The Religious Left

Last December, do you remember when 115 mainline religious leaders and church members were arrested in Washington, D.C., during a last-ditch effort to draw attention to then-proposed cuts to the Federal Budget that would affect millions of low-income Americans?

Of course you don't remember. The major news networks didn't cover it.

In February, during the World Council of Churches' 9th international assembly in Brazil, do you recall when several mainline U.S. church leaders apologized to Christians around the world for not doing more to prevent the start of the U.S. war in Iraq?

Of course you don't remember. The major news networks didn't cover it.

And, last month, do you remember when a delegation of mainline religious leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand an end to government attempts to curtail church-oriented travel to Cuba?

Of course you don't remember. The major news networks didn't cover it.

Or what about last week, when the mainline churches' Church World Service, a broadly ecumenical humanitarian relief organization, called on the U.S. Senate to adopt a `compassionate' immigration reform policy?

Of course, you don't remember. The major news networks didn't cover it, either.

Yet ... two days ago, when the Religious Right leader Jerry Falwell chided a Minnesota city for allegedly evicting the Easter Bunny, Associated Press covered it.

And, also in March, when the Religious Right leader Pat Robertson called Muslims "satanic," Newsweek covered it.

And, in New Orleans, despite the millions raised by mainline denominations and the hundreds, if not thousands, of organized work camps deployed to support rebuilding efforts, it was the Religious Right leader Franklin Graham who appeared on CNN's Larry King Live (twice!) to talk about his ministry there, along with the Religious Right organization Campus Crusades for Christ, profiled on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 last week.

It's time to "amplify the mainline," and reclaim the mainstream voices in this nation's newsworthy religious conversations.

Brought to us by the wonderful fellow Bob Chase writing over at the Accessible Airwaves blog. Go check him out.