Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Unto The Breach.

Join us! http://s6.zetaboards.com/Unto_The_Breach/register/

If you are already a member log in below


Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Why does the Religious Right seem; to revel in "in your face" attacks?
Topic Started: Dec 5 2004, 10:58 AM (163 Views)
colo_crawdad
No Avatar
Knight of the Realm
The religious right's penchant for using personal "in your face" attacks is well demonstrated in this column. Why does that seem to be their prime modus operandi, even when criticizing others for such behaviors?

Quote:
 
barrie hartman
A nation of intolerance
By Barrie Hartman


Since writing my Nov. 7 column, "Proud to be a liberal and a Christian, too," I have been invited to attend six evangelical churches to cleanse my soul and connect with Jesus.

Though I already attend a small Methodist church and play a leadership role there, that didn't impress my new evangelical friends. Methodists are simply too liberal, I was told. They have yet to meet a sin they didn't like.

As one reader put it: "You convinced me that you are, indeed, a liberal, but a Christian you are definitely not." Another e-mailer was a tad more conciliatory: "You are a Christian in name only!"

A Lutheran pastor chided me for criticizing those who proclaim Christianity as the one true religion of the world. It didn't seem to bother him that he, in effect, was labeling Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and even Catholics (who believe their faith is the one true Christian religion) as cargo for hell.

One more thought, or rather a blast, from a "devout Christian":

"Liberals have embraced the more unsavory characteristics of American life, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the North American Man/Boy Love Association, flag burning, disparaging the Pledge of Allegiance and a determination to impose the homosexuality lifestyle on high school students."

That's among the slimiest of slurs hurled my way. What's worse is that it unfairly makes Christians sound as credible as the Teamsters Union.

But the slurists are winning. They have succeeded in turning "liberal" into a nasty seven-letter word that has lost its meaning as someone who is open-minded and forward thinking.

As a result, Democrats are moving to replace "liberals" with "progressives." Former President Bill Clinton, at the dedication of his library, tested its usage this way: "Conservatives, at their very best, draw lines that should never be crossed. Progressives, at their very best, tear down walls that should never have been built."

In truth, a name change just scores another victory for the power-drunk evangelicals, who are certain they, not the Republican Party, got Bush re-elected. Now they're ready to start pushing around the Bush administration.

Did you hear the Moral Majority's Jerry Falwell tell President Bush he has two years to carry out the Christian agenda "or he will pay"?

Or how about Bob Jones of the evangelical Bob Jones University advising Bush there is no cause to reunite our nation? "The liberals hate you," he said, "and they hate Christ. You owe them nothing."

We libs may think changing our name is a step toward respectability, but to the Christian right, evil is evil - no matter how you spell it. So it will continue to demean anyone on the left, right or middle who stands in its way to gain control of the government and then of all of us - what we say, what we read, what we see, what our schools teach and which god we worship.

That's really how the Christian right defines a moral nation. Gays, abortions and stem-cell research are high on the right's list of sins, but those are mere battles to be fought. The war to be won is the creation of a Christian nation that is intolerant of all other religions and contemptuous of those who do not follow God's law as spelled out in Scripture (and interpreted by the Jerry Falwells among us).

Skeptical? Just remember that 300 years ago no one thought such intolerance was possible in England, either. You also might want to read my mail.

We libs have a long way to go to regain respect. But we can start by doing a few simple things. For instance, Malcolm Cole writes from Wyoming: "How sad it is that we liberals don't fly the flag proudly." He's right. If enough of us fly it, the flag will stand for love of country again, not for Bush and his war.

A female reader thinks liberals can help themselves by telling others often, "I love this country." And really mean it.

We could help ourselves, too, by softening our pro-choice stance. Let's be honest and admit that abortion - particularly late-term - is an awful choice.

Then there's the gay issue. While liberals push hard for gay rights, we need to admit that bringing the country around to accepting gay marriage is too big of a leap - for now. We might gain ground if we joined those Republicans who see legal unions for gay couples as a fair and progressive compromise.

And while we're working on our image that liberals are Christians, too, why not consider another reader's suggestion, that of putting the following bumper sticker on our cars:

"God Bless Everyone. No Exceptions!"

Barrie Hartman is a retired Boulder newspaper editor living in nearby Louisville.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Admin
No Avatar
Keeper of the Castle
Perhaps we can also discuss why the left wing liberals are so 'in your face' with issues like homosexuality and why they keep demeaning those who profess a belief in Christ like the author of this piece?

