Could it be that progressives are opposed to war , military spending and support social justice? Whereas the religious right gets incredible amounts of publicity in the major media and oppose vehemently public spending for job creation, social security, medicare and health care for the masses.
On the other hand, liberal organizations such as the American Friends Committee, Catholic Worker Movement and the Unitarian Universalists who promote all of the above get no mention in the main stream press.
There are two reasons: money and availability. The religious right has been able to buy up air wave frequencies, i.e. television, radio networks, cable and satellite channels. Millions of people are watching and listening to the ideology of the right wing fanatics, for example, the end of the world foolishness. Ultraconservative spokesmen have been interviewed on TV and radio many more times than progressive leaders. Since the media is owned by billion dollar corporations, it is easy to understand why the networks tend to favor the ultra-religious right.
The right wing televangelists promote globalization in support of the wealthy industrial corporations. Pat Robertson, Ted Haggard and the late Jerry Falwell encourage the wealthy capitalists to exploit the poor masses of the Third World. The role of the missionaries is to precede the investment corporatists. Their purpose is not to encourage social reform but rather to teach piety and faith. Right wing religionists do very little to improve the lot of the masses. Why? Because it is pointless. Judgment day is coming soon and the righteous will float up to heaven and the rest will burn in hell. It is the “rapture” of the second coming of Jesus that will save only the “righteous”, so spend all your money. Clothes, pets and Sinners are forbidden, they will be left behind.
There are actually “Left Behind” computer games sold by Wal-Mart. In the game the”good guys” are taught to slaughter non-believers. The righteous are the missionaries. “Bad Guys” have “Arab sounding names”. Let us build a world of social injustice by teaching hate and bigotry to our kids.
Let us now consider this peculiar breed, the television preacher, the televangelist. He preaches moralistic nonsense bathed in piety, but when it comes to his private life the hypocrisy is shocking. We all remember Jimmy Swaggart who preached to millions of television viewers about the perils of
“loose morality” and a belief in family values. But privately Jimmy was caught consorting with prostitutes. Jim Bakker, another televangelist, was accused and convicted of fraud and illegal sex. Ted Haggard, pastor of the New Life Church and a vehement homophobic was throughout his career having sex with male prostitutes.
And then there is sensational tale of a prominent conservative college headed by George C. Roche III. A man who believed intensely in family values and was just as vehemently anti-liberal. As it happened, Roche was a proved philanderer, liar and a fraud. A shocking revelation was the fact that for 20 years he was having sex with his son's wife. She later committed suicide after he divorced his dying wife and married another woman . He was a skirt chaser among students and employees. By the way, William F. Buckley, Jr. was a trustee of the college and had nothing but praise for the school.
Finally, religious pedophiles, rapists and homophobes still exist in the Catholic church and other denominations.
As George Carlin once said,
“When you are born you get a ticket to the freak show.
When you are born in America , you get a front row seat.”
References:
George Carlin
M. Parenti
Wikipedia
