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I arrived at Yale Divinity School (YDS) back in 1988 armed with an NRSV Bible and The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. But while I considered myself to be a bible believer, an Evangelical Episcopalian in fact, if the truth be known, I was but a spiritual babe in the woods. You see, I expected to engage in an intense period of discussion and self-reflection around issues like eschatology, evangelism and ecclesiology with fellow Protestants of all stripes (with a few Catholics thrown in as sort of a guilty pleasure). After all, despite our theological differences, surely we all at least bought into this Apostles Creed biz where it clearly states that Jesus was born, died and then rose again from the dead. Silly me.
Instead way, way, way too much time was spent navel gazing over trivial topics like “Can priests be promiscuous?,” “What priestly perks come with this parish?,” “Can homosexuals be holy?,” “Is YDS a ‘Christian’ divinity school? (This Q comes courtesy of the fundy faithful.)” “Are UCCs Unitarians Considering Christ?,” and my favorite “We demand that you use ^%$#@ inclusive language!” Every now and then I’d find a few brave souls and we’d start whispering about Jesus and all that jazz. But all too often, it seemed that the risen Christ was taking a dirt nap amidst all this multicultural mudslinging.
Fortunately, the Rev. James Annand, then the Dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, assured me that I wasn’t crazy. He reminded me that we are all born with built in BS detectors. Simply put, when we’re at any religious gathering and our devices start making noise, then we should pay attention cause something ain’t right. Kewl. So that explains the buzzing sound that’s been bugging me all these years. No wonder my brain hurt – too much heresy’ll do that to ya.
Now, YDS wasn’t the only place where Christ’s presence was lacking in seemingly Christian circles. Since graduating from Yale, my BS detector has been going into overdrive. In fact, during the Clinton era, I had to keep taking the sucker in for repairs, as I could not digest the Ten Commandments Clinton style. It kept repeating on me as if I had been eating way too much home fried Southern cooking. Also, I kept wondering how come no progressive preacher ever called this dude on the carpet when he started playing the family values card. And Lord knows the conservative Christians kinda forgot all that “judge that ye not be judge” and “loving one’s enemies biz” as they kept throwing the Clintons to the lions. (See Luke 6:27-37)
Now, admittedly this misguided mess has been with us for quite some time. A quick romp throughout religious history will show that there’s been this ongoing desire to replace the kingdom of God with a worldly kingdom ever since Constantine converted to Christianity back in 312 A.D. So, I guess I shouldn’t too surprised that a religion that brought us such old school Hollywood style epics like the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials would also be misused by conservative churches to promote a Red, White and Blue Christ that’s rarin’ and ready to get medieval on anyone, who dares to thwart America’s post 9-11 global military and corporate ambitions.
By the time the 2004 Presidential elections rolled around, I had to get a new and improved BS detector, one that could sniff out the conservative and progressive Christian crapola. Yes, a lot of this was Dubya’s doing cause a lot of what I hear coming out from the Bushies’ crowd just doesn’t jive with the Gospel teachings of Christ. For starters, I, for one, fail to see anything in the Beatitudes (Matthew Ch. 5-7) that says it’s A-OK to beat the bejesus out of one’s enemies, treat the planet Earth like it’s a gargantuan trash can and refuse food and shelter to God’s children even though they live far, far away in places with weird sounding names like Darfur, Somalia and Appalachia.
Now, I know the more progressive Call to Renewal folks keep telling me “God is Not a Democrat. Or a Republican.” And as much as I want to believe this, when I step inside many liberal American churches, I am definitely feeling a partisan pull here. These days there appears to be way too much Bush bashing going on and not enough Christ-like caring if you get my drift. Like it or not, Dubya is my brother in Christ and that means I have to learn how to love the sucker even though he could use a good OT style whuppin’ right about now. But then in Matthew 5:39, Jesus said that I gotta turn the other cheek. (Matthew 5:39. So, I better nix this idea lickety-split.
