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Archive for the ‘culture war’ Category

Gay Marriage: Still Not A Ballot Winner

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

The elections held across the country Tuesday brought forth some interesting results (Mickey Kaus has a good take on the election’s winners and losers here), but outside some strong Republican finishes in New Jersey and Virginia, the biggest news probably trickled down from Maine, where voters narrowly repealed the state’s six-month-old gay marriage law. While five states currently recognize same-sex unions, all have done so through the courts or legislative action. Any time voters have been asked to support gay marriage, the answer has been “no.” And it’s been “no” 31 times.

Reactions ranged from despondent to euphoric. “Every time Americans vote on marriage, traditional marriage wins,” noted Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America. “Those who were ready to inscribe ‘RIP’ on the tombstone of conservative and pro-family values following the 2008 elections got a jolting wakeup call at the polls,” Mathew Staver, Founder of the Liberty Counsel, said. 

Supporters of gay marriage in Maine vowed to fight on, and many note that the fight over gay marriage is not about to end. The Baptist Press, though it led with the Maine results, pointed out that gay politicians and gay-friendly initiatives celebrated victories. GetReligion wonders why the media tends to lead with what a loss the Maine vote was for gay-rights supporters, as opposed to also mentioning what a win it was for family-rights folks.

Changing the Tone?

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

 

Christopher Hitchens. Photo by ensceptico

Christopher Hitchens. Photo by ensceptico

Christopher Hitchens, author of “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” has been debating religious leaders for a good long while now, traveling from campus to campus, auditorium to auditorium, arguing the (I think ludicrous) point that faith is an unqualified, unrepentant force for evil. 

 

But perhaps, in spending so much time with real flesh-and-blood people, Hitchens may be ever-so-slightly softening. Look at this line from a column he recently wrote for Slate:

I haven’t yet run into an argument that has made me want to change my mind. After all, a believing religious person, however brilliant or however good in debate, is compelled to stick fairly closely to a “script” that is known in advance, and known to me, too. However, I have discovered that the so-called Christian right is much less monolithic, and very much more polite and hospitable, than I would once have thought, or than most liberals believe. I haven’t been asked to Bob Jones University yet, but I have been invited to Jerry Falwell’s old Liberty University campus in Virginia, even though we haven’t yet agreed on the terms.

I doubt Hitchens will ever decide he’s been wrong all these years and convert to Christianity (or another religion). He now has, in fact, all sorts of public and financial incentives for remaining the staunch atheist he is. But I’m encouraged that, while he may not agree with what we believe, he perhaps sees a glimpse of the people who we are: Christians are no longer people of the “they,” but people who he’s met with, talked with, perhaps even eaten with. 

I think it’s much harder to hate a group of people once we meet them. Hitchens, to his credit, has met us where we live. And perhaps, in so doing, there resides a faint flicker of hope that Hitchens and his fellow “angry atheists” may not stay quite so angry.

Biased Bibles

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Bible.malmesburyI’m not quite sure what to make of this Conservative Bible Project getting so much buzz around the blogosphere. The project sounds so outlandish that I half expect to hear that Stephen Colbert is heading the thing. 

The project, in a nutshell, is this: the folks behind the Conservapedia are convinced that liberalism—not just content to run the media, the entertainment industry and most of our most beloved theme parks—has wormed its way into our Bibles, as well. Most of our Bible translations are apparently enough to make even normally sober Christians sing Joan Baez songs, and they aim to put a stop to it by crafting their own translation. And they’re going back to the original source documents to do it: That’s right, they’re dispensing with those hard-to-understand Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts and using the King James Version of the Bible.

In this new version, gone will be the story of the adulterous woman found in John chapters 7 and 8 (the one where Jesus says, “let he without sin cast the first stone”). Gone will be the passage where Jesus, on the cross, asks God to forgive his persecutors, “for they know not what they do.” Gone will be pro-liberal terms like, say, the word “government.” Instead, readers will be treated to “powerful conservative terms” (as they develop, according to Conservapedia) and “free market parables.”

