A friend sent me an article from the Hellenic Voice<\/a> titled, \u201cReligious Right must not set agenda for Orthodox Church<\/a>.\u201d Well, reasonable enough. But the article got so many other things wrong that I was tempted to simply quit reading half way through. The author, Harry Katopodis, seemed not to understand the difference between religious doctrine and political activism (which was one of the main faults of the Religious Right). Amazingly, his article was aimed at those Orthodox brothers and sisters who have been received into the Church from other traditions. You know, converts. Their conversion, the author suggested, has been a Trojan horse that has allowed the Religious Right to stealthily creep into the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.<\/p>\n The Katopodis article begins with the assertion that \u201cthe Orthodox Churches in America are heading down two different paths over political involvement.\u201d The article is much too long and repetitive to reprint so I\u2019ll touch on just a few points here. You can read the whole thing, if you like, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The main problem with the article is that Katopodis identifies converts to Orthodoxy, and by association the Antiochian Orthodox Church (AOC) and Orthodox Church in America (OCA), with Protestant fundamentalism and the Religious Right. Katopodis compounds the error by ascribing to converts a belief in Dominionism<\/a>, a fringe Protestant movement that advocates something like a modern day theocracy. Here\u2019s how he understands it:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n About 20 years ago several hundred converts from evangelical Christianity joined the Orthodox Church through the Antiochian Archdiocese. Evangelicals are still converting to Orthodoxy. Most converts end up in the Antiochian Archdiocese and OCA. They often bring their political beliefs with them and now claim to be the voice of true Orthodoxy in America when it comes to politics. The Christian Right focuses on one main issue, outlawing abortion; other issues are not as important to them.<\/p>\n The religious right in America started with the evangelical Protestants and a doctrine called dominion theology that says the Bible calls for Christians to take over governments because God gave man dominion over the earth in the Old Testament. They feel that the separation of church and state in American is a lie perpetuated by liberals and that America was meant to be a Christian nation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But, of course, Katopodis doesn’t provide evidence of any hierarch or responsible Orthodox person in the AOC or OCA preaching dominionism. There’s a reason for that. It simply isn\u2019t Orthodox. A dominionist is the sort of person who would look upon Orthodox Christians as not even Christian. What\u2019s more, many converts from Protestantism come from denominations that would be suppressed by dominionists, once they \u201ctook over\u201d the country. But by wielding the \u201cdominionist\u201d slur, Katopodis tries to assert that Orthodox converts are all captive to the Religious Right<\/a> and fundamentalism<\/a>, also projects with Protestant roots. He cites Metropolitan Kallistos Ware for support of his views:<\/p>\n Metropolitan Kallistos Ware weighed in on this issue, saying: “I have to say that I find the aggressive and authoritarian tone of ‘Orthodox dominionists’ to be unattractive, and I believe that it will prove in the long term to be counter-productive. I am fully in favor of Orthodox Christians, as individuals and on a personal basis, becoming wholeheartedly involved in the political and social questions of the day. At the same time, I doubt whether it is helpful for Orthodox Church leaders to make public pronouncements that have a strong political tone.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No one is asking Metropolitan Ware or any other Orthodox hierarch to make partisan political endorsements or weigh on technical policy questions. That’s not what they’re trained to do. But they do have an obligation to articulate a moral vision and a social witness for the Church. And so do the laity. The Church belongs to us all, conservative and liberal alike.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most damning evidence of Orthodox converts’ enslavement to the Religious Right, according to Katopodis, is their activism in the pro-life movement. He cites the OCA for giving a “sympathetic ear” to the movement and notes that it has “designated a Sanctity of Life Sunday to coincide with the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion.” Katopodis seems to think that the destruction of 45 million unborn Americans since 1973<\/a> is an issue that Christians should consider politically out of bounds. He says that \u201cmany Christians of all denominations, including Orthodox, feel that Christians cannot legislate their doctrine and impose Christian teachings on those who do not believe in those teachings.\u201d But this is not a case of forcing Orthodox doctrine down the throats of all Americans. It is a demand for clear Christian witness on one of the great moral calamities of our time. And if Christians are not to speak out on abortion in public life, what about other moral issues such as poverty, or war, or religious freedom? Do we shut up about these matters, too?<\/p>\n For years now, the Religious Left (yes, they’re out there too) has been working overtime to confuse the distinction between clear moral teaching on issues that are not in dispute by Orthodox Christians — such as abortion — and those issues that are debatable in the policy and political world. Of course, Orthodox Christians consider abortion to be a grave sin. Questions about, say, the financial bailout of Wall Street, or global warming, or whether or not a specific welfare program should be funded, are of a wholly different nature. They do not involve what are, for the most part, settled moral questions about some of the most important beliefs we hold, including the sanctity of life.<\/p>\n Rather than casting aspersions on the OCA for its courageous witness on the abortion issue, Katopodis should ask why the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese (GOA) institutionally has been so silent. This silence is a scandal. Apparently, it\u2019s OK for the GOA or the Ecumenical Patriarch to weigh in on political issues when it involves Turkish oppression of the Patriarchate, the accession of Turkey into the European Union, Cyprus, global warming, and the momentous question of whether or not Macedonia should be allowed to call itself Macedonia<\/a>. Are these not \u201cpolitical\u201d issues? Of course, they are.<\/p>\n Then Katopodis makes a strange claim:<\/p>\n It seems that the Orthodox “dominionists” have also hijacked the Orthodox unity movement in part to serve their political agenda. Since the rise of the religious right Orthodox there can be no doubt that a big reason many of them are pushing for one Orthodox Church in America is to give religious right Orthodox a stronger voice in Washington.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Exactly what is this \u201cOrthodox unity\u201d movement? I missed something here. Was the GOA in charge of the \u201cmovement\u201d when the OCA hijacked it? Has our grip on unity become so tenuous that we\u2019d rather abandon unity for fear that the \u201cdominionists\u201d would ride it into complete power over Orthodox Christians in the United States? I wasn\u2019t aware that the threat was so grave.<\/p>\n Against these imagined dominionists in the bosom of the Orthodox Church, Katopodis sets the GOA, which is \u201cwise\u201d by comparison to other jurisdictions.<\/p>\n The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has not followed the religious right Christians into politics and remains committed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and to preserving the Greek faith, language and culture. In hindsight this has proved to be a wise decision.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n