Ridicule the Believers

The Denver Post ^ | March 5, 2003 | Al Knight

[RAT Patrol]

al knight

Ridicule the believers

By Al Knight
Denver Post Columnist

Wednesday, March 05, 2003 - It has long been true that, while members of certain groups are not to be ridiculed in the nation's culture, members of other groups are fair game year-round.

Evangelical Christians top the list of groups that can be safely targeted without apology or regret.

Thus, it's no surprise that Newsweek, one of the nation's leading news magazines, devotes its cover story this week to the issue of President Bush's relationship with God. The headline of this piece is, in fact, "Bush and God." The article suggests that the president's beliefs are more important now because of the possibility of war. The article, however, offers no information that would suggest the president's faith is a factor in his policy regarding Iraq.

It needs to be said at the outset that the long-winded article isn't really a direct attack on President Bush's religious beliefs.

Rather, Newsweek uses time- honored news-magazine methods of making the trivial seem important while steadfastly ignoring more obvious matters. Comments are attributed to people without names or specific titles. Aides, friends and observers provide anonymous comments or insights that advance the central theme of the article. Unrelated facts are tossed together to create a series of calculated impressions.

So what is the result? Well, George Bush, it turns out, is a guy who not only is a practicing Christian but one who reads the Bible and relies on his faith to help him face the challenges of life and the presidency.

This is not surprising news. Millions of Americans use similar approaches in dealing with life's concerns. Newsweek finds something sinister in Bush's past. It asserts that Bush started way back in 1987 to organize the forces of evangelical Christians and that, today, evangelical Christians make up the "core" of the entire Republican Party.

That will come as huge news to the many members of the GOP who are more interested in tax policy and national defense than in the president's faith-based initiatives. It also will surprise Christians who make up a sizable portion of the Democratic Party.

Newsweek insists it has discovered the political "wish list" that Bush is pursuing to solidify his base of "believers."

This list, it says, "includes conservative, pro-life judicial nominations; new HUD regulations that allow federal grants for construction of 'social service' facilities at religious institutions; a ban on human cloning and 'partial-birth' abortion; a sweeping program to allow churches, synagogues and mosques to use federal funds to administer social-welfare programs; strengthened limits on stem-cell research; increased funding to teach sexual abstinence in schools rather than safer sex and pregnancy prevention; foreign aid policies that stress right-to-life themes; and federal money for prison programs that use Christian tough love in an effort to lower recidivism rates among convicts."

The problem with this long passage is that it implies that only evangelical Christian Republicans support these steps. That is nonsense. A ban on partial-birth abortions, for example, has wide public support. So, too, does a ban on human cloning. As for the other elements, such as sex education, these are relatively minor matters addressed by small federal initiatives.

The Newsweek article presents both a false and misleading picture, one that deliberately misses the larger issue: how the nation's politics and culture is being affected by the Bush administration.

Is the culture being coarsened by this president? Hardly.

It is widely reported that elements of the Muslim faith "hate" the United States because of its coarse culture. The evidence of that coarseness need not be listed here. It is true, however, that its most offensive elements are associated with some of the very people who are Bush's most strident and persistent critics.

Some of these critics, in Hollywood and out, would have the nation think that having a believing president represents a greater risk to the nation than the continuing spread of a corrupt and immoral culture.

They are wrong about that. Most Christians know it, and so do most Muslims. The wonder is that Newsweek has yet to discover it.

---

Al Knight (alknight@mindspring.com) ) is a member of the Denver Post editorial board. His column appears Wednesday and Sunday.

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[exnavy]

Some of us christians have come to expect this.

[RAT Patrol]

Some of us christians have come to expect this.

I know. But it's nice to have people like Al Knight hold Newsweek to account for this type of unfair ridicule.

[Blue Collar Christian]

"It also will surprise Christians who make up a sizable portion of the Democrat party."

I cannot find scriptural support for the platform of the Democrat platform, I can find scriptural support for most of the Republican platform.

I may be blind, but I cannot see how someone can be a Christian and a Democrat. Christian Democrat is an oximoron.

[Conservative til I die]

"Evangelical Christians top the list of groups that can be safely targeted without apology or regret."

He must not lurk on FR, specifically, the Catholic threads.

[philetus]

The Democrats have used a rhetorical strategy—to great success—to confuse, rather than to clarify issues. If we want religion, they will give us “religion,” just as they have given us “education,” “child care,” “civil rights,” “health care,” “jobs,” “national security” and “sex.” Just as the media have given us “news.”


plagurized from: http://christianity.com/CC/article/0,,PTID1000%7CCHID13%7CCIID153511,00.html

[tjg]

Not all Christians beleive the same things. Many Christian religions condone, for example, abortion and homosexuality.

