Top Ten Christian Bashing Incidents of '08

CMR ^ | January 6, 2009 | matthew archbold

[NYer]

A San Francisco Catholic Church had swastikas and other nasty things spray painted on its walls this week due to the Church's stance on Prop 8. As we all know, the cultural elite of this country have adopted a sickening tone of anti-Christianity recently and it only seems to be getting worse.

With that in mind I noticed that the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (CADC) prepared a Top Ten list of the most egregious acts of Christian Bashing in American in 2008.

#10: Jack Black Musical Video

In a short video posted on FunnyorDie.com entitled, "Prop 8 The Musical," an all star cast of Hollywood celebrities perform a low budget musical farce that defames Christ, mocks Christians and distorts the teaching of the Bible. Jack Black played the lead role of Jesus.

#9: Bill Maher Gratuitously Attacks Pope

Bill Maher, host of the HBO program Real Time, made light of the Pope during his recent visit and the tragic sexual abuse scandal. Maher said, "Now I know what you're thinking, Bill. You can't be saying that the Catholic Church is no better than this creepy (radical Mormon polygamist) Texas cult. For one thing, alter boys can't even get pregnant. But really, what tripped up the little cult on the prairie was that they only abused hundreds of kids, not thousands all over the world. Cults get raided; religions get parades... If you have a few hundred followers and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you have a billion, they call you Pope."

#8: ESPN Anchor Dana Jacobson's "F--- Jesus" Remark

Speaking at an ESPN corporate event in Atlantic City, N.J., to honor ESPN Radio personalities Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, Dana Jacobson let go with a steam of vulgar remarks; "F--- Notre Dame," "F--- Touchdown Jesus" and finally "F--- Jesus." Jacobson was suspended for a few days for the incident.


#7: Minnesota University Professor Desecrates Communion

A Biology Professor from the University of Minnesota, Paul Zachary Myers, recently desecrated a consecrated communion wafer from a Catholic Mass. Meyer's has also asked people to steal the Eucharist for him in order that he might desecrate it and display it on his blog.


#6: Religulous the Movie

Bill Maher released a very shallow, pseudo-intellectual documentary entitled Religulous. The movie did not cover any new intellectual ground. It simply raised the old attacks on the faith. Maher studiously avoided being fair and did not allow for legitimate Christian answers from any leading Christian intellectuals.


#5: Chaplains Fired for Praying in Jesus' Name

Chaplains for the State of Virginia are being denied their right to pray in Jesus' name. Six chaplains were fired for continuing to pray in Jesus' name. Earlier this year in Virginia, Rev. Hashmel Turner, a city councilman in Fredericksburg, was told by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that his prayers during city council meetings that ended in Jesus' name will continue to be banned.


#4: Colorado Law Criminalizes the Bible

SB200, a Colorado state bill recently signed into law, criminalizes the Bible. Section 8 of the bill entitled "Publishing of discriminative matter forbidden" makes publishing the Bible illegal because it contains anti-homosexual passages. This is part of a larger effort to criminalize the expression of certain opinions and beliefs.


#3: Barack Obama Defames Christianity

According to research into President Elect Obama's own statements about faith, and an examination of Obama's position on moral issues, CADC has determined that by any biblical and historic Christian standard, Barack Obama is not a Christian, although he claims he is a "devout Christian."


#2: Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin Is Attacked

Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, came under sharp attack by some in the mainstream media because she self-identifies as a Christian. The Washington Post published a cartoon by Pat Oliphant mocking Palin because she has a background as a Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian. A suspicious arson fire at Sarah Palin's home church recently caused over $1,000,000 in damage.

#1: Radical Homosexuals Assault Prop 8 Marriage Supporters in California

During and after the November campaign stories flooded in of pro-Prop 8 signs being taken, people verbally and physically assaulted, church property and private automobiles vandalized, and person's jobs and pastor's lives threatened simply for exercising their right to campaign and vote in support of traditional marriage.

[NYer]

And then there was the attempted attack on the pope at Christmas mass.

---

Tuesday 30 December

A psychiatric patient intended to bite Pope Benedict in the neck during a foiled attack at the Midnight Mass at St Peter’s over Christmas.

Erwin Niederberger, the press officer for the Swiss Guards, told the Swiss online magazine20 Minuten that the hooded figure tackled to the ground by the Pope’s security people (see below) on Christmas eve was a mentally disturbed Italian woman. Neither Benedict XVI nor the rest of the congregation seemed fazed by the incident.

Fr Federico Lombardi, who heads the Vatican’s press office told the Associated Press on December 25 that he thought that the attacker wanted to greet the Pope.

“The woman wanted to bite the Pope in the neck,” said Niederberger.

According to Niederberger the woman is a Italian residing in Switzerland where she is in psychiatric care. The Swiss news agency claims that the woman was motivated by the reports in which the Pope’s Christmas message had been interpreted as a direct attack on homosexuals and transsexuals. She is now in police custody. It is unclear whether she will be returned to Switzerland.

link to video

[trisham]

Wow. Thank goodness security prevailed and he wasn’t harmed!

[Citizen Blade]

I gotta say, considering the amount of religious violence and repression around the world, if the best that this group can come up with is a list that includes a short video by Jack Black, Christians have nothing to worry about.

