Blinded by Might - Softcover

Thomas, Cal; Dobson, Ed

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310238366 ISBN 13: 9780310238362

Publisher: Zondervan, 2000

Synopsis

Authors Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson once believed the best way to fight the 'liberal agenda' was to beat them at their own game. Mobilize voters. Organize boycotts. Get invited to the White House. And raise a ton of money to keep the war chest full. Not anymore. Blinded by Might takes you inside the early and heady days of the Moral Majority, tracing its well-intentioned but fatally flawed battle plan aimed at reversing America's slide into a moral wasteland. It shows how groups like the Christian Coalition, which stepped in when the Moral Majority ran out of steam, have not changed, cannot change, and will not change the trajectory of America's culture. Written by two conservative Christians who worked closely with Jerry Falwell in the 1980s, Blinded by Might explains what you can do for your country that twenty years of heavily financed political activism has failed to do. When Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election by a landslide, conservative Christians discovered what could happen when they flexed their electoral muscles. Suddenly, faith and politics seemed a promising match and before the eyes of the astonished media, a new movement called the Moral Majority and its leader, Jerry Falwell, rocketed from obscurity to national prominence. The Religious right was born. Today with luminaries including Pat Robertson, James Dobson, James Kennedy, and Ralph Reed, the right remains a powerful political force. Yet, despite nearly twenty years of vigorous and sophisticated activism, it has failed in its mission to end abortion, eliminate pornography, restore the shattered American family, and usher in a better world built on 'traditional values.' Why? Few know the answers better than Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson. Former insiders with the Moral Majority, they share never-reported information on a movement they helped shape in order to show why it could not and did not succeed. And they tell what it will really take to stem the ungodliness that is sweeping our nation. 'Whenever the church cozies up to political power, it loses sight of its all important mission to change the world from the inside out,' writes Thomas. In blurring the lines between politics and Christianity, the Religious Right has traded the only power that can truly change America - the Gospel's power to transform hearts - for the methods of a kingdom that is of this world. What, then, is the alternative? Given such critical issues as abortion, gay activism, are Christians to simply disengage from the political process? Hardly. uninvolvement is not the answer, say the authors, but a shift in perspective. As Christians, they insist we must realize that God's agenda does not rise or fall with political causes; and that we must rediscover our most potent influence is not the ballot booth, but lives that extend God's grace in the home, in the workplace, and in all spheres of our culture. Blinded by Might calls us to realign ourselves with a kingdom infinitely more powerful and certain than politics, that advances initially through changed hearts that inevitably must change and impart government.

About this title

Review:

Two "insiders" from the religious right explore why the Moral Majority has failed to accomplish its goals despite two decades of aggressive political maneuvering. Although the authors reveal secrets and lies, such as the fact that most of the Moral Majority's so-called "state chapters" are "little more than a separate telephone line in a pastor's office," this is not a tawdry kiss and tell book. In fact, Dobson and Thomas strongly support most of the Christian values behind the organization's political machinery. But they have come to believe that politics is too corrupt and distorted an arena for Christians to use to enact social change.

Ed Dobson, who helped draft the Moral Majority platform and served as personal assistant to Jerry Falwell, offers a particularly compelling chapter in which he compares the U.S. to Northern Ireland, where Dobson grew up as a Protestant. "We have politicized the gospel with our agendas," he writes. "To be part of the Christian right is to be part of the Republican party. For some, this means to be a real Christian, you must be a Republican. That is heresy and is only a short distance from the extremism of my Irish counterparts."

Ultimately, devout Christians and the people they are trying to influence are the most hurt by the corruption of church through politics, according to coauthor Cal Thomas, a former spokesperson for the Moral Majority. For example, by making the Pro-Life movement a political issue, he claims the Christian right has lost sight of more supportive antiabortion tactics, such as focusing on offering homes and finding jobs for destitute single mothers. Ultimately, the duo calls for a change in strategy--hoping to create followers of the Christian agenda through positive example, consistent living, and devout faith rather than brute political force. --Gail Hudson

From the Publisher:

It was 1980. They had just helped to elect their president, Ronald Reagan. They had millions of dollars, the attention of the national media, and a supposed army of mobilized followers. This was their moment to reverse decades of creeping secularism, intrusive socialism, threatening communism, and raging humanism. They called themselves the Moral Majority. But they failed. They failed in their first stated objectives to end abortion, eliminate pornography, restore the shattered American family, and usher in a better world in which traditional values were not only accepted but embraced. What happened? Why is America no better--and probably worse--after nearly twenty years of vigorous, sophisticated, and relentless political action by the church? Blinded by Might is the story of two men who were at the center of the Moral Majority. Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson, behind-the-scenes lieutenants to the architects of the religious right, argue that the reason the Moral Majority or any other religious-political movement cannot succeed is because they have been using the wrong tools in the wrong way for the wrong reasons. The authors retrace their own steps, showing why the efforts of people like Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed, and James Dobson were doomed from the start. They disclose never-reported inside information on a movement that they helped create in order to show why it failed. And they use their mistakes and the mistakes of others to point people of faith in a more positive direction. The authors call for unilateral disarmament by the religious right and a re-armament using different weapons and different strategies. This stirring book offers a new vision for America from the architects of the Moral Majority. And it shows how conservative Christianity offers hope for lasting transformation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

About this edition

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0310238366
• ISBN 13: 9780310238362
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 285