Friday, April 30, 2004
God, Bush, Liberals and Blindness
This special on Frontline got me thinking.
As I said in my first post, I am a bit unusual - a Southern Baptist liberal. I like to think that one very significantly informs the other. Jesus' frequent calls to "love one another" have always reflected for me much of what American liberalism stands for - things like the social support network, and a belief that war should always be a last resort. I fail to see a conflict between the two.
Maybe it comes from playing both sides in this "battle," but I think that many Christians are excessively fearful of the secular world somehow conspiring against Christianity, and at the same time, many liberals are excessively fearful of Christianity trying to take over every aspect of the world. People like Jerry Falwell are a minority in Christianity, and they should be treated as such. Good, moral, moderate Christians have somehow let the guilt complex created by Falwell and his ilk shame them into thinking that such a crazy concept as believing in a woman's right to make her own decisions about her health will somehow doom them. In the same way, level-headed liberals will hear George Bush talk about feeling called by God to pursue public office, and see it as some kind of delusion, but not blink an eye when another politician says they followed their heart into public service.
Do I think Bush and many Republicans today monopolize Christianity and use it as a political tool? Yes. Do I think that is reprehensible? Yes. Do I think that means Christianity or religion in general is somehow a blight on enlightened humanity because of it? No.
When we accept caricatures of a group as a picture of the whole, we cheapen our own intellectual understanding - and blind ourselves to good ideas because of it.
As I said in my first post, I am a bit unusual - a Southern Baptist liberal. I like to think that one very significantly informs the other. Jesus' frequent calls to "love one another" have always reflected for me much of what American liberalism stands for - things like the social support network, and a belief that war should always be a last resort. I fail to see a conflict between the two.
Maybe it comes from playing both sides in this "battle," but I think that many Christians are excessively fearful of the secular world somehow conspiring against Christianity, and at the same time, many liberals are excessively fearful of Christianity trying to take over every aspect of the world. People like Jerry Falwell are a minority in Christianity, and they should be treated as such. Good, moral, moderate Christians have somehow let the guilt complex created by Falwell and his ilk shame them into thinking that such a crazy concept as believing in a woman's right to make her own decisions about her health will somehow doom them. In the same way, level-headed liberals will hear George Bush talk about feeling called by God to pursue public office, and see it as some kind of delusion, but not blink an eye when another politician says they followed their heart into public service.
Do I think Bush and many Republicans today monopolize Christianity and use it as a political tool? Yes. Do I think that is reprehensible? Yes. Do I think that means Christianity or religion in general is somehow a blight on enlightened humanity because of it? No.
When we accept caricatures of a group as a picture of the whole, we cheapen our own intellectual understanding - and blind ourselves to good ideas because of it.
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