left or right...

I posted this at my own blog and was encouraged to post over here as well.

What can anyone tell me about the organizations that are coming up like Faithful Democrats and CrossLeft? I know some things about them from my personal relationships. A friend went to college with one of the founders of Faithful Democrats. I went to college with one of the founders of CrossLeft. And, yes, I have spoken to these people about the mission etc. But what what I am curious about is how they fit within the church...or if they rightly express the church.

I am likely not making much sense. Hmm...

Okay, this is what I am struggling with: reason. Ever since the Pope's famed speech, I have been wondering about reason's place in our society and how our varying understandings of it rear their heads in our political life as people attempting to be faithful.

Jesus said: ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.� But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. - Matthew 5 following the Beatitudes
And then there is this quotation: If we are directed only by our particular natures, and
regulate our inclinations by no higher rule than that of our
reasons, we are but moralists; divinity will still call us
heathens. Therefore this great work of charity must have other
motives, ends, and impulsions. I give no alms to satisfy the
hunger of my brother, but to fulfill and accomplish the will
and command of my God; I draw not my purse for his sake that
demands it, but his that enjoined it; I relieve no man upon
the rhetoric of his miseries, nor to content mine own
commiserating disposition, for this is still but moral
charity, and an act that oweth more to passion than reason.
... Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), Religio Medici [1643]In both cases, what is reasonable (utilitarian?) is stretched to an almost foolish position. "Perfection" seems to turn torture chambers into romper rooms. Charity is not then an act that makes sense, but embodies Christian perfection. Such perfection is both journey and goal. The telos is revealed in the journey. It is not that acts of charity sans divine inspiration are bad. Hardly. Ubi caritas et amor... But the early church, if I remember correctly, would include initiates in charitable work but not in the "greater mysteries" of the church such as communion until after baptism. The charity was to reveal the mystery...and then when the mystery was embraced, charity is then fruit of the Spirit...an expression of growing perfection.

I know I am wandering a bit here, but I am wondering all this stuff in the context of the rise of more "liberal" Christian movements. I do not think that these movements should be pitted against the so-called conservative religious right as much as they should pit themselves against reason - a reason that is held over and above faith and spirit and not in concert with it.

In short, should our target be the Religious Right or should it be the hyper-rationalist culture in which we live that gravitates to secularism or purity cults?