 Speaking of spankings, when a Democrat and fellow Christian such as Hillary Clinton pulls out the Jesus card and say, calls Jesus and the Good Samaritan “illegal aliens,” how come hardly any progressive clergy step up to the plate and suggest that she just might be, oh I don’t know, wrong? The last time I checked, these dudes resided in Nazareth and Samaria respectively. So, the Samaritan was a legal citizen though he was deemed “inferior” due to his mixed racial heritage. Lord knows the conservative preachers are chastised by the progressive left when they fumble the ball spiritually speaking (and rightfully so). But is potential access to the Oval Office such a cherished prize that Hillary should get a free pass whenever she misuses the Bible for her own political purposes? Methinks not.
As we approach the 2006 midterm elections, I’m seeing a lot of activity on the religious front but not much in terms of actual transformation taking place. You know something’s just plain wrong when churches sponsor seminars, protests, conferences, and other actions in an attempt to defeat temporal “enemies” named Clinton or Bush. This foolish quest to conform Christ’s teachings to the whims of a particular political party has really started hitting the faith and it’s been stinking up the local churches big time. I know Jesus was born in a barn but do churches have to smell like one as well? I dunno about you, but I think it’s high time we started mucking out the stables.
So, here’s the real question for me. If Jesus’ life, death and resurrection was so life changing, then why is the contemporary church so durn stuck in the mud? As it says in the Bible, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Even though Christian marketing tends to tack John 3:16 on every bit of merchandise they can find under the guise of selling it in a Christian bookstore, every time I reflect on that verse, I still get chills down my spine.
I just don’t see why the creator of all, who loves us all of his creation unconditionally, would bring His Son into the world to suffer, die and then rise from the dead unless he knew such an act was needed to transform the world. There’s no way God would have given us the gift of eternal life just so we could bicker among ourselves over nonsensical issues like who likes boys versus girls, which political party gets to sit at God’s right hand, and other heretical hooey.
Why do the churches’ priorities all too often fail to line up with the redemptive and life giving ministry of Jesus Christ? Yes, I can find pockets of faith in action through organizations like Habitat for Humanity, ACORN, and Bread for the World. But why can’t the entire church wake up and start living out the full Gospel message? Let’s face it. How many 21st century churches do you know that welcome lepers and other societal outcasts, dine with sinners, heal the sick, embrace children into all aspects of their ministry, and love all of humanity, including their enemies?
On a side note, speaking of taking a snooze, how come I keep going to sleep reading most mainline church literature? I hate to be harsh here but you gotta admit that most of what the mainliners put out reads like a corporate annual report. Where’s the Gospel fire? In the end, a lot of spiritual stuff gets said but all too often, in the end no one really gets fed.
Admittedly, the evangelicals do a much better job in the PR department. They’ve learned at least how to use technology to produce flashy eye catching graphics that at least keep me awake. However, when I actually read this material, I find it’s all full of fluff but devoid of real spiritual substance. Come on. I have a college degree and frankly reading material geared for a third grader is more than a little bit insulting. And please, stop sending me laundry lists of all the fallen liberals that need my prayers, when I consider us all sinners in need of Christ’s saving grace. What the J is going on?
