The Red, the Right, and Religion

Yesterday I heard an excerpt from the Mayor of London's speech at the vigil in honor of the victims of last week's bombing, in which he urged the citizens of London not to hate those who had done this awful thing. I was taken aback at first. The London mayor is popularly known as "Red Ken," for his generally leftist policies. Good grief, I thought. The Tories are really going to roast him for that--'weak-kneed liberal' is probably the kindest thing they'll say. I tried hard to imagine Mayor Giuliani saying anything like that after 9/11, and the response of the Hard Right if he had.

So far as I know, the Tories haven't said anything, not yet anyway. And I found myself thinking a bit harder--despite the general presumption on both sides of the Atlantic that leftists are less religious than conservatives, "Red Ken" is telling his constituency pretty much what Jesus would have said. "If a man strike you on the right cheek, turn to him your left....If a man compel you to go one mile with him, go with him a second mile...love those who hate you, do good to those who harm you...."

Which is not necessarily my position on the subject--I'm not a Christian, after all, and if somebody blew up my subway and several of my fellow citizens merely because we are "unbelievers", I'd be damned mad. But it's a bit scary to realize that people who think of themselves as the religious Right would laugh a politician out of public life forever for merely saying what their supposed Master would say under the same circumstances.