Tag: christian coalition

Communication Regulation, the Religious Right, and the Battle over Net Neutrality

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This week the Obama Administration scrapped the Fairness Doctrine and 83 other media regulations.  Kathryn Montalbano examines the ongoing struggle over radio, TV, and now, Internet access and content.

by Kathryn Montalbano

In June Ralph Reed, conservative American political activist and, during the 1990s, executive director of the Christian Coalition, hosted the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington, DC, perhaps more appropriately referred to as the “Christian Coalition on steroids.”  A smattering of Republican luminaries and presidential candidates, including Glenn Beck, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, were there to woo evangelical leadership and Tea Party activists, providing more proof the two are quite past any ideological differences.

The relationship functions, according to Reed, because the former group exhibits “a quintessentially anti-government, corporate-minded ‘Christian’ or ‘biblical’ view of the role of government.”

This alleged anti-government, corporate-minded philosophy hasn’t just helped at the polls. In the fierce debates surrounding Internet regulation and net neutrality—a term coined by former Columbia Law Professor and now member of the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Policy Planning, Tim Wu—Reed’s reasserting his influence. Continue Reading →

Why Don't We Hear More from the Religious Left?

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By Daniel Schultz

It’s a question I get asked a lot, and am sure to be asked more, now that The Book (Changing the Script: An Authentically Faithful and Authentically Progressive Political Theology for the 21st Century), is out.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer. In fact, there isn’t even one answer. Instead, many separate factors come together to create the knee-jerk equation of religion with conservatism that we know and love.

First, let’s face it: Conservative religious beliefs and practices are sexier than liberal ones. The drama of sin, conversion, and (usually noisy) salvation is much easier to grasp than the calm, rational consideration of God as the ground of existence and ethical imperative in community. Conservative religion also films better: You couldn’t make The Night of the Hunter with Robert Mitchum playing a Unitarian pastor, for example. And what better way to shorthand religion in movies or television than with the rituals of the Catholic church? Imagine the baptism scene from  The Godfather set in a Minnesota-nice Lutheran congregation!

So until someone finds a way to craft a compelling narrative out of committee meetings and quilting circles, I’m afraid we’ll always have a conservative bias in the media’s consideration of religion. Continue Reading →

Why Don’t We Hear More from the Religious Left?

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By Daniel Schultz

It’s a question I get asked a lot, and am sure to be asked more, now that The Book (Changing the Script: An Authentically Faithful and Authentically Progressive Political Theology for the 21st Century), is out.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer. In fact, there isn’t even one answer. Instead, many separate factors come together to create the knee-jerk equation of religion with conservatism that we know and love.

First, let’s face it: Conservative religious beliefs and practices are sexier than liberal ones. The drama of sin, conversion, and (usually noisy) salvation is much easier to grasp than the calm, rational consideration of God as the ground of existence and ethical imperative in community. Conservative religion also films better: You couldn’t make The Night of the Hunter with Robert Mitchum playing a Unitarian pastor, for example. And what better way to shorthand religion in movies or television than with the rituals of the Catholic church? Imagine the baptism scene from  The Godfather set in a Minnesota-nice Lutheran congregation!

So until someone finds a way to craft a compelling narrative out of committee meetings and quilting circles, I’m afraid we’ll always have a conservative bias in the media’s consideration of religion. Continue Reading →

Why Don’t We Hear More from the Religious Left?

Posted on by

By Daniel Schultz

It’s a question I get asked a lot, and am sure to be asked more, now that The Book (Changing the Script: An Authentically Faithful and Authentically Progressive Political Theology for the 21st Century), is out.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer. In fact, there isn’t even one answer. Instead, many separate factors come together to create the knee-jerk equation of religion with conservatism that we know and love.

First, let’s face it: Conservative religious beliefs and practices are sexier than liberal ones. The drama of sin, conversion, and (usually noisy) salvation is much easier to grasp than the calm, rational consideration of God as the ground of existence and ethical imperative in community. Conservative religion also films better: You couldn’t make The Night of the Hunter with Robert Mitchum playing a Unitarian pastor, for example. And what better way to shorthand religion in movies or television than with the rituals of the Catholic church? Imagine the baptism scene from  The Godfather set in a Minnesota-nice Lutheran congregation!

So until someone finds a way to craft a compelling narrative out of committee meetings and quilting circles, I’m afraid we’ll always have a conservative bias in the media’s consideration of religion. Continue Reading →