Shane Claiborne, one of the founders of The Simple Way, hits the nail on the head when he observes, “When the church becomes a place of brokerage rather than an organic community, she ceases to be alive. The church becomes a distribution center, a place where the poor go to get stuff and the rich come to dump stuff. Both go away satisfied (the rich feel good, the poor get clothed and fed) but no one is transformed. And Jesus did not set up a program but modeled a way of living that incarnated the reign of God.”1 As Claiborne’s co-conspirator Jim Wallis concurs, “At a minimum, the church should be known as the kind of community that makes it more possible, not less possible, to follow Jesus.”2
Thank God there are some faithful followers that try to abide by Christ’s radical way of life but why are these groups always in the minority? Also, these Christians are often called rebels, lose cannons and worse by their more staid brothers in Christ. And yes, prolonged exposure to some of the more extreme Jesus Jumpers can tax one’s central nervous system. But let the truth be known, at least these daring souls are trying to live out the Gospel in their daily lives. After all, as Brian McLaren notes, “in refusing to draw or respect racial, religious, moral, ethic, economic or class barriers, in welcoming non-Jews and treating them with kindness and respect, in eating with both Pharisees and the prostitutes hated by the Pharisees, Jesus shows His primal kingdom with all people.”3
Gregory A. Boyd poses the question, “What would happen if the ultimate criteria we used to assess how ‘successful’ or ‘unsuccessful’ our churches were was the question, are we loving as Jesus loved? The truth of the matter is that we are only carrying out God's will and expanding the kingdom of God to the extent that we answer that question affirmatively.”4
Yep, it’s that ol’ love thy neighbor stuff again that’s at the heart of the Christian message, a clarion call that should be shining through in every church across the nation. Steve Chalke reminds us that “we've reduced Jesus down to the pale imitation of what He was, and then we wonder why this isn't good news to anyone. Jesus was a revolutionary, and that is why they crucified Him.”5 By cleansing the temple, He dared to declare that He was the temple and that through Him, all are welcome into the kingdom of God.
When we start to live out the radical teachings of the risen Christ, just think of what could happen. Wallis proclaims, “The existence of the church itself, that inclusive community that knows no boundaries, becomes a part of the good news.”6 Marcus Borg adds, “the Christian life becomes about something else, namely, living within this framework of radical trust in God and relationship to God that makes possible our transformation, and, ideally and ultimately, the transformation of the world.7
And yes, this is possible. Even today, I can see visible signs of the Holy Spirit moving within the body of Christ. For example, while too many religious leaders involved in the 9-11 recovery effort have tried to make this disaster memorable, manageable and marketable, Rosaleen Tallon, sister of Sean Tallon, an FDNY firefighter and Marine murdered on 9-11, chose to follow the prayers of her heart. In the midst of all this priestly profiteering and sanctimonious spiritual self-promotion, she chose a higher way. Simply put, she along with other supporters including the 9-11 Advocates for a Fallen Heroes memorial, Where to Turn, the Skyscraper Campaign and ArtAID sat for 17 days in prayer outside Tenhouse, the firehouse where Rosaleen late brother’s firehouse was assigned. (This firehouse just happened to be located right across from the former World Trade Center site.) Their hope was that someday, the sacrifice of the 343 FDNY brothers, as well as the other uniformed rescue workers and everyday civilians that perished on 9-11 will be properly remembered through the creation of a just and fitting memorial to the fallen heroes of 9-11.
Since this vigil, the Holy Spirit has demonstrated once again that through the power of collective prayer, positive change can happen even among seemingly hardened New York City businessmen and politicians. At the time of this writing, the previous memorial design, which was deemed unsafe by leading safety experts, has been replaced by a saner, safer and simpler above ground memorial. (Let’s continue to pray that these power brokers will have the courage to follow the desires of the vast majority of 9-11 family groups and other concerned citizens in implementing a proper and safe memorial instead of following the whims of those bankrolling their political campaigns.)8
As I noted in my book Red and Blue God, Black and Blue Church, for many individuals throughout the world, September 11, 2001 represented one of those singular moments in history when religious communities became unfrozen and new possibilities for community were able to emerge. And as the above example illustrates, everyday believers not religious leaders took the lead in trying to define what constitutes sacred space at Ground Zero. This got me thinking if maybe I had been spending too much time in the pews waiting for the priests to “fix” the problem instead of getting into action myself. Hence, my growing interest in the inclusive nature of the emergent church, as we explore what it means to be church in the 21st century.
