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Religious Leaders to Define Moral Values

Not all religious leaders are evangelical pro-lifers. Tuesday morning, there will be a meeting of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice to define moral values over the next four years. It will be at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The message:

This campaign season showed that the faith community is broad, diverse, vibrant, engaged, and often pro-choice. Never have so many religious and religiously affiliated groups been involved in voter education and registration.

These people of faith will not be defined or confined by narrow ideologies and fear-mongering politicians. As mainstream religious leaders, we urge people of faith to make clear that moral values include compassion, justice, and equality.

As one journalist observed the other day, perhaps it's just a matter of revising the morals debate and coming up with morally correct language--similar to politically correct language. Here's some of his suggested substitutions:

  • "Lifting up the Poor" for tax policy
  • "Taking care of seniors" for social security, and
  • "Preserving a shared space" for environmental concerns.

Why should morality and values be associated with the right or with pro-lifers or evangelicals? Let's take American values back to their roots-- justice, liberty, peace and caring for those less fortunate among us.

Just like we have urged the use of the term "radical right" instead of "Christian right," we will use our new morally correct terms from here on out.

The analysts say voters want morals and values. Let the Democrats reclaim their rightful position as the party of record on values and morals. It's those radicals on the right, acting like the Pied Piper, who have lost their moral compass. Prejudice, bigotry and the politics of exclusion are not the American way.

Update: Former Senator Gary Hart weighs in with some of the same sentiments in Monday's New York Times. He focuses more on religion than I do above.

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