Pinko Liberal

Pinko liberals

It’s always been hard for me to understand how Christians can get upset with talking about money in church.  If you read just about anything in scripture and don’t waste your time looking for loop holes, you get a very clear indication that if we’re going to live according to what’s there, we’re going to have to get over any preoccupation with defending our own pile. 

My parents were upstanding Americans in the 1950’s, which meant if you weren’t toeing and healing the line, you were suspect.  Dad was pastor of a tall pulpit in the homeland of Ike.  And mother was the classic pastor’s wife.  She wore gloves on Sunday and taught the women’s bible class.  If you read history you know that at the time there was a monster polluting the brains and spirits of this nation.  It was fear.  And some in the political arena used it for their own purposes.  I was a kid and knew very little of what was going on.  But I wore an I Like Ike button and was roundly patted and appreciated as a ‘good kid.’  Even then I wondered what about that button made me ‘good.’

Years later I was asking my then retired parents about what it was like to live in that time.  Did they have any misgivings about the attitudes and assumptions that demanded so much of people and condemned those that didn’t follow the pack.  They both got quiet, which is something neither one was wont to do when discussing politics or social movements.  I said, “OK, what’s going on?”  My mother broke the ice.  “I voted for Stevenson.”  My father almost fell off his chair.  She went on, “Twice.” 

I didn’t put this in the wow category, but it was clear he was amazed.  “You never said a word about this.” 

“I didn’t want to make trouble for you.”  He smiled at her and took her hand.  “I did too.  Twice.”

After the laughter and the tears they had a new sense of alliance.  They talked about their subversive foray into liberalism and its roots in a very simple source, scripture.  They couldn’t leave the poor outside the voting booth.

They taught me that no political party was godly.  They taught me that if I was going to be Christian I had to let others have their opinion.  But they also taught me that if anybody needed something, it was our job to do something about it. 

I would hate to think that the resurrection would make the church liberal.  I’m pretty sure it would make the church radical.