Liberals in America?
If conservative rhetoric is correct, it's a lousy time to be a believer in God. The media is promoting a devious agenda aimed at undermining our faith. Nancy Pelosi is going to turn American into San Francisco. (Actual Fox News quote)
Implications aside, are there really all that many actual liberals in America? The ideal liberal stands for freedom, liberty, equality, individuality, etc blah blah. If this is a benchmark, I feel that many of us have fallen short. Sure, if you go to a typical 'progressive' blog and you mention (rightfully now) that George W. Bush is a lying son of a bitch you'll get a predictable circle jerk, save for the occasional right-wing troll. Hell yeah, let's get rid of that sorry excuse of a president!
However, when you even begin to discuss the practicality or impracticality of a potential immigration bill that would separate families, set up stiff penalties (face it, how many illegals can fork at a thousand dollars just like that?), and these so-called liberals will be lining up bullshitting about the sacredness of the rule of law.
Honestly, how many of us have never broken the law? How many of us can honestly say we are sinless? Cheating on your taxes? Speeding 5 miles over the speed limit? A blowjob? (Yes, in some states you can actually get prison time for that) Frankly, it's a selfish mentality that sneers, "I've got mine but you can't get yours." Within the immigration debate racism is unfortunately part of it. Yet we are all affected by problems that face the world and the United States. Those that are not part of the privileged class of America constantly face similar hardships. Our hopes of a better world are disappearing, yet instead of concerning ourselves with bettering the lives of all people, we figure that heaven will be better, the physical world be damned. But for many, life is the present. It's life on earth. You cannot expect to advance the kingdom if you use one hand to hold up a Bible and use the other to push the less fortunate away from you, where you can't be bothered by their misery.
Let's face it, Christians have power in America. Never mind that Newt Gingrich believes that the all-powerful secularists will take baby Jesus away from Christians. Now, if you say that true Christianity is sadly hard to find in America I will agree. But regardless, when someone proclaims themselves to be Christian, their actions and rhetoric affect how others view us. Let's look at the stats here.
All 43 American presidents associated themselves with the Christian faith. If polls are to believed, it is nearly impossible for an atheist to be considered a serious national candidate. I don't really believe that radical secularism is oppressing anyone. I will admit that religious right campaigns are quite effective at painting themselves as victims of evil. "War on Christmas", anyone? This serves to minimize true discrimination against non-believers. Since when have Christians oppressed anyone? Ideally, since never. Unfortunately, we're only human. Christians make mistakes; sometimes devastating ones. Saying that we should "invade [Muslim] countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" is the imagery that sticks in people's heads even moreso than "Let he who is sinless cast the first stone."
Look, Christians aren't being oppressed when the Wal-Mart cashier says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". Bookstores sell millions of Christian books, some good and some bad. Hell, we even have our own Universities. Our politicians on both sides of the aisle cite scripture in their speeches as often as possible. Many denounced a federal judge in San Francisco who ruled that it was unconstitutional for children to recite "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Too often, we are Christians who wear our faith on our armbands. I use the term "we" here because even though I have rarely seen brothers in my sisters behave in this manner, the religious right does, and their actions unfortunately reflect on us. This cannot be stressed enough. Last semester for body worship one of our songs opened up with this poignant line:
It is hard to be a true Christian, yes. There are unfortunately too few of us, and too many who just relish the power or the feeling of assurance and security. God never told us it would be easy. But we have to be willing to leave this excuse behind and show the world what it means to live a true Christian life. For too long the world has seen a distorted caricature. It's time to show them the other side, through our everyday lives and in everything we do.
Implications aside, are there really all that many actual liberals in America? The ideal liberal stands for freedom, liberty, equality, individuality, etc blah blah. If this is a benchmark, I feel that many of us have fallen short. Sure, if you go to a typical 'progressive' blog and you mention (rightfully now) that George W. Bush is a lying son of a bitch you'll get a predictable circle jerk, save for the occasional right-wing troll. Hell yeah, let's get rid of that sorry excuse of a president!
However, when you even begin to discuss the practicality or impracticality of a potential immigration bill that would separate families, set up stiff penalties (face it, how many illegals can fork at a thousand dollars just like that?), and these so-called liberals will be lining up bullshitting about the sacredness of the rule of law.
Honestly, how many of us have never broken the law? How many of us can honestly say we are sinless? Cheating on your taxes? Speeding 5 miles over the speed limit? A blowjob? (Yes, in some states you can actually get prison time for that) Frankly, it's a selfish mentality that sneers, "I've got mine but you can't get yours." Within the immigration debate racism is unfortunately part of it. Yet we are all affected by problems that face the world and the United States. Those that are not part of the privileged class of America constantly face similar hardships. Our hopes of a better world are disappearing, yet instead of concerning ourselves with bettering the lives of all people, we figure that heaven will be better, the physical world be damned. But for many, life is the present. It's life on earth. You cannot expect to advance the kingdom if you use one hand to hold up a Bible and use the other to push the less fortunate away from you, where you can't be bothered by their misery.
Let's face it, Christians have power in America. Never mind that Newt Gingrich believes that the all-powerful secularists will take baby Jesus away from Christians. Now, if you say that true Christianity is sadly hard to find in America I will agree. But regardless, when someone proclaims themselves to be Christian, their actions and rhetoric affect how others view us. Let's look at the stats here.
All 43 American presidents associated themselves with the Christian faith. If polls are to believed, it is nearly impossible for an atheist to be considered a serious national candidate. I don't really believe that radical secularism is oppressing anyone. I will admit that religious right campaigns are quite effective at painting themselves as victims of evil. "War on Christmas", anyone? This serves to minimize true discrimination against non-believers. Since when have Christians oppressed anyone? Ideally, since never. Unfortunately, we're only human. Christians make mistakes; sometimes devastating ones. Saying that we should "invade [Muslim] countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" is the imagery that sticks in people's heads even moreso than "Let he who is sinless cast the first stone."
Look, Christians aren't being oppressed when the Wal-Mart cashier says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". Bookstores sell millions of Christian books, some good and some bad. Hell, we even have our own Universities. Our politicians on both sides of the aisle cite scripture in their speeches as often as possible. Many denounced a federal judge in San Francisco who ruled that it was unconstitutional for children to recite "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Too often, we are Christians who wear our faith on our armbands. I use the term "we" here because even though I have rarely seen brothers in my sisters behave in this manner, the religious right does, and their actions unfortunately reflect on us. This cannot be stressed enough. Last semester for body worship one of our songs opened up with this poignant line:
The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.We cannot hide behind the facade of oppression any longer. A neutral observer arriving in the United States would quickly notice that virtually all national politicians and US media bend over to accommodate religious believers. When a powerful group views itself as a victim warning flags should be raised. Because there is real power, these faux oppressed can inflict greater harm on their imaginary prosecutors than those with no power. This has happened many times throughout history. Christians in Europe during the 20th century believed that they were at the mercy of the Jews and new discriminatory policies were simply enacted to help them defend what was rightfully theirs. Yet the truth is almost the opposite, both then and now. One of the easiest groups to demonize in America is the so-called "secular humanists".
It is hard to be a true Christian, yes. There are unfortunately too few of us, and too many who just relish the power or the feeling of assurance and security. God never told us it would be easy. But we have to be willing to leave this excuse behind and show the world what it means to live a true Christian life. For too long the world has seen a distorted caricature. It's time to show them the other side, through our everyday lives and in everything we do.
Comments
Post a Comment