Obama, McLaren, & the Christian Left

McLaren Tips His Hand

Yesterday Phil Johnson and the funny guys over at Pyromaniacs had a link to CNN.com's article, "Obama works to mobilize 'Christian Left.'" He has the support of groups like Matthew 25, which is a political action committee. The name is "inspired by a biblical passage, in the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus says, 'For I was hungry and you gave me food, i was thirsty and you gave me drink.'" Just for the record, it's Matthew 25:35, but we really cannot expect anyone at CNN to know that.

Anyway, our friend, ole non-leader, apolitical Bri is now the "informal" adviser to the Obama campaign. Why are we surprised. I'd be willing to bet that even on Jim Wallis, Rob Bell, Don Miller, Doug Pagitt, Spencer Burke, and Anne LaMott are Obama fans as well. It would be safe to wager that all of this non-leader, fully balanced, non-political crew voted for Kerry in the last election and Gore in the election before that; and Clinton before that.

McLaren is targeting what he considers to be a "very, very sizable percentage" (somewhere according to his calculations, between 33-50%, taking "amahoro," the U.S. Suicidal System, the secret message of Jesus [that no one knows except old Bri], and the quasi-socialistic societal machine. Understand? You will once you reframe Jesus. For right now you just need to trust Bri who knows, but doesn't, but wants you to understand and follow what he writes.) "especially younger evangelicals, who are very open to somebody with a new vision." That's very helpful. Anyone who has read McLaren's ridiculous, laughable book "Everything Must Change," will know--sort of, in a modernists kind of way--what I mean.

What might this "new vision" look like. Well, old Bri is not going to get caught up in those silly, traditional social issues that conservatives want to see resolved like abortion and gay marriage. No, by his own admission, he wants to focus on global warming and the war in Iraq. Once again, what a surprise. But this is the so-called "Christian Left." The blood of innocents murdered at the hands of those who took an oath--what does that mean anymore?--to protect and defend life is not as important as global warming, which, by the way, is about on as solid footing scientifically as evolution and the war in Iraq.

McLaren's complaint is summed up this way: "We've watched the evangelical community be led--be misled--by the Republican Party to support things they really shouldn't have supported; the blind support for the Iraq war when it was launched on either mistaken or false pretenses." It never ceases to amaze how old uncertain Bri can get pretty specific and certain at times. It's almost as though he knows.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I really wonder how Christian the Christian Left is. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a Kool-Aid drinker for the Republican Party. In fact, I prefer simply to be called a conservative. I've been quite critical of President Bush and many of his policies, but I could never bring myself to vote for a political party that had as one of its infallible shrines the murder of babies, and that, my friends, is the current Democratic Party. I cannot fathom how anyone who has a basic understanding of the fundamental truths of the Bible could support abortion, gay marriage, women in ecclesiastical office, women in combat, and heavier taxation. For those who haven't taken the time to work out how much Obama has promised in terms of a tax burden, let me explain that what he's proposing would not lead us into a recession, but rather it would take us into a full-orbed depression. How can ole Bri come out and endorse a man whose voting record is even more to the left than Senators Kennedy, Kerry, Boxer, and Feinstein? Barack Obama makes Nancy Pelosi look like Barry Goldwater, who, by the way, was a real conservative.