The Nut-Job Gap
Bob Jones, radical cleric and President of Bob Jones University, wrote President Bush a congratulatory letter, which I will excerpt here:
Though, frankly, I guess if Bob and George share the same Christ, then maybe he's right. Not that I'd call myself a Christian, but it probably is fair to say I'd despise a Christ that preached for his followers to increase poverty, start wars, despoil the planet, and steal from others, as long as they stopped abortion and gay marriage. Those seem to be the teachings George is following.
Near as I can tell, though, that Christ exists in the minds of the radical Christianist clerics that have seized control of the Republican Party, but not in the Bible.
We're not even going to work on the concept that the President of the United States "owes nothing" to the half of the voters that didn't go his way, or that whole legislation "defined by biblical norm" thing. It's clear there is a serious "nut-job gap" between the reality-based community and the Bush supporters.
The left just doesn't have a well-developed community of followers being lead by flaming nut-jobs, and if we did, they probably would vote for Nader. This is a problem. When Clinton got re-elected, did he get letters from people out beyond Noam Chomsky's neighborhood, saying "Hey, great, now it's time screw those conservatives to the wall, and use all your powers to redirect income from the rich to the poor?" Or "Put your agenda on the front burner, and burn, baby, burn?" Or even something as quaint as "Your re-election shows the power of the historical dialectic, but you have a brief time only to leave a shoeprint on the backs of the running dog capitalists as you lead the glorious proletariat toward the final Marxist State!"
Sadly, the only people who see that kind of stuff going on are the highly-imaginative right-wing media-propaganda-droids. If we REALLY had more left-wing nut-jobs, including ones who had their own TV shows on their own networks, or their own eponymous universities, would anyone call John Kerry a "liberal?" Our wimpy centrist candidates get painted as leftists, because there isn't a big, obvious crowd of people to the left of them.
The program of Richard Nixon is too liberal to even be introduced today. In the tug-of-war between the right and the left, the right is winning. Maybe that's because the left isn't pulling hard enough. Where is our 700 Club? Who do we have with an eponymous university? The party used to rely on unions, but the union movement is failing, and we don't have a new answer. It's past time to start creating one. And part of that means speaking up louder and farther-out. In our drive for openess and inclusivity, we may have been politely keeping our mouths shut too often and for too long. And beside the nut-jobs, and the partisans, we need the moderates, from both parties, to speak up loud, lest the only voices left be ones like Bob Jones.
And while we're at it, when are those other Christians going to start trying to take their God back from these loons? When are we going to get some serious confrontation of their interpretation of the Bible, and their co-opting of the word 'Christian'? And when are we going to start seeing someone in this decade doing what Daniel Berrigan and Reverend King did in the 60s? It scares me that someone who can write a letter like this can call himself a Christian and not be laughed out of the public discourse.
OK. While you all ponder that, I'll try to figure out about this agenda of paganism we've been reprieved from; I must have missed that meeting of the leftist cabal. I guess, since Kerry was a Catholic who goes to church more than Bush, they're pagans too? (Gosh, I guess I really need to spend more time watching PAX.)
In your re-election, God has graciously granted America—though she doesn't deserve it—a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly."They despise you because they despise your Christ?" Right, like the dishonesty, greed, ignorance, destruction of the environment and war-mongering had nothing to do with it. Yeah. Uh-hunh.
Don't equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you.
Had your opponent won, I would have still given thanks, because the Bible says I must (I Thessalonians 5:18). It would have been hard, but because the Lord lifts up whom He will and pulls down whom He will, I would have done it. It is easy to rejoice today, because Christ has allowed you to be His servant in this nation for another presidential term. Undoubtedly, you will have opportunity to appoint many conservative judges and exercise forceful leadership with the Congress in passing legislation that is defined by biblical norm regarding the family, sexuality, sanctity of life, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and limited government. You have four years—a brief time only—to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Almighty God.
Christ said, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my father honour” (John 12:26).
The student body, faculty, and staff at Bob Jones University commit ourselves to pray for you—that you would do right and honor the Savior. Pull out all the stops and make a difference. If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them. Conservative Americans would love to see one president who doesn't care whether he is liked, but cares infinitely that he does right.
Though, frankly, I guess if Bob and George share the same Christ, then maybe he's right. Not that I'd call myself a Christian, but it probably is fair to say I'd despise a Christ that preached for his followers to increase poverty, start wars, despoil the planet, and steal from others, as long as they stopped abortion and gay marriage. Those seem to be the teachings George is following.
Near as I can tell, though, that Christ exists in the minds of the radical Christianist clerics that have seized control of the Republican Party, but not in the Bible.
We're not even going to work on the concept that the President of the United States "owes nothing" to the half of the voters that didn't go his way, or that whole legislation "defined by biblical norm" thing. It's clear there is a serious "nut-job gap" between the reality-based community and the Bush supporters.
The left just doesn't have a well-developed community of followers being lead by flaming nut-jobs, and if we did, they probably would vote for Nader. This is a problem. When Clinton got re-elected, did he get letters from people out beyond Noam Chomsky's neighborhood, saying "Hey, great, now it's time screw those conservatives to the wall, and use all your powers to redirect income from the rich to the poor?" Or "Put your agenda on the front burner, and burn, baby, burn?" Or even something as quaint as "Your re-election shows the power of the historical dialectic, but you have a brief time only to leave a shoeprint on the backs of the running dog capitalists as you lead the glorious proletariat toward the final Marxist State!"
Sadly, the only people who see that kind of stuff going on are the highly-imaginative right-wing media-propaganda-droids. If we REALLY had more left-wing nut-jobs, including ones who had their own TV shows on their own networks, or their own eponymous universities, would anyone call John Kerry a "liberal?" Our wimpy centrist candidates get painted as leftists, because there isn't a big, obvious crowd of people to the left of them.
The program of Richard Nixon is too liberal to even be introduced today. In the tug-of-war between the right and the left, the right is winning. Maybe that's because the left isn't pulling hard enough. Where is our 700 Club? Who do we have with an eponymous university? The party used to rely on unions, but the union movement is failing, and we don't have a new answer. It's past time to start creating one. And part of that means speaking up louder and farther-out. In our drive for openess and inclusivity, we may have been politely keeping our mouths shut too often and for too long. And beside the nut-jobs, and the partisans, we need the moderates, from both parties, to speak up loud, lest the only voices left be ones like Bob Jones.
And while we're at it, when are those other Christians going to start trying to take their God back from these loons? When are we going to get some serious confrontation of their interpretation of the Bible, and their co-opting of the word 'Christian'? And when are we going to start seeing someone in this decade doing what Daniel Berrigan and Reverend King did in the 60s? It scares me that someone who can write a letter like this can call himself a Christian and not be laughed out of the public discourse.
OK. While you all ponder that, I'll try to figure out about this agenda of paganism we've been reprieved from; I must have missed that meeting of the leftist cabal. I guess, since Kerry was a Catholic who goes to church more than Bush, they're pagans too? (Gosh, I guess I really need to spend more time watching PAX.)
posted by Paul at 1:52 PM |
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