Family? Values?

This week, several Republican groups will hold a “Values Voter Summit” in Washington, D.C., where they promise to discuss ways to “fight for the family” and “defend Christian Values”.

Like most Christians, and most people in general, I love my family. And I embrace many values, among them honesty, fairness, compassion, justice, and peace. I also value transparency and accountability in governance, and ethical behavior in our public policy here and abroad. Without question, these values are rooted in my Christian faith, and strengthened by my loving family. But I am not invited to Washington this week.

I am not welcome at the gathering because people like me do not hold the politically convenient set of values, or sufficiently limit our definition of “family.” For decades, fundamentalists have used these universally positive terms as weapons to further a political agenda—specifically, to inject a narrow interpretation of religious scripture into our laws. Those who hold different values—even if they are driven by the very message of Jesus Himself—are marginalized at best, and demonized at worst. We find ourselves derided as “anti-family,” and “anti-values”—phrases that make no sense, if one really thinks about them.

My values may not be theirs, but they are values, nonetheless. They are the same values I learned in Sunday School, and from my family. They are the values of the Jesus I know.

Jesus did not have much to say about abortion or homosexuality—the issues of choice for the Summit crowd. But he was very clear on how we should treat the poor, the underserved, the meek, the hungry, the sick, the naked, the imprisoned. Of those most vulnerable souls among us, he said “Most certainly, I tell you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

So what will be the talk at the gathering? How to eradicate poverty? The fight to guarantee healthcare for everyone? The best way to end the suffering of this war? Not likely. No, we will hear sound bites attacking gay people, and women who value their right to choose.

I will not be in Washington this week. Like most people, and even a great many Christians, I am excluded. Exclusion, you see, is real mission of the “summit.” After the criminal negligence of Hurricane Katrina, the widespread poverty that continues around us, the grossly immoral drive for war, and the profiteering that followed, perhaps we should ask ourselves: Does Christ have a better mission for us? What are the real Christian family values?