Stanley Moody of Manchester sees himself as a lone voice in the wilderness, calling for revival of Christians’ hearts and minds, trying to convince them that salvation is found in Jesus only and not through government or the so-called conservative movement.

With these motivations, last month Moody founded the Christian Policy Institute of Maine. Through it, he hopes to influence Christian and secular culture with his brand of repentance-based religion and Jesus-focused faith.

Currently active in trying to defeat Question 1 to ensure that gays and lesbians are not discriminated against, Moody says he’s not a liberal believing all paths lead to God. He believes homosexuality is a sin, is against God’s plan, but he puts his faith in God, not in the political process, to convict people of their sin and need for God. And he believes that “all people should be treated fairly,” and that Christians should be the first on board trying to rid the state of discrimination.

“The cornerstone of the Christian life is love of God and wanting for our neighbor the best of what we want for ourselves, regardless of our neighbor’s lifestyle,” Moody said. “A whole generation is listening and growing up thinking that to be Christian you must view your neighbor as a soul that needs to be saved rather than a person who deserves to be loved. That is a tragedy for everyone involved, the Church, and especially for America.”

In other words, Moody is afraid that Christians have lost an outwardly giving love focused on fellow “sojourners,” and have instead turned inward seeking self-fulfillment, wealth and self-gratification.

“The larger disease is a form of Christian subversion that trades the ‘us’ values of the Kingdom of God for the ‘me’ values of the American Dream,” Moody says.

A self-described “Mainer to the core,” Moody, 66, is a state representative from Manchester, near Augusta. Once a Republican, he became a Democrat last year in hopes that the Democrats would take up some of his causes including health care and human rights.

“I consider myself a Teddy Roosevelt Republican. ‘Walk softly but carry a big stick.’ But I soon discovered that I was the only one,” Moody said. “I’m moderate on social issues and tight on fiscal issues. But those old Republican values have disappeared, replaced with bigger and bigger government.”

In the religious realm, Moody is a Baptist pastor possessing a Masters in Theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Doctorate in Theology from Trinity Theological Seminary. To round out the offering, Moody has educational backgrounds in electrical engineering and law. Mostly, he’s a passionate activist for what he believes is needed in Maine and the country today – religious awakening and the Christian church’s need for getting back to basics and living as it preaches.

An alternative

Moody says his Christian Policy Institute of Maine is also an alternative to the Christian Civic League of Maine. He says its purpose is to present a different view of how Christians should relate to the world around them, one that is less fearful and more hopeful.

He proposes that before Christians tell others how to live, they should “take the log out of their own eye” and practice what they preach.

“A common theme in the politics of the Christian right is the claim that they are the sole representatives of family and moral values and therefore have a special right to stand in judgment,” Moody said. “But the reality is that conservative evangelicals are no more capable of adhering to moral absolutes than non-Christians and have no greater right to judge their neighbors.”

To prove his point that Christians have lost their moral authority, Moody sites statistics by Christian pollster George Barna regarding the beliefs and practices of modern Christians. Barna Research Group in 1999 surveyed evangelical Christians and found that they were more likely to divorce than non-Christians (26 percent vs. 22 percent). Politically conservative Bible Belt states had an even higher divorce rate. And according to Barna statistics, politically liberal Massachusetts had the lowest divorce rate in the country.

Concerning sexuality, Barna found that more than 45 percent of evangelical Christians believe premarital sex is okay. Twenty percent view adultery as acceptable. And, as far as the 2.4 million young people who signed an abstinence pledge in 1993, Barna found only 12 percent had kept their promise by 2004.

Concerning domestic abuse, Moody cites a Gallup Poll that found women in Christian marriages were more likely to suffer physical or emotional abuse as their secular counterparts.

And regarding Jesus being the only way to salvation, a Newsweek poll found that 68 percent of evangelicals feel one can achieve Heaven by a number of methods other than through Christ.

Moody says another goal of the Institute is to speak for a portion of the Christian population who feels the Christian Civic League is off-course and too focused on politics.

“There are a lot of Christians out there who are not comfortable being represented by lobbying groups such as the Civic League. I think there’s room for an informed, thoughtful and theological approach to the social issues that confront us in Maine,” he said.

