I have always been confused about how the Republican Party became so closely related with Christianity. A lot of the party platform seems to actually go against what I would expect a Christian to believe or behave.

- As a party they generally favor the death penalty.
-Their ideology leans towards giving as little money as possible to those in society that need help; very un-Christ-like.
-They are all about the Pope, until Bush asked him for his blessing before invading Iraq. The Pope said no, and they decide to just downplay and ignore that.
-They usually seem to treat the environment in way to advance their immediate financial gain without concern for how those actions will affect others downstream of them. Not very do-unto-others-ish.

The Democrats seem to be more inline with Christian ideology on most issues. Anyway, a group of Christians has become fed up with the Religious Right using their religion to hide behind while dividing the country.

The new group is called The Christian Alliance For Progress.

It is going to be interesting to see if they gain any kind of critical mass. (Hey, that is a pretty good play on words!)

From their web site:

The success of the Religious Right in appropriating the language of Christianity has led many people to become generally wary of religion in the public sphere and of Christianity in particular. The Religious Right has used the language of Christianity to promote an extreme and divisive political agenda that has helped polarize our nation. But foundational Christian values like compassion, justice and peace are largely absent from our political discussion. And there are millions of Christian Americans who share progressive views, or, at a minimum, are increasingly turned off by the extreme rhetoric and political agenda of the Religious Right.

The Christian Alliance for Progress is a national movement that started in Jacksonville, Florida among ordinary Americans who want to reclaim Christianity and change this current political picture. Members in the movement want to restore core values of Christianity while honoring diverse views about religion and Christian life. Many Americans, especially people of faith, are ready to hear from Christians who are tolerant, and who understand the many ways that our faiths impact our views of public life. The Christian Alliance advances a renewed, progressive vision of Gospel values and seeks to help Americans express this moral vision in our lives and in our politics.