Posted on 01/04/2002 5:18:18 AM PST by truthandlife
Greg Pierce relates in a recent article in the Washington Times:
Democrats, in the name of tolerance, plan to demonize conservative Christians as being like the Taliban, according to an article in Newsweek. Democrats "are planning a daring assault on the most critical turf in politics: the cultural mainstream," political correspondent Howard Fineman writes. "The theory goes like this. Our enemy in Afghanistan is religious extremism and intolerance. It's therefore more important than ever to honor the ideals of tolerance – religious, sexual, racial, reproductive – at home. The GOP is out of the mainstream, some Democrats will argue [this] year, because it's too dependent upon an intolerant 'religious right," Mr. Fineman said.A number of years ago, social critic and journalist Malcolm Muggeridge penned these words in his "Moscow Diaries," but they apply to the mindset that consumes the "progressive" Democratic Party of 2002.
It is sad that a once-great political party chooses to wage an intellectual jihad against "right-wing" Christianity. Muggeridge was writing about the "ism" of communism, but his statement also describes what anti-Christian forces are doing in the U.S. and abroad:
It destroys everything and everyone ... a darkness; a paralysis; in the country, a blight, sterility; shouting monotonously its empty formula – classless, socialist society – it attacks with methodical barbarity, not only men and classes and institutions, but the soul of a society. It tears a society up by the roots and leaves it dead. "If we go," Lenin said, "we shall slam the door on an empty house."Well, the Democrats continue to slam the door on America's Christians and Christianity – that is, to the religion that still adheres to some core principles.
The Democratic point of view will maintain it has nothing against Christianity as long as that Christianity has no strong doctrines or core beliefs. You may be a Christian as long as you are "their" kind of Christian – that is, the kind better known as Kumbaya Christians.
They hold beliefs that disappear like fog at dawn; they believe what the secular world believes. Any policy, any horror is okay, any injustice committed against "right-wing" Christianity is okay.
In the name of tolerance the Kumbaya Christian has no real beliefs but rather adheres to a kind of mushy, feel-good Christianity. Every foul deed is all right as long as the intentions were good.
The only gospel they recognize is a watered-down social gospel, and these days they seldom complain when their Founder is redesigned as a myth by Time magazine or the History Channel.
They don't seem to blanch when He is recreated as just one more god among many. Feel-good Christians know the resurrection without the cross. They would be just as happy if it resembled a well-run kindergarten class where the participants did nothing but create pictures of rainbows and flowers and join hands to sing "The Wheels of the Bus Go Round and Round."
It is a childish Christianity, easily controlled and manipulated by the secular world. Suffering is out and sacrifice is a mental illness. In addition, along with their secular brethren they are silent about the persecution of Christians around the world.
Well, the whole bunch of them, progressive Democrats and the Kumbaya-one-church-fits-all crowd, will have to join the growing club of those who find persecuting Christians the latest in acceptable indoor and outdoor sport.
It is revealing to think that Democrats could even consider attacking Republicans because of their purported association with the Christian right. For the left and the leadership of the Democratic Party to insinuate that the Christian right is comparable to the Taliban is typical and unconscionable.
These folks will never understand that such a policy is a misuse of free speech. In their politics and policies they really do believe that the end justifies the means. How Hegelian, how like all the "isms" that destroyed millions of people in the 20th century.
The trouble is that they will not see any evil in what they do. They are, after all, the enlightened. As long as the end result is "good," anything goes.
The "enlightened" now include the mainstream press, progressive politicians of both parties but especially Democrats, academe, multinational tycoons like Ted Turner and George Soros, and the coterie of globalists who look upon organized and orthodox Christianity as evil and in the way.
Include in the list of "enlightened" the New Age people, New World Order religionists who are opting for a one-size-fits-all standard brand of religion. A religion that can be called upon to do anything, to be anything, to accept anything that the enlightened may design as good for mankind or nature or the world systems.
The new faith includes a dash of New Age mysticism, paganism, secularism, humanism, pantheism, environmentalism, communism, socialism – all the popular and politically correct "isms" of our day. These "isms" have been at war with Christianity for decades.
The new religion pays lip service to "tolerance" but fails to offer tolerance to Christians. They get away with it because they can. They control Christians by demonizing them and calling them names.
Conservatives and most Christians are loath to challenge them lest they be painted with the broad brush of newspeak and political correctness. Names like racist, sexist, homophobic or whatever works are used in order to silence Christians.
That kind of intimidation has worked before and it is working again in our own time.
A little name calling, however, is actually good for Christians. It makes them grow stronger. But persecution never just stops at name calling. That is the way real persecutions begin.
Around the world, Christians not only are being subjected to name calling, they also are being denied basic rights. They are being killed or forcibly converted to Islam.
In the United States they are one way or another being forced to convert to a brand of secular humanism gleaned from Hegel, Marx, Freud, Marcuse, Gramsci, Dewey, Maslow, Rogers and Darwin and the entire pantheon of secular gods. If they are not converted, they are silenced in a thousand subtle and not so subtle ways.
That kind of coercion is pervasive. It was pervasive in the last election cycle and now it is beginning again.
Many of our leaders and media people have succumbed to its tyranny. For many American Christians it is becoming a matter of keeping your mouth shut or ELSE. Let one high-profile religious leader like Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson say something dumb or thoughtless and all secular hell breaks loose.
When that happens, Christians on the right had better batten down the hatches because they will be tarred by the same brush.
But a strong people can weather those worldly storms. Tragically, in other parts of the world, persecution of Christians is physical as well as mental and cultural.
Next time: Christian Persecution Around the World. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's response to the evil of the silent Christian.
demonize conservative Christians as being like the Taliban,
Would it surprise you that Gore won the Catholic vote outright in 2000? Also, Bush got 10% points more than Dole did in 1996. There is a major problem with the Catholic leadership in America - one in which its members don't consistently support the Christian candidates.
Tolerance is a good virtue, but virtue should never be sacrificed for the sake of tolerance.
Az
Overall, no.
Break it down, and it gets deeper. Basically, if I remember correctly, the stats were something like 60/40 Bush/Gore for Practicing Catholics, and vice versa for Catholics who graced a church with their presence only a couple of times per year. The numbers were similar, as I recall, for practicing vs. non-practicing Protestants.
A sidebar issue would be the amazing "I'm personally opposed, but..." statement that seems to so many people to be their 'escape hatch'.
Hmmmm, this reminds me of a certain person here to the 'T'.
It's true there are a lot of clueless Catholic clergy, particularly in the Northeast -- Robert Bork wrote a few years ago that the Catholic Church "looks like the Democratic Party in robes." And my dad tells me that at one time if you were a Catholic you were a Democrat. Perhaps the Church's focus on Christian charity that is at the root of the problem. The term "charity" has come to mean only the giving of alms to the poor, instead of Christ's commandment that all people love one another as they are all loved by God. That was the call to charity. I think a lot of the clergy and laity has accepted the mistaken notion that "charity" is supposed to be a government function. I'd imagine a large portion of Catholic Americans have accepted that idea, but not all. Certainly not this Catholic.
Also, elderly Catholics who are mainly concerned about Social Security and think they are still voting for FDR when they walk in the booth.
This is not true. If Catholics were concerned with Christian charity they would object to the idea of giving tax money to the federal government for welfare. Churches can accomplish the task of reducing poverty far better than the government
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.