But as I move forward, I continue to reflect on the Church’s past. Throughout history, there have always been these all but too brief moments when the Church woke up and kicked some spiritual hiney. The list of Christians who have walked this walk of costly grace and gave their lives in service of the Gospel are legion and include Quakers like Anne Hutchinson, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and other champions of civil rights, as well as contemporary Christians such as Tom Fox, who went to Iraq with the Christian Peacemaker Teams. While these people are clearly walking the walk, the question remains as to which religious leaders are doing likewise and who is simply talking the talk.
Nora Gallagher, author of Practicing Resurrection, reminds us of the sacrifice of faithful followers like German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was hanged in 1945 by the Nazis for his participation in a plot to assassinate Hitler. “[He] believed that the heart of what it meant to be a Christian was to act on behalf of the marginalized – the helpless, the sick, the poor, the friendless. He distinguished between what he called ‘cheap grace,’ that form of lip service I think we can all identify with, and ‘costly grace,’ meaning the kind that gets you into trouble.”9 Don’t know about you but it looks to me like we need to stir up some Christ based trouble right about now.
Photograph used with permission.
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Phenomenal article. Not only is the content right on, the writing style is interesting and entertaining.
Wow. You hit it. This is by far the best commentary on the Church in America I've read in a very long time. You have very original and refreshing thoughts, several that, in my subconscious opinion, have had a need to be shared and published for a long, long time. Thank you very much for writing this.
The important issues affected by politics and culture are meta-political and meta-political . The contemporary liberal, conservative , and moderate center have ALL missed the proverbial boat--all missed the point . The sensibility that Jesus was trying to promote was one of wholesomeness , life-affirming values and a return to innocence . Such true values are TOTALLY contrary to the consumerist trendiness/mass culture weirdness
That's what the advice Jesus gave in Luke ,'unless you become like a little child , ye shall not enter the kingdom' was about the duty to cultivating the quaint values of innocence , wholesomeness, meekness . Jesus indeed REJECTED the trendy ideology of keeping up with the Jonses that so much of decadent t.v. drenched yuppie suburbia has come to accept . So much of the political liberals AND conservatives AND moderates have come to accept that weird paradigm of trendiness/of "keeping up with the Joneses" . Mammon brought to you by media outlets like CNN , MTV Fox, News , Entetainment tonight---a weird ideology where news becomes treated asn entertainment and entertainment as news , where tragedies become fodder for trendy, creepy media gossip, where pop psychology dupes people into selling out principles in a myriad of ways, where information and even history itself becomes treated AS IF it were a commodity. Mammon . It was that very mammon accepted by so many "liberals" AND "conservatives" and "moderates" --that Jesus was totally against ! Notice the phrase 'totally against'---Jesus the ultimate culture jammer was *NOT* one of those "conflicted"/ ambivalent postmodernist sell-outs who want to "look at it from another perspective" by respecting crass, murky opinions . Instead Jesus takes a single-minded idealistic approach .
If the so-called conservatives are truly committed to moral revival and preserving the moral heritage of this present nation (what's left of it) why don't more of them get at the roots of the problem --the weird mammon of consumerism/of mass advertising contemporary pop culture in all its morbidity, decadence, and superficiality. How about a culture war against all that is superficial and sordid . Instead of just a war on terror a NOT-physically violent, but still vehement ideological war on superficiality & media gossip ?
If the so-called liberals really care about compassion and building a nurturing new society then why NOT turn the focus of the rhetoric *more single-mindedly* on totally ending the injustices against the poor and the strangers, on preserving the beautiful wilderness and plants and animals and restoring them---INSTEAD of allowing the weird media , postmodern equivocation ---that makes the goofy celebration of "liberated" sex into some sort of issue --when such weird liberated sex --at best is peripheral to the goals of a nurturing society, and at worst, is *contrary* to it !
