The Christophobic Thugs?
Carlos printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 11:21:26 PM EST
As the Christian Left becomes more visible and vocal, the attempt to discredit it also becomes louder. The Christian Right cannot tolerate a situation where there are multiple Christian inspired political visions. By working so hard to damage the reputation of the Christian Left, perhaps this will, in turn, hurt the Christian Right's own reputation and slow their dream of political control.
Two recent examples of how the Christian Right responds to the growing power of the Christian Left are Townhall columnist Doug Giles' attack on liberal Christians and Gary DeMar's magazine, Biblical Worldview, attack on Jimmy Carter.

From Doug Giles:

For the "Christian" to lean politically to the left means that he must blow off huge chunks of the Bible and replace the scripture with the make-believe notions of postmodernism's malleable "Christ." Only after torturing the scripture can the Christian then fit liberalism into his supposed relationship with God. [  ]

Liberalism has been hijacked by bizarre special-interest thugs who defy the Word of God and believe that the Bible has no place in public life (except maybe in a museum where people can look at it from time to time). [   ]

If the Christophobic thugs had it their way, Christians would be relegated to a marginalized spiritual ghetto on the sidelines of life. [    ]

Consider this, Christian pastor and Christian lay person looking to vote for the ludicrous left: the secular Mafioso's intent is to make your ministerial life difficult, your evangelistic work taxing and your voice minimized. And good luck, pastor and church committee, in trying to buy property and get zoning with the anti-Christian libs at the helm. [   ]

The Democratic Party's liberalism has degenerated over the last 40-50 years in regard to its view of Christianity and Christian rights. This party, which formerly embraced and protected our nation's great Christian heritage and teachings, no longer does so. Thus, today the Christian is between a rock and a hard place: he can either be a Christian or a liberal--but he cannot be both.

From Biblical Worldview's review of Jimmy Carter's recent book:

Jimmy Carter, America's 39th President (1977-1980), unequivocally has revealed himself to be an "imposter" Christian--joining ranks with the "men of depraved minds" that the Apostle Paul warns about in 2 Timothy Chapter 3. [   ]

Consensus is Carter's highest virtue, not Truth.The Apostle Paul warns us in 2 Timothy about men "having a form of godliness
but denying its power" and exhorts us to "Have nothing to do with them" (v 5). [   ]

Readers will seek in vain for Carter to discover, much less propose, authentic Christian solutions to today's moral crises. [   ]

Carter promotes "a different gospel--which is really no gospel at all" (Gal 1:7). This "gospel" preaches tolerance with no regard for Truth. [   ]

The most alarming maneuver is his moral equivalency of "Christian Fundamentalism" (his words) with militant Islam and other evil institutions like Imperial Japan's prisoner-of-war torture camps during World War II. Carter summarizes that all of these "more intense forms of fundamentalism" have these in common: "rigidity, domination, and exclusion." (pp 34-35). Carter deftly casts such terms in an extremely negative context, but do they
not describe Truth as well?

* Truth is rigid because it never changes. * Truth dominates because it declares what is always good and what is always evil. * Truth excludes because those who reject Christ will be separated from God for eternity, just as light always casts aside darkness.

If, as Carter proposes, we are to reject all things rigid, dominating, and exclusive, then where does that leave Truth?"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie," Paul writes regarding the outcome of "men who suppress the truth...their thinking
became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened...although they claimed to be wise, they became fools" (Rom 1:18-25).

In Our Endangered Values, Carter erroneously blames (wouldn't Carter call it "judging"?) Christians who follow the whole counsel of God ("fundamentalists") as the source of our cultural and political problems. Jude 19 provides the true assessment. Regarding those who reject God's Truth, Jude concludes, "These are the men who divide you." In Our Endangered Values, Carter attempts to offer a prescription to heal our divided nation and world. In truth, Carter's medicine is deadly poison.




Display:
Bad idea to attack Carter - he has serious Christian cred for his Habitat for Humanity work. People who thought he was a bad or mediocre president respect him for his charitable work.

by NancyP on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 11:44:05 PM EST

I agree, NancyP. Maybe by seeing reviews like these more people will question the fundamentalist bias that is not too below the surface of the more finely tuned public image of the Christian Right.

by Carlos on Wed Apr 19, 2006 at 12:26:50 AM EST

The Religious Right's leadership lives by prohibitions designed to stifle religious dissent because they believe that will also help stfifle political dissent.

The Religious Left emphasizes the Golden Rule; the Religious Right lives by what Hillel called "commentary."

The Religious Right leadership is denigrating faith by using it to further unrestrained self-interest; the Religious Left uses it to make the world a better place.

The Religious Right is exclusionary; the Religious Left is inclusionary.

The Religious Right believes that faith should be "unapologetically dogmatic;" the Religious Left believes that faith is how one treats their fellow human being.

The Religious Right  movement is funded by Rev. Moon, the Scaife and Bradley Foundations; the Religious Left is a grassroots movement.

And the Religious Right believes that the Religious Left is the movemnt devoid of true Christian values?

by Frank Cocozzelli on Wed Apr 19, 2006 at 07:44:35 AM EST


Nice summary, Frank. Speaking of religious dissent, some Southern Baptists are composing a resolution on Baptist dissent to be proposed at this summer's annual convention.

by Carlos on Wed Apr 19, 2006 at 11:54:28 AM EST


WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (375 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (203 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (65 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (163 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (149 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.