it. Of course, there was the Evangelical Manifesto from earlier this month, and this good summary from Whirled Peas, here’s just a taste
To be evangelical is to life your life as a witness, to open your arms and your mouth in a welcoming way. It doesn’t mean screaming at people outside of abortion clinics, or voting for or against a candidate’s entire platform based on how this person feels about gay marriage.
It often means standing on the street with poor people, whether it be to dole out food or to plead with passersby to take notice. It means stewardship of the earth when you believe that earth to have been created by God. Sorry, you can’t believe in creationism and OPEC at the same time, folks.
It can even mean changing the world, but I assure you, it looks a lot more like the Beatitudes than the Ten Commandments. That’s another confusing mash-up of politics and religion: the fight to post the Moses tablets in public places. If you really were evangelical, you would fight hard to post the Scripture passages that talk about mercy in the courthouse.
As I’ve said, I’m not opposed to religion in the slightest, but I’m completely opposed to the absolute shameless lying that too many people are not in a position to evaluate.