Those among the political "right wing" are sensible to speak out against abortion on demand, and sexual promiscuity---yet its high time more of them publically acknowlege that it is the mystification of the rat race of consumerism dressed up in phrases like "economic competitiveness" "the global marketplace" so-called "standard of living" "Economic growth" "21 century economics" and all similar tripe rhetoric that is the poison root of which evils like abortion for lifestyle purposes are but branches of !
The flashy pop culture Babylon of trendy lifestyles , of sordid spectacles brought by the mainstream mass media--that's the problem !
When a society like North America in this present ever so weird and repulsive decade (and year of 2006) becomes vapid and namby-pamby enough to accept the rape and murder of children like that child who was killed in colorado 10 years ago --to be presented as entertainment on shows like Entertainment Tonight --than such a society ain't the society that supports Jesus . A social ideology that accepts such sordid spectacles with that weirdly automatic resignation that is all so popular these days ---is ANTI-Jesus regardless of whether it calls itself "conservative" or "liberal" or "moderate" or regardless of whether it calls itself Christian .
If we want moral revival we could learn a lot from the spirituality of people who have refused to sell out and assimilate---folks like the Amish and Mennonites ...folks that haven't sold out to the glitz and hype of mass culture of Desperate Housewives, haven't sold out to reality t.v., have *NOT* sold out to sexy I-pods, sexy computers, hypermedia, and the latest buzz .
An ointment *without* any flies is long overdue.
Ultimately what is at stake is nOT liberalism vs conservatism . instead it is a life-affirming culture as agaisnt a death-affirming entropic culture.
What is at stake is beauty versus mass culture kitch . Quaintness versus trendiness . Wholesomeness against edginess .
What would Jesus do ? Well he would *not* accept a way of thinking where people accept the sordid "as part of life" or a so-called "growing experience" He wouldn't accept the weird thinking that has popularized phrases like "that's not my problem" and "whatever" as a one word dismissive reply .
He would NOT accept a culture where fast talking and interruption is the preferred mode of communication !
FIXING A TYPO
Meant to use the words meta-political and meta-cultural in the first sentence of the post shown above. I accidentally typed the word 'meta-political' twice .
When Christians learn the meaning of the ancient word "askesis" as the way of the Cross, we will stand out in our societies like the beacons of God's light that HE intends us to be.
Good insights here. Thanks for posting this.
Thanks for this article. Your thoughts are well-stated. Excellent!
That gave me chills - really profound stuff (and hilarious side comments)! It is so important for all of us to remember the commandment to love one another... no matter what "side" of an issue/political party/etc we're on. And what a great point about churches judging their success on fulfilling that criteria: loving as Jesus loved! The world would be a different place, definitely for the better.
Really amazing work, Becky. Congratulations and God bless you!
Interesting but deficient thinking of marginal value says my BS detector. I came across this site after hearing Jim Wallis interviewed by Travis Smiley this evening and was prompted to do some follow up reading. I find in this article, to a lesser degree admittedly, the same self righteous hubris, wrapped in outright bigotry towards any who dare not lock step with their view of the world, exhibited by both Smiley and Wallis in their comments re the "rest" of the Christian religious community. Both of them really creeped me out. "Professional Christians" of all sorts denigrate both the gospel and fellow believers with their positing of their own existence as the model for all others. I am not so naive as to believe that all is well in the Church, it is not, but the pomposity of the politically left among the brethren seems to know no bounds. There is a need for good-Samaritan moments, but much of Christian caring outside the corporate church and the lives of individual Christians is best reflected in good public policy that brings long term benefit to people, not simply feel good band aid peace offerings to sooth the conscience of the giver. I am immediately suspicious of anyone who any longer speaks well of Jimmie Carter. I truly think Jimmie has become demented. He shocked me a few years ago in a PBS interview with his paternalistic attitude toward the plebians of life that gave me shivers to hear. He was an old style slave owner in modern guise, but there he was, hubris glowing as he proclaimed his humility with utmost pride. Jimmie has become the face of leftist Christianity, "humility" wrapped in hubris. Unfortunately, the authoress shows a leaning to the same tendency. Too bad that speaking out for such matters as the lives of unborn babies is not the kind of Christ based trouble Jim and others find worthwhile.
