All you’ll hear from rightwing bloggers is how the MSM (mainstream media to those of you who aren’t total label-dependent losers) doesn’t care about religion, about how it ignores the fact of wide-spread christianity in this country.
Riiiiight.
Yesterday on Meet The Press, Rick Warren and the Editor of Newsweek were on talking about christianity and religions for the entire show. Rick Warren got to pimp his ministries and tell the world how he’s not like the other religions.
Tonight, ABC news had a whole special on christianity in this country, citing statistics like “79% of Americans identify as Christian, 26% identify as Evangelical Christian”. 26 was never such a scary number. Then the piece went on to talk about Christian schools and teen pledges of virginity and exploring the nuances of the jesusy teeny-boppers’ concept of “messing up”. Which apparently means when a teen boy masturbates.
At least no kittens get killed.
So back to Rick Warren. I was watching him talk. He was saying all the right things. About how there’s no respect among people who disagree. About how there are more important things in the world to be accomplished than political wins. Like poverty. Like education. Like HIV & AIDS.
Right on, Brother Warren!
And he talked about how the megachurches and politico-religious have forgotten that a central tenet of their religions is this: humility.
Can I really be hearing this? Is this the beginning of a new era of civil disagreement? Where everyone begins by respecting the basic humanity of one another while even vehemently disagreeing? Where not everyone walks in with the Correct Way to do things, without a socio-political Not Invented Here Syndrome? With—dare I say it—humility?
Off to Google. “Rick Warren”. “Saddleback Church”. “Purpose Driven”.
What did I find? I found Kay Warren, Rick’s wife, ministering to the sick:
“I’m here to tell you there is hope because the Church of Jesus Christ is getting up, and when the Church of Jesus Christ gets up, things happen,” Gataha said. “When the Church is getting up, HIV/AIDS will sit down.”<br/> “If we don’t do something, who will? If we don’t show God’s love, who will? If we don’t show up, who will?”
Ummm, ‘who will?’ How about the rest of us who have been trying to do and actually doing things for over twenty years, you stupid bitch? How about those who have been struggling to get people help, get prevention education in place, and all the while having to fight people like you who stopped us at every turn, who went on claiming that the wages of sin were death?
For someone who opts into a book of popular mythology which goes back over most of recorded history, you sure don’t have a sense of the past, lady.
As if you thought her “humility” wasn’t suffering enough already, she goes on:
Now she’s leading Saddleback’s HIV/AIDS Initiative and encouraging other churches to start their own HIV/AIDS ministries. “The goal I see is to end HIV,” she said. “Humanly speaking, it’s impossible. When God enters the problem, suddenly things become possible.”
Ahh, so she does have a sense of history after all. She acknowledges that others have been trying to save peoples’ lives. But where have our efforts fallen short? We haven’t left it up to God to fix.
Well, how about that.
So let’s think about all this “humility” floating around. These are like the cavalry, letting everyone else fight the good fight and coming in, refreshed and ready and loving the smell of abstinence in the morning, to save the day.
Not only that, but apparently, HIV is a blessing for Christians:
HIV/AIDS gives the Church the chance to do what it has been called to do – to love other people and to love God, [Robert Redfield] said.<br/>
•••
Sam Brownback, a senator from Kansas, said that American Christians have been given much and must use those gifts to help people who are suffering. “If we’ll just give them the crumbs off our table, they can live and we can save our souls,” he said.
So there we have it. They do for their own rewards, offering the rest of us their crumbs, so they can sleep at night.
I write this while watching Saturday Night Fever on Cinemax. Tony Manero just said something relevant:
“Everybody’s gotta have somebody to dump on.”
Well, how about that. Maybe that’s the true anti-gay agenda. They just need someone to dump on.
And what, then, is humility? Humility is this: I welcome all their true efforts to end HIV and AIDS irrespective of their motives if it means life for more people. Not only do I welcome their help, I am begging their help, begging everyone’s help. I miss Allen each and every day. I would do anything to have him back, including selling my soul so that Sam Brownback will give us those precious, supposedly life-saving crumbs from his table.
Technorati Tags: AIDS, god of biscuits, HIV, kay warren, rick warren, saddleback church, sam brownback, saturday night fever
Is it true you still are a bed-wetter?
