thanks for sharing this, becky. i’ve had my fair share of issues with the ideologies and rhetoric of the religious right over the past few years. although i wouldn’t say the notion of the “christian right” is a media fabrication — it’s a very concrete, albeit loose confederation of powerful groups that wield and have wielded real political and religious clout in america. for example, i’m sure you’re familiar with focus on the family and its lobbying arm, the family research council, a washington d.c.-based “think-tank” run by tony perkins. together, they not only have the capacity to mobilize thousands upon thousands of right-leaning christians, but they have the ears of important members in congress and in the bush administration.

this video was hard to watch. i do think that rev. manning’s views are a bit far out and fringe — so far out that i’d be hard pressed to call this representative of the christian right (especially since the wider movement is hardly inclusive of the black church). also, i was perusing his church’s website and found this: http://atlah.org/about/gettysburg.html. i’ve never heard of any black church doing something like this. truly bizarre.

i think the more extreme public expressions of the christian right are receding in influence. outspoken demagogues like the deceased jerry falwell and pat robertson basically talked their way out of being taken seriously, and their antics over time forced many conservative christian allies to disassociate from them. however, it’s important to be aware how the same old message has been taken up by other groups and simply adapted to suit contemporary ears. the form has changed, but the content hasn’t. the basic ethos of the Moral Majority/Christian Right still lives on through more publicly savvy groups like the Ethics and Public Policy Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and a myriad other conservative christian orgs and periodicals that employ dog-whistle politics to accomplish their goals.

you might interested to read this little book called “Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical’s Lament” by an American religious historian named Randall Balmer. i don’t agree with the guy on everything (the guy has a little too much faith in the Democratic Party and in the philosophical ideals of America), but there’s some valuable tidbits about how the Religious Right came to be (a pretty crazy story, actually) and how it continues to promulgate its disturbing version of Christianity as gospel truth for millions of americans.

I cannot believe what I just heard. “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” Easier said than done.

@Nick, thanks for commenting and for the book recommendation. I always appreciate you sharing your wealth of knowledge as you are obviously more informed than I am.

I think I should have clarified when I said media-created. I know that the religious right is a a very real, very powerful political influence. What I was referring to when I said media-created is the tendency for the media (not just the news media, but blogs, websites, youtube, etc) to lump all self-proclaimed Christians together. For those who are up to speed on all the intricacies of the Christian church and on political issues, this probably isn’t too much of a problem but to the average American that just sees CNN blurbs about Jeremiah Wright’s rantings and YouTube videos like this one — it’s just another reason to shake their heads sadly at another crazy pastor. And yes, of course it’s an extreme opinion, and it should be completely excluded as irrelevant, but I think negative feelings towards Christians subconsciously start to add up. To the point where anyone who claims to be Christian is immediately suspected of being racist, a bigot, a homophobic, a jerk, or just plain crazy.

@Craig, you are a good man. I’m still angry.

becky, i totally understand your anger at the way that only extreme soundbites make their way into the headlines. the media really doesn’t know how to cover religion with nuance and sophistication, and it’s a real problem. and i share in your pain whenever christ’s name is invoked in hateful, damaging causes. it’s especially unfortunate when some of that stuff goes on right under our noses. in hindsight, i realize how some of the negative elements you listed — homophobia, racism, bigotry, etc. — were latent and yet present in some of the christian circles in which i grew up. not long ago i visited my family’s church after spending a summer working with a community development organization on the west side of chicago, and was told by my old pastor that i was working with “folks who had caused all their own problems.” i wish i could say that his tragic perspective was his problem alone, but the hard truth is that it reflects upon the entire body of christ, including myself — and our deep rooted failure to nurture faithful engagement and critical thinking about issues of race and poverty in our congregations.