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Phenomenal article. Not only is the content right on, the writing style is interesting and entertaining. Posted by hospitality | Posted at 11/07/2006 9:15 PM
Wow. You hit it. This is by far the best commentary on the Church in America I've read in a very long time. You have very original and refreshing thoughts, several that, in my subconscious opinion, have had a need to be shared and published for a long, long time. Thank you very much for writing this. Posted by Frankie Mason | Posted at 11/07/2006 10:33 PM
The important issues affected by politics and culture are meta-political and meta-political . The contemporary liberal, conservative , and moderate center have ALL missed the proverbial boat--all missed the point . The sensibility that Jesus was trying to promote was one of wholesomeness , life-affirming values and a return to innocence . Such true values are TOTALLY contrary to the consumerist trendiness/mass culture weirdness
That's what the advice Jesus gave in Luke ,'unless you become like a little child , ye shall not enter the kingdom' was about the duty to cultivating the quaint values of innocence , wholesomeness, meekness . Jesus indeed REJECTED the trendy ideology of keeping up with the Jonses that so much of decadent t.v. drenched yuppie suburbia has come to accept . So much of the political liberals AND conservatives AND moderates have come to accept that weird paradigm of trendiness/of "keeping up with the Joneses" . Mammon brought to you by media outlets like CNN , MTV Fox, News , Entetainment tonight---a weird ideology where news becomes treated asn entertainment and entertainment as news , where tragedies become fodder for trendy, creepy media gossip, where pop psychology dupes people into selling out principles in a myriad of ways, where information and even history itself becomes treated AS IF it were a commodity. Mammon . It was that very mammon accepted by so many "liberals" AND "conservatives" and "moderates" --that Jesus was totally against ! Notice the phrase 'totally against'---Jesus the ultimate culture jammer was *NOT* one of those "conflicted"/ ambivalent postmodernist sell-outs who want to "look at it from another perspective" by respecting crass, murky opinions . Instead Jesus takes a single-minded idealistic approach .
If the so-called conservatives are truly committed to moral revival and preserving the moral heritage of this present nation (what's left of it) why don't more of them get at the roots of the problem --the weird mammon of consumerism/of mass advertising contemporary pop culture in all its morbidity, decadence, and superficiality. How about a culture war against all that is superficial and sordid . Instead of just a war on terror a NOT-physically violent, but still vehement ideological war on superficiality & media gossip ?
If the so-called liberals really care about compassion and building a nurturing new society then why NOT turn the focus of the rhetoric *more single-mindedly* on totally ending the injustices against the poor and the strangers, on preserving the beautiful wilderness and plants and animals and restoring them---INSTEAD of allowing the weird media , postmodern equivocation ---that makes the goofy celebration of "liberated" sex into some sort of issue --when such weird liberated sex --at best is peripheral to the goals of a nurturing society, and at worst, is *contrary* to it !
Those among the political "right wing" are sensible to speak out against abortion on demand, and sexual promiscuity---yet its high time more of them publically acknowlege that it is the mystification of the rat race of consumerism dressed up in phrases like "economic competitiveness" "the global marketplace" so-called "standard of living" "Economic growth" "21 century economics" and all similar tripe rhetoric that is the poison root of which evils like abortion for lifestyle purposes are but branches of !
The flashy pop culture Babylon of trendy lifestyles , of sordid spectacles brought by the mainstream mass media--that's the problem !