[Gerish]

A psychiatric patient intended to bite Pope Benedict in the neck during a foiled attack at the Midnight Mass at St Peter’s over Christmas.

Thanks for link, saw this happen as I was watching the Mass on Christmas Eve, but never heard anything else on the event.

[tutstar]

bump

[ducdriver]

#3: Having won the election, Barry 0bamma no longer needs to be a “devout Christian”. I doubt we will hear this from him again for about 3 years.

[gracesdad]

“A psychiatric patient intended to bite Pope Benedict in the neck during a foiled attack at the Midnight Mass at St Peter’s over Christmas.”

Hardly qualifies as Christian bashing.

[Liberty1970]

Yes, this list is seriously deficient. If my experience is normal, the average Christian today has many friends and acquaintances who have lost their jobs because they were discovered to be Christians (this particularly applies to academia and the media). Not to mention having ones’ church vandalized and hit by arson attacks, as in the case of the church I grew up at. It’s not hard to find more serious cases of anti-Christian harassment and persecution in the U.S. any more.

[topcat54]

Duplicate

[NYer]

The name search did not bring up that thread but thanks for the link. This one includes some commentary ;-)

[Citizen Blade]

It’s not hard to find more serious cases of anti-Christian harassment and persecution in the U.S. any more.

Over 80% of the people in this country identify themselves as Christians. It is very difficult to get elected to public office (outside of few areas) without at least paying lip-service to Christianity. There is a church every few blocks in any neighborhood.

With all this in mind, you really consider Christians to be an endangered species in this country? Who is actually doing the endangering?

[Cherokee Conservative]

The law passed in Colorado should make all of us worry. It's shocking that crap like that can pass in the United States. Read it here:

SB200

If you aren't Christian, when you read the section on published material, think about conservative literature, magazines, ads, etc. And Conservative speech is next I'm sure. It's definitely something to worry about!

[Cherokee Conservative]

I don’t think anyone said Christians are an endangered species. Yes, 80% profess to be some kind of Christian. Some groups are more vocal in there conservative thinking than others. But, being a large group in no way means you can not be harassed, censored, have your churches vandalized or burned down, or be persecuted. The size of the group has nothing to do with it. There were large numbers of Christians in Europe before the crusades. That doesn’t mean Islamists of that day didn’t try to wipe them out leading to the crusades. Just making a point.

[Citizen Blade]

Your link is broken

[Cherokee Conservative]

Sorry about that:

http://www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2008A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/BD7A295EB6F4460E872573F5005D0148?Open&file=200_enr.pdf

[raynearhood]

I repeat my reply to the other posting of this thread:

I suppose all the Christian bashing doesn't bother me, at all. If nothing else, I rejoice in it.

2 Corinthians 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 Corinthians 4:9 For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. 11 To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; 12 and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; 13 when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

14 I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.

AND, I sorta expect it. 2 Timothy 3:12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Sure, I get that initial tinge of "OUCH! That's just wrong and they are bashing my beliefs!" But, then I get over it and say, "Oh, well, I don't need their approval to love and worship... God will sustain me."

I'm actually sort of bothered that there is a Anti-Defamation committee set up by Christians.

[Citizen Blade]

The article misinterprets the Colorado law, when it claims:

SB200, a Colorado state bill recently signed into law, criminalizes the Bible. Section 8 of the bill entitled "Publishing of discriminative matter forbidden" makes publishing the Bible illegal because it contains anti-homosexual passages. This is part of a larger effort to criminalize the expression of certain opinions and beliefs.

The law doesn't do that. It just forbids the owner of any public accomodation from distributing written materials that discriminate or seek to discriminate against against people for various reasons (including sexual orientation). That means you can't put up a sign saying "no homosexuals allowed," but there is no Constitutional way this could be used to ban the printing or distribution of the Bible, since that would not constitute discrimination.

[annalex]

There are similarly worded laws in Canada and a pastor was prosecuted for teaching against homosexuality from the Bible, according to that law. A church is a place of public accomodation. Hotels (with Gideon Bibles in them), and more importantly, hospitals, surely are. The Bible clearly seeks to discriminate against a lot of people, or at elast I can easily imagine someone arguing that it does.

Naturally, there would never be a law that says “printing the Bible is prohibited”. There was no such law in the Soviet Union, which nevertheless put priests in the GULAG by the trainload.

[Liberty1970]

I agree that over 80% vaguely identify themselves as Christians. (And would probably identify themselves as cars if they were standing in a garage). The actual number seems closer to 20%, even allowing for wavering or immature faith. Many who claim some kind of Christian affiliation in surveys are actively hostile to Christians in practice. How else can one explain situations like "Christian" colleges that regularly oust professors for the crime of believing the Bible in even a vague or simple manner (such as happened to Dr. William Dembski at Baylor or Dr. Jerry Bergman at Spring Arbor)?

I have no doubt that if savage persecution against Christians comes, it will largely be led by frocked priests and "respectable" church leaders. Pointing to survey results like that does not nullify the arsons and vandalism, the job losses, the assaults, the ridicule and expressions of hate, not to mention all the petty harassment.

Part of the problem is that anti-Christians feel they can act with impunity, as Christians are taught to be meek (as they should), but government has lost it's nerve and moral authority to defend the populace from injustice. That provides an environment, especially among self-righteous elites in the media and academia, in which any and all injustices can be rationalized and acted upon.