[Mb-civic] Taking back our country

[Linda Hassler]

Here's a primer for strengthening the Democratic platform.

sent by Linda Hassler

The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right
by Michael Lerner
ISBN:
0060842474 (More details...)
Available at:
Airport, Beaverton, Quimby Warehouse
Upcoming Event
Tuesday, March 7th 2006 07:30 PM

Powell's City of Books on Burnside, Portland, OR
In The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious 
Right, a "highly decent and challenging critique" (Kirkus Reviews), 
Rabbi Michael Lerner offers a spiritual manifesto for a new kind of 
social change movement that seeks to reclaim America from the Religious 
Right.

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The unholy alliance of the Political Right and the Religious Right 
threatens to destroy the America we love. It also threatens to generate 
a popular aversion to God and religion by identifying religious values 
with a pro-war, pro-business, pro-rich, anti-science, and 
anti-environmental stance.

  Over the past few decades, the Republicans have achieved political 
dominance by forging a union with the Religious Right. This marriage 
has provided a sanctimonious veneer for policies that have helped the 
rich get richer while ignoring the needs of the middle class and the 
poor, dismantling environmental and civil liberties protections, and 
seeking global domination. The Right champions the materialism and 
ruthless selfishness promoted by unrestrained capitalism and then 
laments the moral crises of family instability and loneliness 
experienced by people who bring these commercial values into their 
homes and personal lives. In response, the Religious Right offers 
insular communities for the faithful and a culture that blames 
liberals, activist judges, homosexuals, independent women, and all 
secular people for the moral and spiritual emptiness so many Americans 
experience.

  Yet, however distorted both the Right's analysis and its solutions to 
America's spiritual crisis may be, it wins allegiance by addressing the 
human hunger for a life with some higher purpose. The Left, by 
contrast, remains largely tone-deaf to the spiritual needs of the 
American people. It is the yearning for meaning in life, not just the 
desire for money or power, that lies at the core of American politics.

  Addressing the central mystery of contemporary politics — why so many 
Americans vote against their own economic interests — The Left Hand of 
God provides an invaluable, timely, and blunt critique of the current 
state of faith in government. Lerner challenges the Left to give up its 
deeply held fear of religion and to distinguish between a 
domination-oriented, Right-Hand-of-God tradition and a more 
compassionate and hope-oriented Left-Hand-of-God worldview. Further, 
Lerner describes the ways that Democrats have misunderstood and 
alienated significant parts of their potential constituency. To succeed 
again, Lerner argues, the Democratic Party must rethink its 
relationship to God, champion a progressive spiritual vision, reject 
the old bottom line that promotes the globalization of selfishness, and 
deal head-on with the very real spiritual crisis that many Americans 
experience every day.

  Lerner presents a vision that incorporates and then goes far beyond 
contemporary liberal and progressive politics. He argues for a new 
bottom line in our economy, schools, and government. This is a 
fundamentally fresh approach, one that takes spiritual needs seriously 
in our economic and political lives. Presenting an eight-point 
progressive spiritual covenant with America, Lerner provides a 
blueprint for how the Democratic Party can effectively challenge the 
Right and position itself to win the White House and Congress. By 
appealing to religious, secular, and spiritual but not necessarily 
religious people, The Left Hand of God blazes a trail that could change 
our world and reclaim America from the Religious Right.

About the Author
Rabbi Michael Lerner is an internationally renowned social theorist, 
theologian, psychotherapist, and the editor of Tikkun magazine. He 
earned a Ph.D in philosophy from the University of California, 
Berkeley, and in clinical psychology from the Wright Institute. Lerner 
is rabbi of Beyt Tikkun synagogue, which meets in San Francisco and 
Berkeley.