ACLU Gets Some Good Advice
In a post earlier this week I commented on the public perception of the ACLU. And what do you know, right on cue, the new issue of Report from the Capital - the Baptist Joint Committee's print publication - includes a summary of BJC director Brent Walker's recent remarks at an ACLU convention. Asked to offer his "thoughts on how the ACLU could more effectively address religion and religious liberty issues," Brent offered 4 main points. Here's #1:
[D]o not stereotype those whom you consider to be your enemies (or those who consider YOU to be THEIR enemies). We make a mistake if we lump everybody together as the "religious right" or as "fundamentalist." These are not monolithic categories; those who fall within those general descriptions are not all the same. They differ on policy issues, views about church and state and in temperament. Some who are conservative theologically may be liberal politically, such as Ron Sider and Jim Wallis. And don't lump all Baptists together either. There's a world of difference, theologically and politically, between Tony Campolo, Jimmy Carter and Bill Moyers, on the one hand, and Jerry Falwell, Roy Moore and Pat Robertson, on the other.Indeed. Read the whole thing.