NorCalUrban

There are many important discussions regarding the church floating around right now. Admittedly I am a right leaning liberal - meaning I'm progressive in my politics with a strong moral leaning. As those of you who read my blog know that I've been thrilled and encouraged by recent church leader's, namely Rick Warren and Joel Hunter, waking up to some of the pressing justice and poverty issues in the world. However, I'm saddened (but not surprised) by the reaction of extreme right wing evangelicals. In a recent ABC article rightly stated: "This debate is just the latest in a number of contentious fights emerging within the Christian conservative community. Many evangelical Christians are openly questioning whether their leaders have focused too much on issues such as abortion while ignoring subjects more relevant to the vast majority of what's in the Bible — such as helping the poor and the sick. "What would Jesus do?" they ask." I am firmly in th...

The Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of a nondenominational megachurch in Longwood, Fla., said he resigned as the coalition's incoming president because its board of directors disagreed with his plan to broaden the organization's agenda. In addition to opposing abortion and same-sex marriage, Hunter, 58, wanted to take on such issues as poverty, global warming and HIV/AIDS."My position is, unless we are caring as much for the vulnerable outside the womb as inside the womb, we're not carrying out the full message of Jesus," What a travesty! I have not been a great fan of the Christian Coalition mainly because of this issue. Yes, I'm undoubtedly against abortion - but I'm also against a host of issues including poverty, injustice, etc... If so called conservative Christian groups, which at times seem to be more of a mouthpiece for the Republican party than the Gospel, would broaden their embrace of issues then I would be much closer to their ideology. However, as is...