When Time’s Amy Sullivan wrote about the effort in the Swampland blog, one of her readers quipped, “Do you think the part where Jesus handed out food to all the people listening to his sermon is now going to be referred to as Jesus starting up a small business and was thankful for the low tax rates?”

“Liberals will oppose this effort,” the Conservapedia guys acknowledge, “but they will have to read the Bible to criticize this, and that will open their minds.” Except, of course, for the fact they’ll likely be reading a liberal translation of the Bible, which will surely inculcate them further into the liberal fold. Or am I missing something here?

Personally, I think one of the Bible’s greatest charms is the fact that, at some point, it makes almost everyone who reads it a little uncomfortable. It’s a challenging book — and it should be. As a result, some readers wrestle mightily with the Bible’s meaning. Many cherry-pick parts that have the most meaning for them. A few, as Thomas Jefferson was rumored to have done, literally cut out the parts of the Bible they disagree with.

Rarely do folks go to the trouble of crafting their own translation, though. What do you think? Is it needed? Is this something you’d be inclined to read?

Support for Abortion Dips

Monday, October 5th, 2009

GodisprolifewashingtonrallyThere are almost as many pro-lifers as pro-choicers, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. About 45 percent of folks say abortion should be outlawed in all or most cases now, compared to 47 percent who say it should almost always be legal.

Why the switch?

“While no single reason for the shift is apparent, the pattern of changes suggests that the election of a pro-choice Democrat as president may be a contributing factor,’’ Andrew Kohut, the Pew Research Center’s president, told Heidi Przybyla of the Bloomberg News.

Religion and Politics: Praying for the Other Side

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

David Waters posted an interesting story on The Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog, about how The Liberty Counsel is asking its members to “Adopt a Liberal” and actively pray for them. 

Liberty’s prayer list of liberals includes Democrats and Republicans — President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but also California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“Pick one or more of the liberals from the list we have posted online at www.LC.org, or choose your own liberal(s) to adopt,” Liberty requests. “Pray earnestly and intensely for them! Pray that the Lord would move upon them and cause them to be the kind of leaders who will encourage others to lead ‘a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.’ We encourage you to seek the Lord’s guidance on how to pray for your liberal(s), always allowing Him to temper your prayer with His love and mercy.”

The drive implies, of course, that liberals can’t be Christian. Which, considering traditional progressive stances on such issues as abortion and same-sex marriage, some of you might agree with. Then again, perhaps there are liberal Christians out there — perhaps even reading this blog — that feel some traditionally conservative positions are inherently un-Christian, too. 

Me, I gravitate toward this post by John Shore, who’s ”exhausted with conservative Christians thinking liberal Christians wouldn’t know God’s will from a venti soy caramel latte with extra foam, and with liberal Christians thinking conservative Christians are inbred morons.”  But that’s just me.

Harry Potter and the Missing Medal

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

16potter.large5Former President George W. Bush sang the praises of J.K. Rowling, author of the wildly popular (and, in my opinion, very good) Harry Potter series. But according to a former Bush speechwriter, the Bush administration declined to give Rowling the Presidential Medal of Freedom because she repeatedly referenced witchcraft in them.

Matt Latimer makes the allegations in his book, “Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor,” and while the decision may look foolish now, frankly, I can understand how something like this happens. The Potter books were widely condemned from many conservative Christians when Rowling first started churning them out, and evangelicals were, of course, the cornerstone of Bush’s political support. If I was President, I’d be tempted not to anger my most boisterous supporters, too.

In hindsight, of course, the decision feels kind of silly. Not only were Rowling’s books wildly popular, not only were they extremely well written, but the final book contains, I think, one of the most mature ruminations on faith and doubt and the beauty of Christianity I’ve ever read. Not that I expect Rowling’s too torn up about it. Selling around 300 million books tends to salve a lot of wounds.