Not that being liberal is the point. But if being "liberal" puts us in the category of listening to other points of view to a fault, then count us in. If it means we don't believe Christians have a corner on truth, and certainly not on goodness, then count us in. If it means we believe God is bigger than anything we can believe about God because human beings cannot fully, and certainly not infallibly, comprehend the ways and will of God, then count us in. If it means believing that the Christian Right has given Christianity a bad name, then count us in. If it means believing an open mind and a humble spirit represent the mind and heart of Christianity more than the narrow-minded judgmentalism of the Christian Right, then count us in.

Linn makes it clear that a lot of Christians have had enough of the Christian Right's Biblical abuse, of their Christianizing America, of their venomous attacks, of their baptizing partisan politics, of their blind nationalism, of their hypocrisy, of their historical revisionism, of their persecution complex, and of their focusing on the wrong issues. A chapter is devoted to each of those topics.

Those interested in hearing Jan Linn speak on these issues personally might be interested in listening to my September 19, 2004 "Religious Talk" radio interview with him.  Here's a link to a podcast (mp3 file) of that interview.