Someone wrote a comment on one of my postings that I should not allow the Christian Right to form my impressions of all Christians because there is a difference between them. Okay. I agree wholeheartedly. One of my favorite people was Martin Luther King, Jr. and he was a Christian on the left and what really gets my goat (is that a saying or did I just make that up?) is that the Christian left is SILENT. I believe I can hear crickets chirping in the space where the voice of the Christian left should be. Where are the Martin Luther King Jr.s out there? Why are they not taking to the streets, boycotting oil, holding press conferences, organizing and protesting?

I personally feel that there are a lot of Christians out there that don't have anyone they can identify with. They look to the television and all they have are George W. Bush and Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. Without having another person they can look to for confirmation on their own identity they are getting stuck with this representative of Christianity that doesn't necessarily stand for who they are but is their only alternative to turn towards. If there was a Martin Luther King, Jr. or some other spiritually Christian person that was anti-violence and pro-community, then perhaps the polls wouldn't appear the way they do. Perhaps the large percentage of the country that is hanging on to a Bush Administration because of an overblown fear in a Muslim takeover might turn towards sharing and compassion instead of fear and hatred.

A friend of a friend of mine is actually working on a commercial to air on Arab television that shows different preachers denouncing the actions of our government towards the Iraqi people. This a great idea because it is an alternative to the image that W. Is putting out there of "bring it on" and "mission accomplished." I think that image needs to be broadcast here in the states as well. But despite our democracy spewing propaganda, we do not have a free media and I doubt it would be allowed on the air. Besides, the cost for air time is too high. Still, the damage that the silence of the Christian Left is doing continues to grow. Remember we are all accountable. It is easy to say to me and the world that we shouldn't judge one group of Christians as representative of the whole religion, but what have you done to represent your religion? What have we all done as Americans lately besides a little armchair activism and listening to liberal radio? We should be talking candidly about the issues and think hard and long about what we believe in. We need to understand what is good for our communities and our world. We need to start talking again. We need to be heard.

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