95 (More) Theses

Brian Leiter has posted "95 Theses on the Religious Right," authored by Peter Ludlow, a philosopher at the University of Michigan.  Here are a few:

1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said "love thy neighbor", willed that believers should show *compassion* toward others.

2. This word cannot be understood to mean mere lip service ("I love them, but I hate their sin"), but genuine concern for the welfare of others.

3. Yet the Religious Right has forsaken compassion for a doctrine of institutionalized hatred and violence.

4. Specifically, the Religious Right has taken the Word of God and wrapped it in the flag of Right Wing Politics, replacing God's message of redemption for the entire world with a narrow message endorsing right wing American politics.

I imagine that few Christians -- right or left -- would disagree with the content of theses like (1) and (2) (or the the many others on the list like them).  Nor would many on the "right" disagree with the idea that it would be bad if the charges made in theses like (3) and (4) (or the many others on the list them) were true.  The problem, for me anyway, is that thesis (3) --  "the Religious Right has forsaken compassion for a doctrine of institutionalized hatred and violence" -- is not true, unless, of course, one defines "the Religious Right" as "those who have forsaken compassion for a doctrine of institutionalized hatred and violence."  Certainly, there are many such people.  But whether and to what extent the class of those who have "forsaken compassion for . . . hatred and violence" overlaps with the category of citizens usually identified as "the Religious Right" are questions about which I imagine Ludlow and I would disagree.  In any event, the list is worth checking out.

Rick