Posted on 09/22/2006 7:55:15 AM PDT by ZGuy
The mighty publishing industry has committed formidable resources to alerting complacent Americans to the danger of a malevolent force that purportedly menaces all of us: the growing power of conservative Christians.
Tomorrow on my radio show, I confront Sam Harris, author of the latest book length attack on traditionalist believers: "Letter to a Christian Nation," published by Knopf. In the course of his brief book, Mr. Harris declares that "many who claim to be transformed by Christ's love are deeply, even murderously intolerant" and concludes: "It is terrible that we all die and lose everything we love; it is doubly terrible that so many human beings suffer needlessly while alive. That so much of this suffering can be directly attributable to religion.... is what makes the honest criticism of religious faith a moral and intellectual necessity."
This broadside ( which offers just 92 pages of large type for a startling price of $16.95) represents just the latest release among scores of volumes which have recently slammed and smeared conservative Christians. Among the many, many recent predecessors to "Letter to a Christian Nation" are "Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America"; "Jesus is Not a Republican: The Religious Right's War on America"; "With God on Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, and Democracy in George W. Bush's White House"; "With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America"; "The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right"; "The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right's Plans for the Rest of Us"; "Close Encounters with the Religious Right: Journeys into the Twilight Zone of Religion and Politics"; "Using Terri: The Religious Right's Conspiracy to Take Away Our Rights"; "Liars for Jesus: The Religious Rights Alternative Version of American History"; "Why the Christian Right is Wrong"; "An Outline of the Bible: Why the Religious Right Can't Call Itself Christian": "The New Subversives: Anti-Americanism of the Religious Right"; "American Theocracy: The Perils and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed Money"; "Hijacking of the Christian Church: Voices of the Religious Right," and countless other predictably alarmist titles.
These volumes -- duly published and promoted by prestigious major imprints -- all seethe with fear, resentment, paranoia and hysterical hatred toward citizens who have perpetrated the unspeakable crime of upholding traditional and Christian religious values. Since Sam Harris suggests in his latest book that the people who share such views constitute an overwhelming majority of Americans -- some 260 million individuals, Harris estimates-- the implacable hostility toward this huge segment of the population represents an appallingly odd business strategy, if nothing else.
The increasingly shrill warnings about the dreaded "Christian Right" become particularly difficult to understand in light of the constructive and public spirited behavior of most people who identify as conservative believers. None of the books decrying Christian influence suggest that people of faith in the United States engage in violence against other religions, or unravel the fabric of society through criminality, selfishness or greed. When I've interviewed the authors on my radio show, they have freely admitted that they would be pleased to live next store to an Evangelical, or even Fundamentalist Christian family, because such people are likely to be law-abiding, hard-working, neighborly, stable and considerate. This contradiction demonstrates the irrational nature of the hatred and fear of a group of people who do more than their share to feed the hungry, house the homeless, keep families together, educate their children, serve in the military, give to charity, maintain their homes, nurse the sick, promote adoption and build communities. What, exactly, do conservative Christians do that in any way harms or damages their non-Christian neighbors (like me)?
In answering that question, critics of the "Religious Right" always come back to issues of political influence and their groundless fears of some future theocracy. The secular liberals don't so much object to what Christian conservatives currently do, as they fear what they believe those activists want some day to achieve. But even here, it's hard to explain the hysteria and negativity. Yes, many (probably most) conservative Christians would like to return to the practice of reciting non-denominational prayers in public schools, and they would like to preserve Ten Commandment monuments and crosses currently on public display. But these preferences hardly qualify as intolerant, Taliban-like, or theocratic -- unless you believe that the USA under the Constitution, between 1789 and 1961, constituted some benighted theocracy. Before a series of Supreme Court rulings in the early 1960's, most American school kids began the school day with prayer but that tradition in no way stifled diversity or free exercise of religious preference -- nor did the religious symbols liberally scattered across the national landscape.
