Thursday, March 29, 2007
Who Is A Christian?
Red State Rabble, as many of you know, grew up Catholic in the Midwest. Part of that experience, as many other Catholics and former Catholics will tell you, involves being told repeatedly by young Protestants that you're not a Christian.
Quite often, at that early age, we were treated to disquisitions on the Antichrist and the Whore of Babylon, as well.
Having lost our faith many, many years ago, those sorts of statements have lost their punch. Nevertheless, we still take notice when the holier-than-thou tear down the faith or beliefs of others.
And there's a particularly egregious example of this fundamentalist condescension going on right now.
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, who appears to be supporting the presidential bid of well-known moral exemplar Newt Gingrich, has said he can't support Fred Thompson, another conservative, because he doesn't think he's a Christian.
According to U.S. News and World Report, Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo responded that the candidate "is indeed a Christian. He was baptized into the Church of Christ."
But that's not good enough for Dobson.
"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," says Dobson spokesperson Gary Schneeberger.
RSR has no love for Fred Thompson, but we've had it up to here with the sanctimony of the religious right.
We're sick and tired of fundamentalists defining who 's a good Christian, and who's not. We've had our fill of wannabe theocrats -- who dream of writing the Bible into the Constitution and replacing the Bill of Rights with the Ten Commandments -- telling the rest of us we're not loyal Americans. We want to hurl every time we hear those who've helped usher in the most corrupt government in the history of the nation lecture us on moral values.
Enough.
Quite often, at that early age, we were treated to disquisitions on the Antichrist and the Whore of Babylon, as well.
Having lost our faith many, many years ago, those sorts of statements have lost their punch. Nevertheless, we still take notice when the holier-than-thou tear down the faith or beliefs of others.
And there's a particularly egregious example of this fundamentalist condescension going on right now.
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, who appears to be supporting the presidential bid of well-known moral exemplar Newt Gingrich, has said he can't support Fred Thompson, another conservative, because he doesn't think he's a Christian.
According to U.S. News and World Report, Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo responded that the candidate "is indeed a Christian. He was baptized into the Church of Christ."
But that's not good enough for Dobson.
"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," says Dobson spokesperson Gary Schneeberger.
RSR has no love for Fred Thompson, but we've had it up to here with the sanctimony of the religious right.
We're sick and tired of fundamentalists defining who 's a good Christian, and who's not. We've had our fill of wannabe theocrats -- who dream of writing the Bible into the Constitution and replacing the Bill of Rights with the Ten Commandments -- telling the rest of us we're not loyal Americans. We want to hurl every time we hear those who've helped usher in the most corrupt government in the history of the nation lecture us on moral values.
Enough.
