George Orwell once described political language as words designed "to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." Orwell's comment comes immediately to mind when considering the formation of the new "Clergy Leadership Network," a new group of liberal religious leaders who intend to become "the Christian Coalition of the left." This group is likely to produce considerable wind in its arguments, if not in its sails.
The Clergy Leadership Network announced its formation on November 21, promising to bring "sweeping changes--changes in our nation's political leadership and changes in failing public policies." According to The New York Times, the CLN "will operate from an expressly religious, expressly partisan point of view." And that point of view is decidedly liberal.
The new group's chief executive officer is the Reverend Albert M. Pennybacker of Lexington, Kentucky. According to Pennybaker: "The Christian Right has been very articulate, but they have been exclusive and very judgmental of anyone who doesn't agree with them. People may want to label us the Christian Left. But what we really are about is mainstream issues and truth, and if that makes us left then that shines even more light on the need for a shift in our society."
With that kind of drivel coming from the top, this group is not likely to pose much of a threat. A general rule to follow in politics is this: When a group starts complaining that the opposition is "very judgmental," just wait for a torrent of judgmentalism to follow. The group's new web site features diatribes against the policies of the Bush Administration and warns of ominous consequences if liberal citizens do not rally to their call, organize politically, and retake the national initiative.
The Clergy Leadership Network intends to "identify clergy across the nation who are willing to be active in our goal of leadership change." According to The New York Times, the CLN "will be the first national liberal religious group...whose primary focus is electoral politics and partisan political organizing."
Their aims are clearly political. An introductory statement on the group's web site declares: "We will lead our religious communities to embrace political participation as a spiritual expression. With full respect for constitutional restraints, we will guide our religious communities toward fair and positive involvement in election awareness and activity." A review of the group's political agenda reveals a laundry list of liberal policies and goals couched in ambiguous language. [See CLN web site]
For leadership, the group has turned to a virtual who's who of liberal religious leaders--many deeply rooted in the protest movements of the sixties. Albert Pennybacker is a former associate general secretary of the National Counsel of Churches and former president of the left-wing Interfaith Alliance. He is well known as one of the leading bureaucrats of liberal Protestantism. Joining Pennybacker in the leadership of the group is a twenty-four member national committee that includes some of the best known liberal leaders of the last thirty years.
Perhaps the most notorious name on the list is William Sloan Coffin, a retired minister and one time pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City, as well as chaplain at Yale University. In a recent book of essays, The Heart is Little to the Left, Coffin argued for a platform of liberal causes and denied that the Bible should set our moral agenda. He criticizes those who affirm biblical inerrancy and infallibility as fundamentalists who "sacrifice intellect, emotion, and the honesty of both to the safety of their literal creed." These conservative believers "don't appreciate the importance of religious myths, which are spiritual truths, not historical facts." According to Coffin, the Bible is filled with stories "that are not literally, only eternally true." The cute turn of a phrase cannot hide the fact that Coffin is redefining truth as something less than true.