Your author paints with a broad brush Lowell, far too broad.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
colo_crawdad
No Avatar
Knight of the Realm
Quote:
 
Perhaps we can also discuss why the left wing liberals are so 'in your face' with issues like homosexuality and why they keep demeaning those who profess a belief in Christ like the author of this piece?


Buddy,

That was a good deal of my motivation for posting this column. So many posters here have decried the left's "in your face" behaviors of those favoring equal rights for homosexuals, I thought it appropriate to provide information which says it certainly isn't just the "left" who practice such behaviors.

Whether the author paints with too broad of a brush is certainly debatable, but I will hazard an observation that the response which he received from the religious right was, if not less than Christian, certainly "in your face."
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rattletrap
No Avatar
Commoner
Colo, if I called myself a "Law Abiding Citizen" yet continually broke the Law, would you agree with my assertion that I was "Law Abiding"? Being a Christian is more than a title, it is a lifestyle. If a horse proclaimed himself a zebra, everyone would laugh because he doesn't have the attributes of a zebra. Similar, but something is missing...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Pastor Charlie
Unregistered

I understand the liberal desire is to find ground where the two sides agree.

"We libs may think changing our name is a step toward respectability, but to the Christian right, evil is evil - no matter how you spell it."

I agree. "A rose by any other name...?"

Quote Post Goto Top
 
colo_crawdad
No Avatar
Knight of the Realm
Quote:
 
Colo, if I called myself a "Law Abiding Citizen" yet continually broke the Law, would you agree with my assertion that I was "Law Abiding"?


No, If you told me this in the 1980s, I would probably just assume that you drive a great number of miles on interstate highways. :)

On a more serious note, I'm sure that you rely on folks who are experts in the law to interpret those laws. It is interesting that "experts" in scripture do not agree as to the meaning of those scriptures. Don't you think so? And please don't go now to "anyone who disagrees with me cannot be an "expert."
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jack of 32
No Avatar
Old Man of the Sea, Ruler of the Realm
"Then there's the gay issue. While liberals push hard for gay rights, we need to admit that bringing the country around to accepting gay marriage is too big of a leap - for now."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If that is the Lib stance, then they need to go back and study the bible some more. Sure would like a Lib to point out where it says in the bible that gay marriage is right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited for spelling....
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
TennesseeT
No Avatar
Marchioness du Nashville
Jack of 32
Dec 5 2004, 03:23 PM
"Then there's the gay issue. While liberals push hard for gay rights, we need to admit that bringing the country around to accepting gay marriage is too big of a leap - for now."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If that is the Lib stance, then they need to go back and study the bible some more. Sure would like a Lib to point out where it says in the bible that gay marriage is right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited for spelling....

too big a leap for now, then, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, next century, next millinium.

Agree with this poster. Where is a gay marriage stated as right in the bible.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Mainecoons
No Avatar
Keeper of the Royal Cattery
Actually, I think what has happened is that traditional liberalism has been hijacked by the crazy left and the Democratic Party along with it. Liberals in the public mind have been identified with the folks of ACLU, NAMBLA, Hollywood, etc.

It's sorta like what has happend with lawyers--there are so many slime bag ambulance chasers, like the one who just ran for VP on the Democratic ticket, that the entire profession has become characterized in the public mind as--slime bag ambulance chasers.

You may want to take the cue, Lowell, and start calling yourself a "progressive".

Of course that brings up the whole discussion of whether "progressives" advocate progress or just more of the same moral decay, victimization, high taxation, re-writing of the Constitution, etc., and how any of this could be confused with progress. :)

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jim Miller
Member Avatar
Village Lamplighter
""Liberals have embraced the more unsavory characteristics of American life, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the North American Man/Boy Love Association, flag burning, disparaging the Pledge of Allegiance and a determination to impose the homosexuality lifestyle on high school students."


Is this not true?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Center Punch
No Avatar
Village Smythe
When a person committs a crime, which could be interpreted as 'in your face', wouldn't the whole process of putting that person behind bars be considered 'in your face'?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
ZetaBoards gives you all the tools to create a successful discussion community.
Learn More · Sign-up for Free
« Previous Topic · Ye Olde Unto the Breach · Next Topic »
Add Reply

Theme by Don of The Light Fantastic