The ongoing publishing industry assault on People of Faith targets some of the most generous and patriotic of our fellow citizens. Since these attacks bear no connection to actual damage to communities or individuals, the critics invariably cite theological abstractions -- suggesting, for instance, that Christian conservatives are dangerous because they assume that non-believers are going to hell. But as long as these religious folks don't treat non-believers like hell-- and they don't-- then what's the real problem if you dislike someone else's view of the afterlife? Sam Harris reveals the deeper motivation at the very beginning of "Letter to a Christian Nation." He writes: "If the basic tenets of Christianity are true, then there are some very grim surprises in store for nonbelievers like myself....So let us be honest with ourselves: in the fullness of time, one side is really going to win this argument, and the other side is really going to lose."
Mr. Harris, in other words, seems to worry about people assuming he's bound for damnation because in one corner of his mind, at least, he fears they may be right. In the argument he describes, it's not possible that Christian believers are "really going to lose." If Mr. Harris is right about humanity and materialism, then there will be no sense of regret or despair if religious people fail to reach heaven after death. If we are, indeed, just spiritless chemicals then we won't be around to feel remorse over a life wasted in prayer, religious fellowship, and good deeds. When he suggests that one side is "really going to lose" he can only have his own side in mind.
That's why the maturation and empowerment of America's religious communities looks so threatening to atheists, agnostics or the disinterested. The more that people of faith develop confidence, sophistication and influence, the more that those on the other side nurse the dark, inescapable, intolerable fear that they just may be right about life and eternity. It's that profound and perpetual worry -- not the behavior or even ambitions of Christian conservatives - that irritates and alarms those who've rejected traditional faith.
It's because we haven't given them anything for almost 2000 years. Of course, once you have the complete Revelation of God's Word and Wisdom, what else can you add?
Interesting, though, scare tactics are the coin of the left. For example, they have no trouble trying to make everyone feel guilty and frightened about the environment.
"Name notwithstanding, I do believe Mr. Harris is Jewish, or rather a JINO.
"
OK. I just don't see how anyone could surmise that from the name "Sam Harris." It's irrelevant, in any case, but I found that puzzling.
Only 92 pages? The author knows how much his audience can handle.
These books are written by, and appeal, to two audiences:
- believers in the religion of secularism
- Angry, disappointed ex-members of the Christian Right
I'd like to comment on the other group.
Evangelicals/Fundamentalists/Orthodox preach absolutes of good and evil. Young people, accept this belief system, they accept Christ as their savior, they respond to the altar call at a Billy Graham crusade, etc.
But in the Christian life in the real world, something unChristian happens that totally swings them from the high expectations of a Godly life to total rejection of that life as a fraud.
- A promiscuous young woman accepts Christ. Then allegedly born-again Chrisian young men who know her past hit on her for easy sex.
- A young person attends a Bible College and plans to be a foreign missionary. But one professors of a missions class is racist. Dating between Americans and foreign students of the same race is allowed. But dating between Americans and foreign students of different races is not allowed. (I'm not talking about Bob Jones. I'm talking about the left coast.)
-A young woman is raped by a fellow Bible College student.
These types of incidents totally dis-illusion the person who had dedicated a life to serving God. These types of incidents make the person extremely angry.
A rational person is able to see that "not all Chrisitans are like the one bad apple in the barrel". But when this happens to a person who is emotionally committed to the faith, the reaction is emotional.
This is not unique to the USA. In the 50s and early 60s the South Vietnamese were extremely pro-American and anti-Communist.
The only Americans they knew were foreign missionaries. (Missionaries from ThreeHills, Alberta, Canada were considered American.) These Christian missionaries read the Bible, prayed, taught school, worked in a hospital, read the Bible, prayed... That was their total life. They never spoke an angry word. No sex, no alcohol, no unChristian behavior.
The Vietnamese expected this type of behavior of Americans. John Kennedy sent 50,000 "special forces" to Vietnam. These 50,000 were the cream of the military.
Then LBJ sent 550,000 of us to Vietnam. (66-67 for me). A small percentage of these 550,000 did not act like Christians.
