Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the Faithful Majority from the Religious Right

by Bob Edgar

Book Overview

With issues like abortion, gay marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, and "intelligent design" dominating election campaigns, it often seems that the far religious right has defined the social agenda... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743289498
• ISBN13: 9780743289498
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

Dead On Center

This book review was written on the anniversary of the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. April 4, 1968 Rarely, I suppose, does one have the opportunity to sit down with the author of a book and to discuss it at length before writing a review. However, that was my distinct pleasure late last year when, with the Reverend Bob Edgar, I discussed his newly released book Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the Faithful Majority from the Religious Right. As General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ and a former six-term member of Congress, Edgar provides keen insight to many of the issues dividing our society. Edgar is also, perhaps, one of the few people who had the opportunity to listen to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who influenced his life and a decade later, as a member of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, meet James Earl Ray, the man who ended King's life. After signing my copy with the message "Always remember: `We are the leaders we have been waiting for'..." our conversation began. Edgar, quoting President John F. Kennedy, on being liberal writes, "If by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people--their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties... If that is what they mean by a `liberal', then I'm proud to say I'm a liberal.' I own that definition!" Edgar passionately addresses issues such as the environment and global warming, war and peace, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, "Reconciling Abraham's Children: Toward Peace in the Middle-East", as well as global and domestic poverty. On Global warming Edgar writes, "This issue will rise or fall--and the earth with it--based on the action or apathy of the mainstream". In a thought-provoking chapter, whimsically entitled What Part of "Blessed are the Peacemakers" Don't they Understand, Edgar writes "...when the lies about the Iraq invasion were exposed as fiction, the White House claimed to have fought to free the people of Iraq from the horrific suffering they endured. Does a black child in Sudan or Rwanda deserve any less? There is no avoiding the uncomfortable truth that our brothers and sisters in Africa seem to have been abandoned because their skin is black and they do not have any resources we want. If Rwanda or Sudan sat atop an oil field, it is difficult for me to imagine we would not have found a pretense to save them". Similarly, Edgar is brilliant in shining a bright light on the hypocrisy of the religious right just as he does in exposing the double standards that are too often part of US foreign policy. Edgar is dead-on-center in the need to challenge what he calls "Middle Church, Middle Synagogue, Middle Mosque"--the many millions of faithful people who do not always connect their spiritual values with po

Great Book for Groups

We are using this book for a study group and it provides for great discussions of todays current issues. It is a very balanced approach to religion in today's society.

A man of conviction

I have personally known Bob Edgar as a candidate, congressman, speaker, and religious leader. He has come to each facet with dedication and abundant energy--a 'can do' spirit. Today we of the middle church are quite akin to the new testament Church of Laodicea. (Rev. 3:14-22) God's assessment of this church: "You are neither hot nor cold....and I will spit you out of my mouth." Although Bob and I don't always agree, (when two people always agree, one of them is unnecessary) I appreciate him holding up a mirror for us to see ourselves, and hopefully do something about it.

Politics and Piety: Peace, Poverty, and Pollution Prevention

Bob Edgar makes a compelling argument that people of faith in the middle of the road churches, synagogues, and mosques have the power to make important changes to our body politic. By sitting back and not acting, the members of these bodies have not prevented war, poverty, or pollution. Edgar's treatise is a call to action for this important group. He draws well on his experiences as a local pastor, campus chaplain, Member of Congress, Seminary President, and head of the National Council of Churches. Unlike many books by Members of Congress or seminary presidents, it is readable and inspiring, not just a "look at what I did or look at how much I know" book. I am giving my pastor and many of my church friends copies as Christmas gifts. Edgar is prompting us all to do a better job of being "church". If only he had not titled it: Middle Church.

A Powerful Wake-up Call!

Bob Edgar's book addresses Middle Church, Middle Mosque and Middle Synagogue and challenges the faithful majority of us to speak out, vote and truly follow the leaders of our faiths. With our collective lack of understanding and complacency, we've allowed the conservative religious right to steal from us. And then, once stolen, the values have been remolded, reframed and reissued as 'authentic' and the 'true' meaning of the Bible, the Talmud and the Koran. That's all hogwash! Those wonderful books talk about our responsibility for stewardship and preservation of Planet Earth; our responsibility to protect and defend widows and children from the ravages of poverty; and God's requirement that all his children live in peace with one another and treat each other like we want to be treated. The religious right created hot buttons, like homosexuality and abortion, and try to place their origins in the Bible, Talmud and Koran. Sorry. Those books just don't talk about the religious right's claims. Those books DO talk about peace (as in loving one's neighbor), poverty and preservation of our planet. Everyone in Middle America needs to read this book, and understand we must face-off with the religious right. They can't steal from us if we refuse to allow it! Sharon Shaw Elrod