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ORIGINAL: dcnovice
You seemed unable to distinguish between the religious left and the religious right, a viewpoint that struck me as neither thoughtful nor reality-based. So I offered examples of how their spokespeople were quite different.

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Religious left is a term referring to religious movements with a left-wing direction. For more information, see: Christian left

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The Christian left is a term used to describe a spectrum of left-wing Christian political and social movements which largely embrace social justice and the social gospel...

In the United States, members of the Christian Left come from a spectrum of denominations: Peace churches, elements of the Protestant mainline churches, Catholicism, and some evangelicals.

The Christian Left does not seem to be so well-organized or publicized as its right-wing counterparts. Opponents state that this is because it is less numerous. Supporters contend that it is actually more numerous but composed predominantly of persons less willing to voice political views in as forceful a manner as the Christian Right, possibly because of the aggressiveness of the Christian Right...

The Christian Left sometimes differs from other Christian political groups on issues including homosexuality. This is often not a matter of different religious ideas, but one of focus — viewing the prohibitions against killing, or the criticism of concentrations of wealth, as far more important than social issues emphasized by the religious right, such as opposition to homosexuality. Some on the Christian Left believe homosexual sex to be immoral but largely unimportant when compared with issues relating to social justice, or even matters of sexual morality involving heterosexual sex.

Some consider discrimination and bigotry against homosexuals to be immoral...

A related strain of thought is the Consistent Life Ethic, which sees opposition to capital punishment, militarism, euthanasia, abortion and the global unequal distribution of wealth as being related. It is an idea with certain concepts shared by Abrahamic religions as well as Buddhists, Hindus, and members of other religions. The late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago developed the idea for the consistent life ethic in 1983. Currently, Sojourners is particularly associated with this strand of thought. Adherents commonly criticize politicians who identify as pro-life but nevertheless oppose funding for pre-natal vitamins, child nutrition programs, or universal health care....

People of the Christian Left:

Martin Luther King Jr, civil rights activist
Tim Ryan, U.S. congressman
Walt Brown, ex-Oregon state Senator, Socialist Party USA
William Jennings Bryan, three time presidential nominee
Jimmy Carter, former U.S. President
Robert Casey, former Pennsylvania governor
Bob Casey, Jr., current US Senator from Pennsylvania
Nick Clooney, Roman Catholic activist/Congressional candidate
Eugene V. Debs, Co-founder of the IWW and Socialist Party of America candidate for President
Thomas J. Hagerty, founding member of IWW
Hubert Humphrey, former Vice President of the United States
Jesse Jackson, politician and civil rights leader
Dennis Kucinich, U.S. congressman and past Presidential candidate
John Lewis, U.S. congressman and civil rights leader
George McGovern, Methodist, former Senator for South Dakota and Democratic nominee for the Presidency
Walter Mondale, former Vice President of the United States
Norman Thomas, Socialist Party of America presidential candidate
Al Sharpton, 2004 Democratic presidential candidate and civil rights leader
Robert Drinan, Congressman and Roman Catholic Jesuit priest.
Frank P. Zeidler, ex-Mayor of Milwaukee, Socialist Party USA
Eugene McCarthy, former senator of Minnesota and presidential candidate
Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, 2004 presidential candidate, and former DNC chairman
Al Gore, environmentalist, former Vice President of the United States of America, TN senator from 1985 to 1993, and the Democratic party nomination of 2000.
Ted Kennedy, former senator of Massachusetts
Bobby Kennedy, attorney general from 1961-1964, senator of New York, ran for president in 1968
John F Kennedy, president of the United States from 1961-1963
Eleanor Roosevelt, feminist and First Lady
Jay Bakker, pastor of Revolution Church
Sr. Joan Chittister, Catholic Nun and Feminist Theologian
Father John Dear, Catholic Priest and Peace Activist
Father Roy Bourgeois, Catholic Priest and Peace Activist
Rosey Grier
Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago
Tony Campolo, Baptist evangelist and sociologist
Forrester Church, Unitarian Universalist minister, author
William Sloane Coffin, Jr., United Church Of Christ minister and peace activist
Helen Keller
Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report and Sunday School Teacher
John Cort, writer, editor for Commonweal, Peacework, Religious Socialism
Dorothy Day, Catholic Worker Movement cofounder
James A. Forbes, minister at Riverside Church
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Roman Catholic bishop of Detroit and social activist
Barry W. Lynn, executive director of American United For The Seperation Of Church And State
Pauli Murray, first female Episcopal minister and co-founder of the National Organization of Women
Monsignor Charles Owen Rice, Catholic priest, labor leader, and civil rights activist
Fred Rogers
Frank Schaeffer
Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action.
Katherine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners Magazine
Barry Welsh, Congressional Candidate and Minister (United Methodist Church)
César Chávez, Mexican American labor and social activist
Georges Pire, Nobel Peace Prize winner for work with refugees
Sister Helen Prejean - anti-death penalty activist; author of Dead Man Walking, adapted for the film of the same title
Mitch Snyder, - convert; advocate for the homeless
Rev. George Foreman
Rev Richard Penniman (AKA Little Richard)
Peter Boyle, actor, studied to be a Priest.
Martin Sheen, Roman Catholic activist/actor.
Peter Agre, awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry
Chris Hedges
Anne Lamott, author
Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Church
Walter Rauschenbusch, social gospel thinker
Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver, Son of Sargent Shriver, member of the Kennedy family, holds a Degree in Theology.
Kathleen Kennedy Townshend
Cornel West, theologian, academic, activist
Jim Winkler, leading member of the United Methodist Church
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics
Val Kilmer, has done promotional videos for his denomination.
Brian Welch, former member of Korn now performs Christian metal.
Johnny Cash, singer/songwriter, promoted Christianity in a number of songs and public appearances.
Pete Maravich, Hall of Fame basketball player
Barry McGuire, singer-songwriter
Bill Moyers, American journalist and public commentator

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ORIGINAL: dcnovice

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ORIGINAL: thishereboi

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ORIGINAL: dcnovice

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You didn't put religious right in your list of choices so I didn't bring them up. But since you mentioned them, do you think they are worse than the religious left? Now I know the ones on the right make all the noise and the ones on the left sit back and smile a lot, but are they really that much different? Now there are certainly times I wish they would just shut the fuck up, but I wouldn't call them the scum of the earth. Well, maybe some of them.

It's hard to imagine someone's being unable (or unwilling?) to distinguish between, say, Gene Robinson or Jim Wallis and Pat Robertson or Jim Dobson.

I have heard of Pat Robertson and the name Dobson sounds familiar but I am not sure who the other two are. Was there a point to this?

There was.

You seemed unable to distinguish between the religious left and the religious right, a viewpoint that struck me as neither thoughtful nor reality-based. So I offered examples of how their spokespeople were quite different.

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And you think I should judge the entire religious left or right based on the thoughts of these 4 people?

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On his show Monday, conservative talk show host Mark Levin reacted to the controversy surrounding his daytime colleague Rush Limbaugh and advised conservatives to proceed cautiously when deciding whether to lash out at one of their own.

“Now I want to speak to you conservatives briefly,” he said. “Do not ever throw our leaders under the bus, unless they’ve done something so reprehensible, so unacceptable that they should be. Do not allow the left — do not allow the left to define our terms because if they do, we’re done.”

Source: Daily Caller Emphasis added.

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The point has been raised on various Rush threads that he's merely an "entertainer," just a "shock jock," totally "irrelevant" to real politics. So I was intrigued to see Mark Levin--conservative author and broadcaster, Reagan Administration alumnus--referring to Rush as one of conservatism's "leaders."