Letters to the Editor

THE RIGHT'S STRANGE BUNKMATES

THANKS FOR THE balanced information and insight on the Contract With America and the Christian Coalition ("Who Speaks for God?" March-April 1995). Why is it that persons who call themselves theologically conservative jump into bed with persons who seem to lack compassion for the "widow, the orphan, the downtrodden"-the poor?

Roy Umble,
Goshen, Indiana

LOSE THE LABELS

IN RESPONSE TO Jim Wallis' article "An Alternative to the Religious Right" (March-April 1995), may I submit that there is a better way to get "beyond labels"? That is to have no labels at all. The Church of the Brethren, in a recent attempt to identify itself, employed a company to help it find phrases that its members could use to invite others to join with them. Why not get rid of doctrinal trappings of the creeds and employ this simple statement of faith: Christianity is to "Continue the work of Jesus. Peacefully. Simply. Together."?

Ed Lander
North Manchester, Indiana

QUIETLY NOT RIGHT

THANKS FOR A great March-April issue, with the special section on "Who Speaks for God?" I found myself resonating with so much of what was written there. I work in a small, religious non-profit organization that has generally been aligned with the Religious Right, although we are not directly involved in political issues. And I spend a lot of time biting my tongue.

I am not in sympathy with the Religious Right, I do not support the agenda of the Christian Coalition (I did not vote for the "correct" Republican Christian gubernatorial candidate in my state last November), and I have become quite wary of identifying myself as an evangelical for precisely the reasons mentioned in several of the articles in this section.

Jan Reeser
Coon Rapids, Minnesota