This morning, at a Louisville Starbuck’s, I saw this bumper sticker:
In case it’s not clear, let me spell it out for you: It says “Contradict” in the same style as the now-ubiquitous “Coexist” stickers, with the tagline “They can’t all be true.” Threatened by an America where they’re no longer the overwhelmingly dominant demographic gropu, they’ve taken a message of tolerance and turned it into a means to run around telling people their faith is superior, which I’m certain will do WONDERS for tolerance and pluralism.
What goons.
It would appear that the “contradict movement” is the work of one man- Andy Wrasman- a man who claims to be writing a book that I’m sure will sell tens and tens of copies. So….if we add this impending horde of hate mongering Christians who have well earned our fear and loathing to the Westboro Baptist Church circus (also frequently and hilariously portrayed as a substantial movement when it is actually, merely one seriously disturbed family), I think we may have roughly 47 people we’re going to have to deal with sooner or later.
When I look at the entire spectrum of contemporary Christian culture, I see an overwhelmingly philanthropic and charitable sensibility that drives ordinary people to directly effect an incredible amount of good to those most in need. It puzzles me why you choose to fixate on wackos, freaks, and weirdos, clearly on the fringe and in no way part of any self-respecting legitimate Christian organization and portray them, however slyly and implicitly, as perfectly representative of the majority. We both know it’s not true.
The piercing MH intellect seems to malfunction when confronted with dumb people saying dumb things in the name of their embarrassing, malinformed misunderstandings of Christian principles- as if these utterances were some sort of kryptonite temporarily affecting one’s capacity for complex reasoning.
I’m not a Christian, but I do occasionally, reluctantly attend church with my sister at Kingwood United Methodist Church. I am blown away every time at the unrelenting charity of those people. It really is remarkable and absolutely open handed and genuine. I know horseshit when I see it and those people are the real deal. Sure, we need to be careful because they’re mostly white and straight and more or less well to do, but there’s really nobody they won’t help. Rest assured they didn’t turn away the victims of Katrina. They don’t turn anyone away; that’s not how they operate.
Anybody who gleefully watches sneering, hateful, fear mongering tripe like “Jesus Camp” and actually buys it as a fair and reasonable representation of contemporary mainstream Christianity clearly has no interest in even flirting with the truth.
This would all be a little easier to digest if each of the monotheistic religions got roughly equal or at least proportional time here in this mode of observation and criticism, but they don’t. The narrow fixation on Christianity is hard to miss, and it suggests that there is at least one tale to be told that might shed some light on why we see this particular axe ground so consistently here. I’d like to hear that tale. There must be something of greater substance and offense here than a stupid bumper sticker; I’d like to know what it is.
Jesus Christ I’m tired and it shows. Unrelated top secret sidenote to MH vintage stereo headquarters: Operation Sansui 9090 is well underway. Reports and photos to follow. There will be rock and/or roll.
The problem, Rick, is that the loudest voices in American Christianity are the raging fundies. If my comments about the fringe offend you, remember who does the lion’s share of religious political activism, and which segment of American believers dominate the GOP.
Sure, lots do good. But they’re conspicuously silent about the excesses of the fundies.
I agree on those points. Not so sure about genuinely kooky right wing “fundies” dominating the GOP, but it’s not an observation entirely without merit.
Oh I’ll just say it. When I read Frank’s election campaign advertisement way back when, I was struck by the section that described his involvement with and commitment to the church. It ignited a nagging curiosity in me with regard to how you and he came to hold such sharply differing views on the subject. This assumes, of course, that I’ve got the whole “sharply differing views” thing right.
Frank should have won. I hope he tries again.
Know that the only time I can recall being genuinely offended was when I witnessed Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page sharing a stage to perform “Come With Me” to promote the 1998 Godzilla movie soundtrack. It gave me an unwell feeling.
What do imagine my religious positions to be, I wonder?