When a society like North America in this present ever so weird and repulsive decade (and year of 2006) becomes vapid and namby-pamby enough to accept the rape and murder of children like that child who was killed in colorado 10 years ago --to be presented as entertainment on shows like Entertainment Tonight --than such a society ain't the society that supports Jesus . A social ideology that accepts such sordid spectacles with that weirdly automatic resignation that is all so popular these days ---is ANTI-Jesus regardless of whether it calls itself "conservative" or "liberal" or "moderate" or regardless of whether it calls itself Christian .
If we want moral revival we could learn a lot from the spirituality of people who have refused to sell out and assimilate---folks like the Amish and Mennonites ...folks that haven't sold out to the glitz and hype of mass culture of Desperate Housewives, haven't sold out to reality t.v., have *NOT* sold out to sexy I-pods, sexy computers, hypermedia, and the latest buzz .
An ointment *without* any flies is long overdue.
Ultimately what is at stake is nOT liberalism vs conservatism . instead it is a life-affirming culture as agaisnt a death-affirming entropic culture.
What is at stake is beauty versus mass culture kitch . Quaintness versus trendiness . Wholesomeness against edginess .
What would Jesus do ? Well he would *not* accept a way of thinking where people accept the sordid "as part of life" or a so-called "growing experience" He wouldn't accept the weird thinking that has popularized phrases like "that's not my problem" and "whatever" as a one word dismissive reply .
He would NOT accept a culture where fast talking and interruption is the preferred mode of communication !
Posted by Jason Leary | Posted at 11/08/2006 3:41 AMFIXING A TYPO
Meant to use the words meta-political and meta-cultural in the first sentence of the post shown above. I accidentally typed the word 'meta-political' twice .
Posted by Jason | Posted at 11/08/2006 3:47 AMWhen Christians learn the meaning of the ancient word "askesis" as the way of the Cross, we will stand out in our societies like the beacons of God's light that HE intends us to be.
Good insights here. Thanks for posting this.
Posted by Alice C. Linsley | Posted at 11/14/2006 11:25 AMThanks for this article. Your thoughts are well-stated. Excellent! Posted by passingthrough | Posted at 11/14/2006 4:54 PM
That gave me chills - really profound stuff (and hilarious side comments)! It is so important for all of us to remember the commandment to love one another... no matter what "side" of an issue/political party/etc we're on. And what a great point about churches judging their success on fulfilling that criteria: loving as Jesus loved! The world would be a different place, definitely for the better.
Really amazing work, Becky. Congratulations and God bless you!
Posted by Carly | Posted at 11/17/2006 2:49 PMInteresting but deficient thinking of marginal value says my BS detector. I came across this site after hearing Jim Wallis interviewed by Travis Smiley this evening and was prompted to do some follow up reading. I find in this article, to a lesser degree admittedly, the same self righteous hubris, wrapped in outright bigotry towards any who dare not lock step with their view of the world, exhibited by both Smiley and Wallis in their comments re the "rest" of the Christian religious community. Both of them really creeped me out. "Professional Christians" of all sorts denigrate both the gospel and fellow believers with their positing of their own existence as the model for all others. I am not so naive as to believe that all is well in the Church, it is not, but the pomposity of the politically left among the brethren seems to know no bounds. There is a need for good-Samaritan moments, but much of Christian caring outside the corporate church and the lives of individual Christians is best reflected in good public policy that brings long term benefit to people, not simply feel good band aid peace offerings to sooth the conscience of the giver. I am immediately suspicious of anyone who any longer speaks well of Jimmie Carter. I truly think Jimmie has become demented. He shocked me a few years ago in a PBS interview with his paternalistic attitude toward the plebians of life that gave me shivers to hear. He was an old style slave owner in modern guise, but there he was, hubris glowing as he proclaimed his humility with utmost pride. Jimmie has become the face of leftist Christianity, "humility" wrapped in hubris. Unfortunately, the authoress shows a leaning to the same tendency. Too bad that speaking out for such matters as the lives of unborn babies is not the kind of Christ based trouble Jim and others find worthwhile. Posted by jboland | Posted at 02/08/2008 11:30 PM