Evangelist speaks out against Christian Right

Pastor Bell appears later this month in Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- To get an idea of where Pastor Rob Bell, founding member of Grandville, Mich.'s Mars Hill Church, is coming from, Green Day's "American Idiot" proved to be quite popular in the Bell household a few years ago.
While he cites current faves Arctic Monkey, The Doves and Snow Patrol, Pastor Bell is more than just a hip shyster using Jesus to get his point across. He overtly uses pop culture references to gain credibility with the youths before giving way to hard-sell tactics of doom and gloom.
Author of the book "Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith" and featured spiritual speaker on the short film "NOOMA" DVD series, Pastor Bell is quickly gaining new followers nationwide with his decidedly anti-Christian Right approach.
"Oh, I have huge issues with the Christian Right," he said from his home in Michigan. "I believe they have been co-opted by power, greed and indifference to the suffering of the world."
So Pastor Bell is taking his message on the road this summer with a number of discussions in secular venues, including a July 23 date at Mr. Small's Theatre in Pittsburgh and a July 27 date at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland. It's a calculated decision to maintain a comfort zone with the nonchurchgoing public.
Wide range of topics
As for his stage time, preaching is the last thing on his mind, with the discussion including bits of biblical poetry, physics and science talk and a world perspective.
"It's all over the place," Pastor Bell said. "I've given up trying to explain what it is. I ask lots of questions. To me, central to being a Christian is the endless exploration and search for truth. So, it's about this big, beautiful, weird world we live in and learning to find God and to find the divine in the every day."
He added, "I'm interested in what's true and what Jesus said to do, and I care little for much else. Today, 6,000 people are dying in Africa from AIDS. This is a continent on fire and you either care or you don't. And you either realign yourself around the greatest tragedy in the world or you remain indifferent. When Jesus speaks of hell, he speaks of hell as a warning to religious people who don't care about the suffering of the world."
So what would Jesus do?
"He would ask a simple question: Who is oppressed?" Pastor Bell said. "And he would hear their cries and invite people to do something about it."