Right Up There with Midget Tossing

Lest anyone think I am becoming paranoid to the point of losing my marbles altogether with respect to this topic, I offer newly penned support of my continued notation of this ugly, virulent trend in modern America, particularly within the realms of the press and politics: AVID CHRISTIAN BASHING. It's almost a sport these days. It is, in fact, becoming so overtly dominant that I would not be too surprised to see it proposed as a potential new Olympic event for the 2008 Games. Right up there with midget tossing, donkey shaving, fire eating, and other ill-conceived and thankfully rejected potential Olympic event ideas.

It seems, at least in the minds and evidenced in the writings of an increasing number of mainstream journalists and politicians, that the loudly lauded concept of "tolerance" clearly does not apply to Christianity, at least when lived publicly and without apology. We are labeled "jihadists", "scary", "frightening reconstructionists", "crackpot theocratics". "the radical right" ~ name your inflammatory, chillingly inaccurate adjective ~ and chances are, you'll find it heralded in black and white and attributed to any number of supposed credible journalists, aimed squarely at me and others who share my faith, morals, Jesus, or ideals.

Nonsense, I say (...have said before and will say again till it satisfyingly reverberates off the hills ~ I hear those deep sighs out there...). America was founded on Godly principles, by Godly people, and by borrowing Godly precepts, our laws and society were crafted and established. The so-called American reconstruction movement is not underway by people of faith. Rather, the exact converse is true: those of us who realize America is straying perilously far from her foundation, backbone, intentions, and historical heart are standing in the gap of the rolling tide of attempted revisionism at the hands of overzealous secularists. Whose response is to call attention away from their efforts by labeling us 'jihadists', grouping faithful Christians with the crazed foreign wackos who rammed planes into American buildings, and hope this buys them enough time to erode enough of our foundation that it crumbles altogether. So that they can re-establish America with THEIR vision, by force: continuing to assert their right to change history and re-shape the nation by imposing the whims of the minority over the will of the majority.

I quote,

"In the long journey from the matchless moment when I became "born again" and encountered the risen and living Christ, I have met hundreds of evangelicals and a good many practicing Catholics and have found them to be of reasonable temperament, often enough of impressive accomplishment, certainly not a menace to the republic, unless, of course, the very fact of faith seriously held is thought to make them just that. It is said, again and again and again, that the evangelical/Catholic right is out of accord with the history of our republic, dangerously so. What we are out of accord with is not that history but a revisionist version of it vigorously promulgated by those who want it to be seen as other than it was.

Evangelicals are concerned about the frequently advanced and historically untenable secularists' view of the intent of our non-establishment/free exercise of religion clause: that everything that has its origin in religion must be swept out of federal, and even civil, domains. That view, if militantly enforced, constitutes what seems dangerous to most evangelicals: the strict and entire separation of God from state. This construct, so desired by some, is radically out of sync with much in American history that shows a true regard for the non-establishment of religion while giving space in nearly all contexts to wide and free expressions of faith.

The fact is that our founders did not give us a nation frightened by the apparition of the Deity lurking about in our most central places. On Sept. 25, 1789, the text of what was later adopted as the First Amendment was passed by both houses of Congress, and subsequently sent to the states for ratification. On that same day , the gentlemen in the House who had acted to give us that invaluable text took another action: They passed a resolution asking President George Washington to declare a national day of thanksgiving to no less a perceived eminence than almighty God.

That's president , that's national, that's official and, alas, my doubting hearties, it's God -- all wrapped up in a federal action by those who knew what they meant by the non-establishment clause and saw their request as standing at not the slightest variance from it. It's a pity our phalanx of columnists cannot crawl into a time machine to go back and reinstruct them."

If our tolerance for this kind of evil Christian bashing is anything above ZERO, we must search our hearts and figure out why this degree of attack on this particular religion is acceptable when it is clearly NOT acceptable when applied to other groups of people. Simply replace "Christians" with "Jews" or "African-Americans" or "homosexuals" as the subject being vilified by these writers, and suddenly what is tolerated so readily about people who love Jesus becomes so clearly deeply offensive, inexcusable, bigoted hatred. Let me ask, then, why not that same sense of clarity and anger when American Christians are being targeted and skewered? Why are we grading discriminatory 'bashing' on a sliding scale? This is wrong. It defies justification or excuse, and it should not be tolerated. By any of us, Christian and non-Christian, Democrat and Republican. If you are a human American citizen, this kind of attack on the freedom of religion of Christians in American should anger, repulse, and alarm you.

And yet, this disgusting nonsense gets a pass, time and time again. Even from even those of us who are apparently now walking around with big black and white targets painted on our backsides because of the cross we willingly carry for the Lord we love above all else.

I guess we could just go with it, perhaps. It would certainly make for innovative combinations of events for the 2008 games. Coming soon to an Olympic stadium near you: the illustrious new sports of Christian Tossing and Midget Bashing? Any takers?