- Guys drove along the highways that had narrow shoulders before the drop off to the rice paddy. They'd call out points for aiming the vehicle at Vietnamese walking on the narrow shoulder. Points for an old woman. Points for a good looking young woman. Points for a guy on a bike. More points for a guy on a bike with an attitude. More points for two guys holding hands. A few civilians were killed. Many civilians had to bale into the rice paddy below to avoid being killed.
- Guys propositioned a good looking woman for sex. She would hold up her Bible in front of her chest and say "I Chrisitan. I married". (Her husband was away in the ARVN.) She would be raped. Her entire extended family, her entire village would get extremely angry and turn anti-American. Her husband would leave the ARVN for the Cong.
The reaction was so dramatic precisely because their expectations of Americans were so high, based on their first positive contact with American missionaries.
Good point, but the truth is, they killed Jesus. Can we expect them to hate us less?
When I became Christian, one of the things I knew was sure to happen was that I would probably experience some negative things in my life because as the Bible tells us we are the fragrance of death to those who are dying (in sin). People hate stinky things and to non-believers, we stink.
"Good point, but the truth is, they killed Jesus. Can we expect them to hate us less?"
Last time I checked, Jesus died for our sins.
---- at the order of, and under the sole legal authorit of, Potius Pilate, the Roman governor.
imho. the biggest reason for their enmity toward christianity is that christianity believes that rights are derived from the supreme being, and not from men. that is a direct threat to their ambitions....that is, to be the sole arbiters of the rights of humans, through a bureacratic maze that includes arrogance, intimidation, punishment and coercion. the end game is total, secular, unabashed control of human behavior. (imho)
I have to agree, Min. I mean, after all, "Purpose Driven Life" is the biggest seller in history next to the Bible, and "Left Behind" has pulled in gazillions.
Maybe because we don't go around chopping off their heads?
Because many people in the publishing industry are addicted to deviant sex practices--and they hate the idea that Christians don't cotton to that sort of thing...
Yes, Jesus died for our sins, but "they" hated him and wanted him killed. It is interesting to note that the scholars of that day, the educated, the highly placed (Sadducees, Pharisees), were the ones who really hated Jesus and it is no different today. Most of those in lofty positions in academia, etc. hate the believers of Christ.
I stand firm in my belief that if they hated Him, they will hate me. God used their hate to allow His perfect plan to unfold, but that doesn't change anything. Pilate was just an intermediary.
Every bookstore I go into (I read a good bit, so it is pretty often) has just about as much space allocated for religious materials as any other topic.
My experience does not square with your comments.
I've always thought that 80% of the liberal critique of Christianity comes down to sexual morality. Liberals want to have sex whenever and with whomever they want, and traditional Christianity prohibits this. The Eastern gurus and Buddhist monks who come to the West realize this, and they know who butters their bread - liberals - so they soft-peddle their own traditions of austere sexual morality in order to preserve their own following. That's one reason why I've always thought of the Dalai Lama and his ilk as rather sly, clever fellows - worldly-wise - rather than as particularly holy. They are very practical men.
"Good point, but the truth is, they killed Jesus."
The book industry is run by Romans?
"Because many people in the publishing industry are addicted to deviant sex practices"
Name 10 of them. Just 10 out of the thousands of people in the publishing industry. That's just silly.
"Yes, Jesus died for our sins, but "they" hated him and wanted him killed. "
They? Who are they? This is going in an ugly direction. So, you tell us who "they" are, please.
Mineral Man - I know you are an atheist I have no idea why you would bother to ask this question. I will only say this. While I fully realize that Jesus willingly went to the cross as part of God's wonderful and perfect plan of salvation, the people who participated (the "they" if you will) involved many. The Romans only did what the Jews requested. The specific individuals involved were only the instruments or human tools of God's divine plan. God works through people, Mineral Man, but if you don't believe in God, how will you ever understand how He works. As the Scripture says, you are blind.
Jesus was a Jew. His followers were Jews.
You wrote this:
"I stand firm in my belief that if they hated Him, they will hate me"
You think Jews hate you? How strange.
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