The Religious Left?

This summer I was cleaning out old files in a file cabinet at the school in which I work. Teachers throughout the years had conveniently left us "contributions" so that future teachers and students could learn from the wisdom of the past. My school is full of this stuff which more often than not does not make sense in the random context in which it is found, and once again more often than not is thrown away when we need space. 

I was making space.

Along with photo copied packets that had been written originally on a type writer, and scrawled notes in cursive in 3 or 4 different people's penmanship the particular drawer I was cleaning out held a series of old audio and video tapes (that we no longer know how to play). I was lucky to find a couple of audio tapes that I could play in my car. One was a history of the blues from gospel and chain gang songs to modern styles.  The other was a collection of labor songs from the 1800s that  Bucky Halker had recorded.

This collection blew my mind for two reasons.

A) It was just great folk labor/protest music.

B) The references to God and heaven and socialist utopias.

Even as a history teacher this era is mysterious. I must admit I have studied more about world history than our own in the United States, but I was amazed to hear these songs of Jesus' intentions for a socialist utopia from the workers of the late 1800s. To me it was clear these people felt there was no distinction between being a progressive socialist and being a christian. 

I wondered how we strayed so far, for today it seems like all of my politically progressive minded friends shun religion with a passion. Even those religiously inclined will more likely say they are "spiritual" rather than religious, and more often than not will not claim to be Christian because of the stigma that surrounds the word in left leaning crowds. 

But there was a time when religious (even christian) did not mean exclusive of a desire for freedom, economic and social equality and justice for all. 

This is what we mean by "living into the narrative of love and justice," it has been around a long time, and will continue to exist... we are the inheritors of a great and wonderful tradition of working towards justice, and we are needed.

-Mike

The following excerpt was written by Rabbi Michael Learner
The whole text can be found here:

Imagine if John Kerry had been able to counter George Bush by insisting that a serious religious person would never turn his back on the suffering of the poor, that the Bible's injunction to love one's neighbor required us to provide health care for all, and that the New Testament's command to "turn the other cheek" should give us a predisposition against responding to violence with violence. 

Imagine a Democratic Party that could talk about the strength that comes from love and generosity and applied that to foreign policy and homeland security.

Imagine a Democratic Party that could talk of a New Bottom Line, so that American institutions get judged efficient, rational and productive not only to the extent that they maximize money and power, but also to the extent that they maximize people's capacities to be loving and caring, ethically and ecologically sensitive, and capable of responding to the universe with awe and wonder. 

Imagine a Democratic Party that could call for schools to teach gratitude, generosity, caring for others, and celebration of the wonders that daily surround us! Such a Democratic Party, continuing to embrace its agenda for economic fairness and multi-cultural inclusiveness, would have won in 2004 and can win in the future.

What are your thoughts?