Hatred for Christians
Stanley Kurtz writes in National Review about a rising tide of outright hate for Christians among the far reaches of the left. He says the May 2005 issue of Harper's magazine contains signs that "could mark the beginning of a systematic campaign of hatred directed at traditional Christians."
Some on the left are constructing a straw man to justify this venom. The straw man is Christian theocracy. Liberals say "the United States is just a few short steps away from having apostasy, blasphemy, sodomy, and witchcraft declared capital crimes."
There was a conference on this idea of theocracy in New York last weekend, which the Washington Times reported on Sunday and Tuesday. It is hard to tell how influential this conference was, but there were serious thinkers from the left there, as well as over 600 New Yorkers. Craig Unger, who wrote "House of Bush, House of Saud," and whose book was one of the cornerstones of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" was there, doing research on a new book about the Christian right.
Kurtz says the left's hatred for Christians is being exposed now because Christians are fighting back.
For example, Sen. Ken Salazar, Colorado Democrat, has gotten into a public war of words with James Dobson and Focus on the Family over the judicial nominees filibuster issue. On April 26, he called Dobson's group "the anti-Christ."
Imagine a Christian politician using that term to describe a Democrat, and the reaction to that.
Salazar issued the following apology: "I regret having used that term," he said. "I meant to say this approach was un-Christian, meaning self-serving and selfish."
And in the Harper's May 05 issue, editor Lewis Lapham ends his issue-opening piece with this gem of a quote near the end.
What does that mean, that Lapham thinks Christians should no longer be granted "the boon of tolerance"? He doesn't say, but the possibilities are ominous.
Some on the left are constructing a straw man to justify this venom. The straw man is Christian theocracy. Liberals say "the United States is just a few short steps away from having apostasy, blasphemy, sodomy, and witchcraft declared capital crimes."
There was a conference on this idea of theocracy in New York last weekend, which the Washington Times reported on Sunday and Tuesday. It is hard to tell how influential this conference was, but there were serious thinkers from the left there, as well as over 600 New Yorkers. Craig Unger, who wrote "House of Bush, House of Saud," and whose book was one of the cornerstones of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" was there, doing research on a new book about the Christian right.
Kurtz says the left's hatred for Christians is being exposed now because Christians are fighting back.
For a very long time now, secular liberals have treated conservative Christians as the modern embodiment of evil, the one group you’re allowed to openly hate. Although barely noticed by the rest of us, this poison has been floating through our political system for decades. Traditional Christians are tired of it, and I don’t blame them. That doesn’t justify rhetorical excess from either side. But the fact of the matter is that the Left’s rhetorical attacks on conservative Christians have long been more extreme, more widely disseminated, and more politically effective than whatever the Christians have been hurling back. And now that their long ostracism by the media has finally forced conservative Christians to demand redress, the Left has abandoned all rhetorical restraint.
For example, Sen. Ken Salazar, Colorado Democrat, has gotten into a public war of words with James Dobson and Focus on the Family over the judicial nominees filibuster issue. On April 26, he called Dobson's group "the anti-Christ."
Imagine a Christian politician using that term to describe a Democrat, and the reaction to that.
Salazar issued the following apology: "I regret having used that term," he said. "I meant to say this approach was un-Christian, meaning self-serving and selfish."
And in the Harper's May 05 issue, editor Lewis Lapham ends his issue-opening piece with this gem of a quote near the end.
"We err on the side of folly if we continue to grant the boon of tolerance to people who mean to do us harm in the conviction that they receive from Genesis the command 'to take dominion over the earth,' to build the Kingdom of God, to create the Christian nation."
What does that mean, that Lapham thinks Christians should no longer be granted "the boon of tolerance"? He doesn't say, but the possibilities are ominous.
posted by stan at 1:00 AM
1 Comments:
Pity the poor conservative christian. Although I know of no instance of actual discrimination. No burning places of worship (such as African American churches in the south), no beatings (such as experienced by gays), no radio or television stations being yanked off the air.
Instead, I am to understand that conservative Christians are put upon because they only control two of the three branches of government, and because the third, although mostly appointed by conservatives, refuses to promote the Bible to the law of the Land.
I am to understand that you are "oppressed" because people question whether our civic institutions in a pluralistic culture should be used to enshrine one sect's view of God.
Please. I am a Christian too, and I very much believe that the rest of America needs to stand up to the religous right or we will be trampled. I see a lot of hate coming from your end of the room. Stop playing the victim.
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