The issues are the same.  The malicious and slanderous distortions of truth are the same.  The only thing that changes is the name of the pastor, or church or denomination which is being attacked.

Here's a link to an article I wrote to counteract a "matrix" document that circulated in my church while I pastored in Texas.

Here's a link to an article I wrote when the pastor at the First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City was being attacked by a group disseminating "matrix" documents.

One thing that moderate, Mainstream Baptists discovered the hard way is that you cannot ignore the distortions raised by "matrix" documents.  Either you rise up and define your own convictions clearly for yourself or they will define your convictions for you in the public mind.  Don't expect the public to see through the propaganda of the religious right.

by Mainstream Baptist on Tue May 16, 2006 at 04:58:50 PM EST

And in that way, there's an analogy to be made with the film starring Keanu Reeves, also called "The Matrix."

As I have written elsewhere on Talk to Action, Reeves plays Mr. Anderson, who

spends his days at a soul-sucking corporate job in order to spend his nights seeking all sorts of information that is forbidden to him. He struggles with the choice of whether to escape from or remain imprisoned in the Matrix -- a simulation program that perpetuates ignorance through illusion in order to bypass people's critical thinking and drain their vital energy. His alternative is to gain the knowledge necessary to wake up, and then take action to liberate himself and others. Mr. Anderson's role as one who fights ignorance and illusion, and who invites others to awaken to a life of liberty is seen in his family name, which literally means "son of man." You may recognize that as an alias that Jesus often used to describe himself, such as when he tried to wake up his sleeping disciples on the Mount of Olives. (Gospel According to Mark, 14:41)

So it is ironic that religious right leaders also invoke the "Son of Man" as they labor to put his followers back to sleep by perpetuating illusions based on intellectual dishonesty. Their Matrix is the myth of the "Christian Nation," a totally comprehensive but illusory simulation program. Perpetuation of the illusion relies on isolating people culturally and feeding them a steady diet of junk science, fake history, and baloney of biblical proportions.

Talk to Action is a place to wake up to reality, deprogram yourself from illusion, and fortify yourself with ideas that lead to critical action that liberates yourself and others.


by jhutson on Sat May 20, 2006 at 08:00:44 AM EST

http://www.americananglican.org/atf/cf/{0124EFED-8D9A-4067-9C7C-969A768F1648}/ETS_2ndEdition_Final.pdf

Blessings,
Donna Bott
Moderator
Episcopal Voices of Central Florida

by bottsky on Sun May 21, 2006 at 06:43:56 AM EST

Thank you for your enlightened discussion on the IRD and Fundies attempts to takover Mainstreamchurches in your area, especially UCC.  

Here in LA over the past decade the problem is, of all things, Praise Music.  Designed upon the way the Fundementalists grew their churches, Liberal pastors are told that the best way to "grow their church" is to do "modern" music and split the congregation into two services. The choir service becomes deadly dull and osified beacause the pastor puts all his/her energy into the praise service and the choir's morale begins to deteriorate and some start to leave. Meanwhile the Praise service looks and sounds like a fundamentalist service and brings in very conservatice members.  After about five years either the church is back to it's original state with a diminshed choir.  Or the choir is gone, only a Praise Service remains and the conservatives have taken over the church council and the liberals are pushed out. I was in a church were this attempt to grow the church was tried and the effects were devestating.  The Praise Music failed to grow the church but the choir is down from 30 to 5 members and the congregation is half what it started. There were other reasons this happend as well but the Praise Music was the catalyst.

Unfortunatley there are many churches in our area, most of them presbyterian, who turned to the dark sideb because of these naive attempts to turn gold into lead and many wonderful liberal folk got pushed out and no longer have a liberal church to attend.  The biggest irony of it all is that studies I read in the LA Times when all thie was happening states that Gen X wants the more conservative chior style of service that thier grandparents enjoyed.

I can't see that this was a conspiracy of the IRD in the making but I was wondering what your comments were on this. Has this ahppened in your area too?

On a possitive note, Churches in LA  have grown by becoming Open and Afirming, and/or choosing to be a congregation with a prophetic witness. The strongest of these discuss the teachings of  the Jesus Seminar from the pulpit. As someone who considers themselves a New Reformationist Christian I think this is good news.

Thanks

by CMHinLA on Mon May 22, 2006 at 02:32:32 PM EST