Lift Ev'ry Voice: Progressive Clergy Shout to Be Heard

Laura Riscol writes about how the religious right misframes the issues.

Since 2004, when righteous culture warriors took credit for President Bush's second term and for sweeping a Republican Congress back into power, talking heads have painted moral rot as a liberal problem and the "family values" GOP as God's cleanup crew. Embracing religion - understood to be inherently conservative - was to be America's saving grace.

But by framing sexual health and justice debates as battles between purity and perversion, or virtue and vice, traditional media misses the progressive religious voices that speak out for ethics, morality and faith with respect for the dignity and decisions of all families, all individuals. "Mainstream press treats conservatives as the only authoritative religious voice," says Rev. Deborah Haffner, director of Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing. "If they bring someone in from the religious right, they feel they've got religion covered."

Lift Ev'ry Voice: Progressive Clergy Shout to Be Heard | Reproductive Health | RHRealityCheck.org