Open Letter to Dr. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council

Dear Dr. Perkins,

I recently had cause to visit the Family Research Council's website while researching an issue that is near and dear to my heart; that of health care reform.

As a pastor, and one who earnestly attempts to follow the core teachings of Judeo-Christian tradition; I first studied the scriptures themselves to glean a better understanding of the principles espoused therein.
I am sure that you are familiar with the passages I found, but please bear with me as I list a few of the more telling ones:
Genesis 1:27
Genesis 2:7
Isaiah 1:16-17
Isaiah 65:20
Jeremiah 7:5-7
Jeremiah 29:7
Matthew 4:23
Matthew 25:31-45
Mark 7:32-35
Luke 9:1-2
Acts 10:38
Romans 8:22
Revelation 21:4
Throughout my study, it became ever more clear that:
1. all life is precious before God.
2. That healing and life are integral to the Christian Faith
3. That we will be judged on the basis of the care that we give to one another.

Additionally, I studied the history of the early Christian church, so that I might determine just how they practiced the principles so integral to their faith. There I learned that these early Christians, who had so recently received the teachings of Christ lived out their faith in community with one another, meeting one another’s needs for food, clothing and care.

Armed with a fresh, acute awareness of these principles from both the Jewish and Christian traditions, I sought an agency that I could align myself with; one that shared my ideals and desire to follow those precious teachings.

I was therefore delighted when I found the Family Research Council; with its tag-line “Nonprofit nonpartisan educational organization which reaffirms and promotes the traditional family unit and the Judeo-Christian value system”. Here is an agency that shares my ideals, a group that I can lend my meager talents and passion to; one that I might partner with to fulfill the call of my Lord to care for “the least of these”.

Alas, upon perusing your site, I found very little of substance beyond myopic anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia rhetoric. I found no constructive suggestions for meeting the needs of those that we are called to serve. I now find myself wondering just what your “Judeo-Christian value system” is. It seems to me, that in your purview, a “Judeo-Christian value system” is one that has been so turned inside out that it is an anathema to both the Jewish and Christian traditions that it claims as its heritage.

Therefore, I have a suggestion for you. You might seriously consider relinquishing your fallacious claim on a “Judeo-Christian value system” unless you are truly willing to remove yourself from your comfortable position of leadership and actually work for the betterment of the least of these as in the example of my Lord, Jesus Christ.

Peace,
Roger