Why Does the Religious Left Despise America?

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In the early days of my church reform activism, I highlighted the National Council of Churches’ opposition in 1990 to any celebration of the impending quincentennial (500th anniversary) of Christopher Columbus’ “invasion” of America. The church council claimed that European discovery of America had brought only “slavery, genocide, theft and exploitation.” There was absolutely NOTHING to celebrate!

Did the church council represent my local United Methodist church, I then asked.  The answer was clearly no.

It seemed so odd that the church council, whose member denominations had helped found the United States, could fathom no possible good over several centuries of European civilization in America. But the bias against America, and against Western Civilization, by the Religious Left still runs very deep.

IRD constantly chronicles how the Religious Left only criticizes the United States (and Israel) in its human rights critiques, while remaining largely silent about monstrous regimes in North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Libya and elsewhere.  Just this week, the National Council of Churches called for the U.S. to renounce nuclear weapons while refusing to say the same about Iran, North Korea, and others.  Remarkable!

Historically, the Religious Left loves to focus on American mistreatment of the Indians, about slavery, and about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. (As a child in the 1970’s, I vividly remember a whole Methodist Sunday school lesson devoted to the Japanese internment.) But the Religious Left rarely talks about the Holocaust against the Jews, and almost never about Stalin’s murder of millions in the Soviet Union, or Mao’s genocide in China, or Pol Pot’s mass murder in Cambodia, or the tragedy of the Vietnamese boat people, not to mention, the 1 or 2 million Iraqis whom Saddam Hussein likely killed.  Why such blindness by those who profess such concern about social justice?

Traditional Christianity believes that all people are innately sinful and need redemption. But the Religious Left rejects this and prefers to think of people as naturally good, but corrupted and victimized by modern “systems,” such as capitalism, patriarchy, or even organized Christianity.  In this mythology, Western Civilization, culminating with the United States, has brought untold suffering to the world.  The embodiment of this view was the recent 9-11 conspiracy book from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) publishing house by Ray Griffin, who claimed not only that the U.S. orchestrated the terror attacks, but that the United States has routinely murdered tens of millions of people around the world.

Recently Jim Wallis’s Sojourners featured an op-ed about how the U.S. “stole” New Mexico from Mexico and murdered many innocent Mexicans and Indians. Here is my response. Of course, the United States, like all nations, is sinful and responsible for many misdeeds.  But Divine Providence has also used our nation for good. Only base ingratitude would ignore that.

Wallis’ Sojourners is also angry at conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh for opposing Obamacare and is demanding they “Tell the Truth” by affirming government directed health care.  Meanwhile, the Catholic Medical Association, more thoughtfully, has questioned whether social justice equates with socialized medicine.  Here’s my article.

My assistant Connor Ewing has written about the recent convention of pro-homosexuality United Methodists, now advocating transsexual ministers and sex change operations. Crazy!  They also highlighted a few Africans who were present, hoping to counteract the overwhelming conservative Christianity of African church members.

This week, Connor is covering the United Methodist Board of Church and Society meeting at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.  IRD’s Jeff Walton just returned from the board meeting of the National Council of Churches in New York.  IRD Vice President Alan Wisdom is in Louisville, Kentucky covering Presbyterian activities.  IRD’s religious liberty director Faith McDonnell met with visiting European Parliamentarians to discuss radical Islam.  Next week, I’m attending a summit on defending traditional marriage in New York.

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