Faith, ideology not the same

It was with great joy that I read Leonard Pitts’ “Christians lack follow-through” (May 6). As a pastor, I can vouch for the truth of Leonard’s piece. There are Christians and then there are ideologically driven Christians (of both extremes). Some in my larger faith community value violence and intimidation in the preaching of the Gospel. Indeed, some are buying the guns and ammo for Armageddon.

And there are Christians who do not value such fear. “Perfect Love casts out all fear.” Unless, of course, one is talking about ideology. Then all the Jesus bets are off in favor of a paranoid mix of faith and patriotism.

One could argue that a vast swath of the American Christian experience has utterly failed to live the Gospel of “do no harm” with such vile vision as to justify various levels of hate.

One could say that religion has become the opiate of a narrowly defined Christian faith. To prove the point: Some Christians think that torture is valid. Wow.

Pew research shows the huge gulf between American Christian values. In faith, majorities don’t rule. Populist hate is not a Christian value. It is hate.

The Rev. Paul G. Rodkey

Reardan, Wash.