What a laugh-riot that your baby-sized ego needs to “review the comments” before posting them - You can dish out the trash but oh poor little you can not take it back….ahhh we should have a special candle light vigil for you….Advice to the god of biscuits..Man up to it!
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Why is it that all the morons come from AOL?
Nancy, out here in the real world, people who have blogs get comment spam. In the last 90 days, I’ve had nearly 50,000 comments that were considered spam.
Ironically, more than 49,000 of those were more interesting than “is it true you still are a bed-wetter?”
Did you have something germane to the topic to add, Ms. Nancy?
Oh, and thanks for thinking my ego is undersized. I assure you, it’s not, but I know when to use it for good and not just taking time to point out profound hypocrisy.
I guess Nancy Reagan has a lot of extra time on her hand now that zombie-Ron is no longer around.
I agree totally that people have to have someone to look down on- I’ve thought about this a lot. The Christian Right used to have Communists- but that basically ended in 1989. Their persecution against the Gays really started afterwards.
Jeff,
Good post.
We are on the verge of a new era of civil disagreement — of Open Society! Let’s make it happen!
Have you read George Soros’ The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror? Soros speaks to this point very well, with lots of relevance to the topic of many of your posts.
I enjoy your writings on all of these subjects, and I respect your opinions.
It is also very kind of you to indulge folks like Nancy. You do that really well, too. Happy New Year!
— Don
Comments on your recent post:
Regarding humility as the “central tenet of Christianity:”
The collective concepts of the religous-right tells individuals that their actions and thoughts (whatever they might be) will be rewarded and/or forgiven if they act like good little team-players. Team players simply need to say that whatever they do is in service of the Lord (or Bush).
Is that humility? No.
Some religous right folks consider humility something to emulate, I think it is because they know it is important. But, since one can pass inpsection by simply play-acting the role, or interviewing well, I think we can safely conclude that humility has been thrown out the stained-glass window of the Church, the same way civility has.
Same goes for patriotism, civility and right-wingers. They just don’t mix.
In my view, the religious right wants to “save” everyone (in the collective sense) from themselves (in the individual sense) for the benefit of the super-class. Yuck! How many times must we learn that lesson?
Whenever individuals and groups act together in a positive feedback loop like this, the distinctions between individual and group behavior get blurred. This causes all sorts of problems in understanding. If we try to keep a clear distinction between individual motive and group motive, things can be much clearer. (there are huge problems that make this very hard)
I believe the purpose of the religous mob(s) (for lack of a better term) is to orient and activate the individual to do the mob’s bidding, not just to act like them or give the group money.
I think you are correct when you conclude that the right-wing Christian mob is anti-gay. [this post is a good expose’ of it]
Is it just one mob against another? No, I don’t think so. Or at least it isn’t symmetrical (as I see it).
I think it is true that liberal-minded gay-is-OK folks (gay agenda?) also define a “mob,” sure. But we are not necessarily anti-religous. We are a group trying to defend each other’s civil liberties and freedom, etc. Always an admirable pursuit.
Religion and sexual orientation seem orthogonal to me. The interaction is complex. The struggles are complex.
Yes, some of us are becoming more anti-religous. Often because of the shameful words and actions of the so-called right-wing religious groups. Each of us knows at least a few individuals that seem to have bought the religious right wing party line of fear and oppression. It motivates them as individuals to do all sorts of hateful things.
Hopefully we as individuals can still disagree constructively, but often we cannot. The groups are at major odds, so the individuals act out the conceptual battle, even if they do not understand it. Working toward understanding needs to be the primary goal, IMHO.
God of Biscuits understands! He chronicles the shameful acts and shameless belief systems of the religious right. He shows why we should be wary of such hypocrites. God of Biscuits gives us some of the flavor of what it means to be gay. And he shows us what a smart, thoughtful, and caring person can do to survive and thrive during the struggles that define our times.
sorry for all the extra line space. It doubled what I saw.
Jeff:
You may already know, but by saying “crumbs off our table”, they are making a Biblical allusion.
Matthew 15:21-28 (New International Version)
21Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”
23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
27”Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Luke 16:19-31 (New International Version)
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19”There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22”The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[a] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25”But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27”He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29”Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30” ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31”He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ “
Yeah, I knew it was a Biblical allusion. I may have been raised Roman Catholic, but I do know some of the bible. 😉
Allusion or not, when used as a directive and not an observation, it reeks of superiority and a kind of gloating self-satisfaction.