Communists and Christians, Oh my

The New York Times has a brief rundown of the liberal march on Washington over the weekend. Among those who endorsed the march were:

Among the organizations endorsing the march were the Communist Party USA, the United Church of Christ, Jewish Funds for Justice, the National Urban League, the National Baptist Convention, People for the American Way and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

The United Church of Christ and the Communist Party USA? Now, imagine if during some Tea Party or Glen Beck rally there had been Fundamentalist Baptists and the American Nazi party. You think that would rate a mere side reference in the middle paragraph of a news story? Or would that be headline news, with hours of discussion, debate, and argument about the evils behind the Right?

Why so tolerant of an ideology that, to date, has killed more than were killed in WWI and WWII combined? Why would Christian Churches throw their lot in with such a movement, and do so uncritically? Because in the end, the Left has been far less willing to reject its extremes than the Right. Have a racist sign at a rally or a Nazi group show up, and those on the Right will fall over themselves to condemn it and distance themselves from it. But not so on the Left. Even today, the approach to communist states like the USSR and China is 'well sure, there was some bad, but let's not be hasty in our condemnation.'

Part of this is because Communism did not slaughter millions for racial reasons. And racism is America's singular sin. If we did anything wrong, we imagine it had to do with race. If it doesn't have to do with race, we imagine it wasn't that bad after all. Second, quite frankly many on the Left haven't given up on some of the ideals of Communism, and so are loathe to sweep it all into the trashcan of history.

That hyper liberal denominations like the UCC would stand along side such a murderous ideology shows the willingness of the Left - including the Christian left - to tolerate anything that isn't born of the Traditional Christian West. It also demonstrates the main reason why you hear so little of the Religious Left in modern political discourse. Ultimately, liberal Christianity is a follower, letting the secular Left lead where it will go, and following like the obedient lapdog that it has become. But that's for another post.