While he perceives members and leaders of the Civic League as fellow Christian brothers and sisters, Moody believes some statements and positions held by the League are incongruous to Biblical teaching.

“I believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. I’m very strong on the sovereignty of God. My favorite Christian thinkers are Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon,” Moody said. “And, I do believe that Jesus is here. He’s not coming back. He’s here and there is no fear. I think the minute you decide that Jesus is far off – is away in heaven with the Father – there’s a picture of being left stranded. And no wonder people feel hopeless and scared and grasping to take control where they can, especially through governmental means. I feel that there needs to be a voice of hope, and I don’t see that anywhere.”

Moody’s decision to voice an alternate Christian view was reinforced with recent public statements published by the Civic League concerning Hurricane Katrina. Director Michael Heath said the devastating hurricane was God’s tool to judge New Orleans’ sexual depravity.

“Was Katrina an outpouring of the wrath of God in response to the gay pride parade scheduled for New Orleans? The prophet Isaiah asks, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?’ (Is 40:13),” Moody said. “To presume to speak for God is risky business. Some might consider (Heath’s comments) borderline heresy. We can only wonder why God would pour out his wrath on the poor and defenseless, yet leave the French Quarter sufficiently dry for the celebration of Mardi Gras in February.”

Moody plans to write press releases and give press conferences when issues arise in Maine concerning homosexuality, abortion, poverty and health care. He is currently setting up a network of writers who will put together columns and position papers reflecting the Institute’s beliefs. And even though gay rights is the current hot topic, Moody sees Christians needing to speak out on more than just sexuality and gender issues.

“You know, we struggle with how we’re going to put on our church fairs and bizarres,” Moody said. “But after all that is done, what is our mission; what is our witness to the outside world? What are we saying by our actions? Have we let the government do all our thinking for us? Churches need to act. Churches need to do more for their communities. We can’t sit back and let the government do everything.”

Pastoring about 20 to 30 people each Sunday morning at the North Manchester Meeting House Church, a church Moody helped resurrect from disrepair in 1994, Moody sees health care as one particular wrong that needs to be righted.

“There’s 20 to 25 percent of Mainers that don’t have health insurance. That is a shame,” Moody said. “State employees have $18,000 insurance packages. Some Mainers don’t even earn $18,000 a year. Somehow we have to make people understand that those problems are our problems. Christians are not present in this debate and as a result people are leaving the church because it doesn’t speak to them. Our lack of action makes it seem that we don’t care.”

Government not the answer

But Moody doesn’t see government as the answer to society’s problems. In the gay rights debate, he says government should get out of the marriage business. While he believes homosexuals need to be offered basic protections, he said he would fight gay marriage, because marriage is a Biblical theme.

For health care and poverty, he says the church needs to do more to take care of the needy. He sees Christians, especially conservative Christians, leading a charge to institute an “Old Testament form of theocracy” in America, where laws are based on Biblical edicts.

“The conservatives traditionally charge liberals with wanting bigger government, but government has exploded under Bush and the conservatives,” Moody said. “Actually, the Christian right and the left are not very different from each other. They both believe that government can make the country better. I don’t; I see that as the church’s role.”

Moody sees this playing out in Maine especially. He says the Civic League focuses too much on government and is not preaching the importance of personal and corporate repentance and revival. He says this is partly because of theology but mostly because the Christian right is “captive” to large donors who run the agenda.

“I’ve been exploring where the Civic League gets their funding and a large portion comes from two wealthy supporters who have done well in business,” Moody said. “You have the Civic League, therefore, captive of someone with no theological background employing a loose theology and carefully selected Bible verses to further their cause.”

Moody instead would like to see the Civic League and Christians in general focus on Jesus’ teachings when it comes to government and human rights.

“Jesus talked at length about who our neighbor is. Who is my neighbor? My neighbor is someone I am commanded to love even if I consider them my enemy. It’s irrelevant what color your neighbor is, or their sexual orientation. We’re to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, as the Bible says. True love disregards what the person does or believes. I feel that is what we as modern Christians have failed to live out,” Moody said.