Moral Blind Spots

A very nice piece by Harold Myerson at WaPo on Rev. R. Albert Mohler, the Southern Baptists' answer to Josef Mengele, and Gen. Peter Pace, who has trouble recognizing the difference between his religious beliefs and appropriate government policy. Via Pam's House Blend:

Mohler's deity, in short, is the God of Double Standards: a God who enforces the norms and fears of a world before science, a God profoundly ignorant of or resistant to the arc of American history, which is the struggle to expand the scope of the word "men" in our founding declaration that "all men are created equal." This is a God who in earlier times was invoked to defend segregation and, before that, slavery.

Myerson is brilliantly scathing, and right on the mark. Read the whole thing.

Contrast Pace's and Mohler's comments with this from the Episcopal Church, via Andrew Sullivan:

We proclaim the Gospel of what God has done and is doing in Christ, of the dignity of every human being, and of justice, compassion, and peace. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no male or female, no slave or free. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including women, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including gay and lesbian persons, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church. We proclaim the Gospel that stands against any violence, including violence done to women and children as well as those who are persecuted because of their differences, often in the name of God. The Dar es Salaam Communiqué is distressingly silent on this subject. And, contrary to the way the Anglican Communion Network and the American Anglican Council have represented us, we proclaim a Gospel that welcomes diversity of thought and encourages free and open theological debate as a way of seeking God's truth.

All of which allows us to segue very nicely into the next post, part of my ongoing discussion with GayPatriotWest.