Why the Christian Right Is Wrong: A Minister's Manifesto for Taking Back Your Faith, Your Flag, Your Future

by Robin Meyers, Robin R. Meyers, Robin R Meyers

Book Overview

"I join the ranks of those who are angry, because I have watched as the faith I love has been taken over by fundamentalists who claim to speak for Jesus but whose actions are anything but Christian."
--Robin Meyers, from his "Speech Heard Round the World"

Millions of Americans are outraged at the Bush administration's domestic and foreign policies and even angrier that the nation's religious conservatives have touted these policies as representative...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470184639
• ISBN13: 9780470184639
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Reclaiming progressive "Christian values"

Dr. Meyers provides a clarion call for the many millions of Americans who are weary of the judgmental, narrow, rigid, and essentially anti-Christian religious leaders and movements who seem to have assumed control of American policy and culture. This well-written, scrupulously documented manifesto provides positive steps for taking action and reclaiming the values Christ taught. Highly recommended.

A Courageous Minister Preaching Truth to Power

A brilliant and thought provoking "manifesto" for Christians written by a United Church of Christ minister. This book challenges the reader to reassess the actions of our government leaders and the Christian Right and to hold them to a higher ethical and moral standard...a standard established by the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Prince of Peace. A "must read" for thinking people of faith and a "should read" for all others.

Great Insights from an Authoritative Source!

"Why the Christian Right is Wrong" is based on thoughts contained in an 11/04 presentation to an anti-war group. The essence of that presentation (and the book) is that most of those (eg. Christian fundamentalists) claiming moral values are on their side support a morally bankrupt administration and President that: 1)started a war on false pretenses and then acts as if they're doing God's will, while critics are either unpatriotic or lacking in faith, 2)arrogantly breaks the international rules for waging a just war that our nation helped establish, 3)claims Jesus is the Lord of his life, yet fails to acknowledge that his policies ignore Jesus' essential teachings, 4)found a way to avoid combat in Vietnam and then questions the patriotism of thos who did, 5)talk constantly about Jesus, healer of the sick, but do nothing to ensure that anyone who is sick can see a doctor, and 6)dismantles countless environmental laws designed to protect the earth, God's gift to us. Meyers goes on to expound on these points, with chapters titled "Christians Don't Start Wars - They Try to Stop Them," "Rich Chicken Hawks for Jesus," and "'Pro-life' Should Include Mother Nature." The most startling chapter, however, has has more of a political than religious focus. Titled "Christian Fascism and the War on Reason" it includes 14 characteristics of fascism: 1)Powerful nationalism (we have knee-jerk patriotism), 2)disdain for recognition of human rights (eg. torture, long imprisonments), 3)identifying enemies and scapegoats as a unifying cause (eg. liberals, terrorists), 4)supremacy of the military (see our budget), 5)rampant sexism, 6)control of the mass media, 7)obsession with national security, 8)religion and government intertwined (use religion to manipulate public opinion), 10)suppression of labor power, 11)disdain for intellectuals and the arts, 12)obsession with crime and punishment, 13)rampant cronyism and corruption, and 14)fraudulent elections (eg. smear campaigns, manipulation of boundaries). A lot to think about!

A Call for Reflection, Understanding and Action

Dr. Meyer's book makes bullet points out of the incendiary speech that he gave to a group of people on the campus of Oklahoma University during the last presidential campaign. That speech found it's way onto the internet and provided a compassionate, logical and prophetic voice for what many of us feel concerning the current direction of the politcal powers that be. This book is a must read for those, like me, who sense that Christianity has been co-opted and sold out in the name of greater personal power and wealth. At a time in my life, when I am first experiencing a move towards spirituality from a previously agnostic (and admittledly, apathetic) posture, Dr. Meyers and his voice provide the logic and reason that I can wrap my mind around. This book is full of insights into a different way of thinking; a way of thinking, that to my mind, may be the best way to approach today's world and its problems. In closing, I want to repeat one of my favorite passages from the book where Dr. Meyers is speaking of government entitlement programs and the notion that they run counterproductive to the prevailing ethic of pulling oneselves up by their own bootstaps. He describes the most powerful governmental advocates of this ethic as "being born on third base and thinking they have hit a triple". Priceless!

What Finally Needed to be Said!!

Dr. Meyers' new book is a citizen's outrage with a minister's passion, a mentor's intervention against power and hypocrisy. The book is scathing but not lecturing; it's more like a parent reminding a child that there are two sides to everything and it's not safe or smart to take up action without realizing the whole picture. Dr. Meyers has a gift for eloquence, directness, and wordcraft that all allow him to communicate a message both beautifully and bluntly. As a liberal and a Christian, it speaks words to my feelings about the hypocrisy of our government, and the books presents a compelling and full spectrum of information that should tug at the conscience of the true Christians in this country - conservative, liberal, or other. It serves as a reminder that "Republican" and "Christian" aren't necessarily the same thing, and that proclaimed "Christian" policies certainly don't reflect the message of a prophet who gave to the poor and pardoned the sinful. In fact, as Dr. Meyers points out, Jesus saved his white-hot anger for the sins of religious hypocrisy.