Reply #6: I studied religion at the graduate level [View All]

[madison2000]

and what Lakoff says is simply not true. His field of specialty is a long way off from religion and theology (its linguistics), so he should be careful not to make these broad sweeping statements about something he evidently knows very little about. Has he never heard of Reinhold Niebuhr?

The voices in progressive religion seem quiet because they haven't taken up the tools of televangelism and corporatizing churches- they haven't been out trying to convert the masses- conversion and evangelism don't fit very well with the liberal ideology. Having been in both kinds of churches myself, I think it is much more accurate to say that fundamentalists are much more concerned with precision in how you say what you believe- "Do you believe in the authority of the Bible?" and "Do you know where you will go if you die tonight?" than liberals. But the connections they make between faith and politics are intellectually very fragile and dont hold up well under rational scrutiny.

The liberal churches are very active right now in addressing issues of peace and justice and they have always had a firm intellectual foundation for it. The media doesn't cover it. I think its fair to say that liberal churches aren't reaching the masses, but that's a very different thing than saying "if you ask them to explain it for themselves they can't say anything coherent". The incoherence is on the right. Lakoff must not know how to find a liberal/ progressive Christian.

Its much like saying John Kerry had no positions on anything because his positions were too nuanced to cover in sound bites.

http://www.religionlink.org/