Cal Thomas on Modern Church

Thomas asserts that the church ought to be “a leader and liberator” of culture. I wholeheartedly agree. However, when Thomas picks on the Presbyterians and Episcopalians as examples of churches which have lost their “moral power” and are “prisoners” of our culture, I fear that he is so blinded by the log in his own eye that he cannot see the specks in the eyes of his enemies: Thomas’ own brand of right-wing Christianity is equally, if not more, a prisoner of American culture.

I would remind Thomas that Edmund Browning, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, courageously and prophetically opposed going to war against Iraq. When this Christian position was not to the liking of President Bush (himself an Episcopalian) and the powers that be, Bush trotted out Billy Graham and other evangelicals and fundamentalists to “baptize” his immoral actions.

Thomas best reveals his moral and theological bankruptcy with the outrageous statement that the “ultimate anti-poverty program is a changed life.” Thomas is the quintessential spokesman for what I term “Capitalist Christianity,” a heresy of the Christian faith whose practitioners, instead of following Christ, worship the values the laissez-faire capitalism and the military-industrial state.

What is most terrible is that, because of their blindness, they do not see their own idolatry; because of their dedication to their idols, they will calumniate and vilify anyone who dares to stand for real love or true peace.

TIM VIVIAN

Bakersfield