How is that inconsistent with being a Democrat?

[Constitutions Grandchild]

I have been profoundly angry for many, many months now with the treatment practicing Christians have received at the hands of a minority of Americans, in general, and at the hands of the majority of the American press and media. I have also been fearful that those immigrants to whom America has opened its arms and embraced to allow them the freedom to live a life of peace, prosperity and freedom of religious persecution have contempt for those who made America possible.

I have seen historical pieces written on the founding fathers of this country that state our forefathers (mine, to be exact) did not believe in God. That is a bonafide misrepresentation of the truth. Like many people today, my ancestors were not perfect men (or women), but they most certainly believed in God, saw to it that we were brought up to believe in Him, as well, and believed, without exception, that He founded this country to be a haven for the persecuted -- especially those who were persecuted for their beliefs.

When they legislated that there should be a separation of church and state, it was not intended to mean what it has been incorrectly construed to mean. It meant that no one religion would be the only choice offered. We have now come to the point where WE are experiencing what THEY left the old world to escape -- THOUGHT CONTROL, FAITH CONTROL, IMMORALITY, BIGOTRY, POLITICAL DISHONESTY, and a total break-down of society. That's what my family came here (close to five hundred years ago) to escape, and I'll be damned if it isn't here all over again. I am OUTRAGED!

My family didn't spend its fortune, its blood, its hard, hard work carving out a pathway westward so this could happen. It must stop. These legislated assaults on our freedoms must stop. True Americans must stand together defending our place under God's sun or we will surely die without consolation -- desolate and without hope.

My family will support any man or woman who loves the Lord and will support any men and women of good will who seek safe haven here. That's what this nation was founded upon, and I reserve my right to believe in Jesus, the Christ, and His Father, Yahweh, Author of all that lives or exists. I reserve the right to stand on the street corner and shout it to the heavens and in any other forum I deem justified and necessary. God bless George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, and all our elected officials. May He lead them (by the ear, if necessary) to make the wisest, most necessary decisions to preserve my country and protect each and every one of us. May we serve Him in all we do and say and shine as a beacon to all those in darkness. May God guide all those who are persecuted to the loving arms of liberty and kick them in the ass if they don't appreciate the gift they've been given after they get here.

[Slyfox]

Ridicule is the weapon of the left. It is making fun of someone at their expense. Engaging in ridicule takes no thought.

[Blue Collar Christian]

Maybe Christians in name only, that have edited the Bible for their convenience, condone these things. Same thing with Reformed Jews,they pick and choose their passages and dump the rest.

[joesnuffy]

GW Bush is in the company of the likes of 99% of the founding fathers
including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson..
And a great majority of US Presidents Political and Military leaders of our greatest days...
So why is it not surprising that the left would despise him and ridicule his and loyal patriotic American's beliefs......
The pagans wish to control American and remake it to it's destruction...ala the ACLU the media, hollywood, and the so called insitutes of "higher learning"

[tutstar]

bump

[Blue Collar Christian]

"The Demcrats have used a rhetorical strategy-...."

Yes, and approximately 1/2 of voters buy into this. This all explains how advertising(no matter how unbelievable or stupid)is so successful. Advertising is so successful that now fat people are suing fast food restaurants for their weight problems.

Just give us one day a month....

[philetus]

Just give us one day a month....


Wouldn't even have to be a work day.

[Blue Collar Christian]

AMEN! AMEN!

[Quix]

Thanks.

Nice for someone in the media to note this.

Alas, it can be observed here.

And, we even bash each other far to much and often. Sigh.
Help me, Lord. I want to do better.

[so_real]

Many Christian religions condone, for example, abortion and homosexuality

I would agree that many religions condoning abortion and homosexuality claim to be Christian. But I would *not* say that many Christian religions condone abortion and homosexuality. None of the teachings of Christ advocate baby killing or same sex relationships. Don't let the flies in the ointment convince you that the entire Christian church is corrupt. Each church must be measured individually against the Word of God, and not against each other.

[so_real]

Well stated! You are not alone in your conviction!

[Damocles]

Hang around a bit and you'll see FR has its own professional Christian bashers.

Although, I must say us Christians do a fairly good job of bashing ourselves.

[CFIIIMEIATP737]

I agree with the exact phrasing of your post, 'Christian religions condone abortion and homosexuality." I define religion as man's attempt to reach God. In the error of their human ways, and in an effort to be all-inclusive, some religions, whose central claim is Christianity, have done what you have said. They are wrong. The selfishness and murder of abortion is spoken against harshly in the Bible. Homosexuality is condemned in the Bible. True Christians will love the sinner, but hate the sin.