By Jef Dean
Buffalo, NY – As a liberal, I tend to travel in liberal circles. Sooner or later, in the midst of liberal discussions of the environment or social issues, my liberal friends begin to notice something different about me. Is it something I've said? Something I've done? No matter how the message gets out, the revelation is clear: I'm a left-wing, tree-hugging tax-and-spend Christian.
Sure, the right-wing fundamentalists get all the press, with their loudmouthed politicians and pushy school boards. They draw the fire and we, the liberals, get sprayed with ire and epithets. It's frustrating and disheartening, but we're generally too kind to let it show.
Of course, you're thinking: "Liberal Christian? Can't be! That's like saying there are antiwar conservatives!" Well, there are antiwar conservatives. But they can write their own commentaries. And yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a liberal Christian, and I'm here to tell you, it ain't easy.
Among liberal non-Christian friends, I'm considered a wacko, soft-headed and impressionable for being a Christian (what with the hateful blather of Pat Robertson and the Vatican's exclusive policies and scandal, I can almost see their point). Among conservative Christian friends, I'm considered a "lower case" Christian for my bleeding-heart ways. I particularly dread the winter holidays, when the Christian-bashing is in full fervor, and the liberal-bashing is as sharp as the needles on a blue spruce. These are actual quotes spoken directly to me in the last month: "Christians should be shot," "I hate Christians," "I hate Christians jamming their holidays down my throat." These sentiments meet up with the conservative anti-ACLU rhetoric to form a politic perfect storm over my holiday festivities. This attitude is being countered on the other side by the fight over Christmas trees v. Holiday trees, and "Merry Christmas" v. "Happy Holidays." (Just to get off topic a bit, the same people arguing about the holiday greetings at the corner store are also the ones who bristle at "Have a nice day;" how interesting would be the backlash if merchants just stopped talking to customers completely, handing over the bag in grim silence?)
I try very hard not to discuss my religion, as I believe religion is very personal and should be the one indulgence not freely shared, but I inevitably must speak up when the hostility gets particularly vile, such as in the quotes just listed. My defense is my denominational association. I'm a lifetime member of the most liberal Christian church in America, the United Church of Christ.
Fortunately for me, the UCC has been getting a lot of press lately. The church board recently passed a resolution in support of same-sex marriage, the first Christian church to do so. The Rev. Dan Smith, associate pastor of a Massachusetts UCC, was behind the "What Would Jesus Drive" campaign. In the past two months, UCC ordained minister Barry Lynn has been making news as Executive Director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which, along with the ACLU, has been representing the parents in their successful fight against Intelligent Design in Dover, PA.
Despite this impressively progressive resume, the UCC, and members like me, get lumped into the anti-Christian melee forced by politicians and zealots who are not secure enough in their own beliefs, but must try to make everyone see the world their way. Meanwhile we in the UCC operate in the shadows, feeding the poor, caring for the sick, campaigning for the environment and social welfare, shielding ourselves with the misdirected ordnance of hate with the only shield we have, our compassion and devotion to peace.
As for the hateful zingers thrown in my face, I just smile and turn the other cheek. As the old song goes, "They will know we are Christians by our love."
Listener-Commentator Jef Dean is a free- lance writer and printer in the Buffalo area.