Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The Shining Light of Christianity (#6)
The Christian Coalition of America (CCA) is not happy. Someone proposed that they actually do the work of Christ (you know, their namesake) and they showed him the door.
That someone is Rev. Joel C. Hunter. He's the senior pastor at Northland Church in Longwood, Florida, which is one of those megachurches that CCA types love so much. He's also (or was until Monday) the president-elect of the CCA. Rev. Hunter was set to take the CCA helm in January, but then the group's board got wind of his "different way of doing things."
As reported by CNN, the New York Times and other media outlets, Hunter resigned his leadership position-in-waiting after a disagreement on the CCA's future efforts. According to the Times report, Hunter stepped down after "saying the group resisted his efforts to broaden its agenda to include reducing poverty and fighting global warming."
"I wanted to expand the issues from only moral ones -- such as opposing abortion and redefining marriage -- to include compassion issues such as poverty, justice, and creation care," Hunter said. "We need to care as much for the vulnerable outside the womb as inside the womb."
So, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and exercising careful dominion over God's creation are not biblical enough tasks for the CCA. I'm not surprised. This is, after all, the same group that gave us Ralph Reed.
That someone is Rev. Joel C. Hunter. He's the senior pastor at Northland Church in Longwood, Florida, which is one of those megachurches that CCA types love so much. He's also (or was until Monday) the president-elect of the CCA. Rev. Hunter was set to take the CCA helm in January, but then the group's board got wind of his "different way of doing things."
As reported by CNN, the New York Times and other media outlets, Hunter resigned his leadership position-in-waiting after a disagreement on the CCA's future efforts. According to the Times report, Hunter stepped down after "saying the group resisted his efforts to broaden its agenda to include reducing poverty and fighting global warming."
"I wanted to expand the issues from only moral ones -- such as opposing abortion and redefining marriage -- to include compassion issues such as poverty, justice, and creation care," Hunter said. "We need to care as much for the vulnerable outside the womb as inside the womb."
So, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and exercising careful dominion over God's creation are not biblical enough tasks for the CCA. I'm not surprised. This is, after all, the same group that gave us Ralph Reed.
