God Loves a Man In Uniform
I came across this little tidbit the other day on Yahoo News (from the L.A. Times) regarding harassment of non-Christian cadets at the Air Force Academy.
Not only do we have rape and general sexual harassment in this august institution, we also have open proselization and intimidation of those who are not "Christian."
I'm sorry, but neither is true Christian behavior, and I'm sick and tired of "Christians" who use the title to further their own power agendas.
Open proselization on college campuses is nothing new. It's been around for awhile, but ramped up in the late '80s and into this century with the advent of the Campus Crusade for Christ and other cult-like groups. Campus Crusade preys on vulnerable students and is very appealing to those that are lapsed Mainline Protestants. Its Ministries target various ethnic groups as well as minorities and, yes, THE MILITARY.
With our military in lands that openly distrust "christians," we have fundamentalist ministries openly functioning within those lands. No wonder they hate Americans.
But, back to things on the Home Front...
Groups like Campus Crusade openly promote hatred and intolerance by insisting on high pressure proselization. I had my own encounters with them when, on the Smith Campus, they set up a boot on the most-traveled footpath. They were sitting there all smug and self-assured, calling out "hi! would you like a piece of chocolate?"
I went up to them and said "I know Jesus said to be fishers of men, but do you think he really wanted you to use chocolate as bait?"
The main thing that most of these insidious, disgusting little christian groups has forgotten is that to truly proselytize, one should be an example. A quiet example, walking in peace with the Lord. Not sitting there preying on the weak by offering treats or other things (Campus Crusade often offers friendship to the friendless--as long as they tow the party line). Baiting people with chocolate, luring them to repeated showings of Mel Gibson's insidious and gratuitously violent "The Passion" and showing open intolerance to others who follow different faiths or belief systems is NOT christian.
In their own vernacular, it is Not What Jesus Would Do.
Unless those fools are reading a different Bible than I am. And I believe wholeheartedly that they are.
I do not think they realize that with their smug self-righteousness and intolerance of others that they are the sinners--they are the ones not following the path of Christ. They are abusing the name of Christian for their own self-aggrandizing.
But what is even further infuriating in this whole thing at the Air Force Academy is how Tom Minnery, v.p. of public policy at Focus on the Family (one of the 100 or so active evangelical groups in the Colorado Springs area) said about this whole thing--that any sort of initiatives to stop discrimination of others are actually initiatives that are discriminatory against christians.
Well, once again, the Rabid Right has learned to use the rhetoric of Loony Left Political Correctness against itself. According to Minnery, this latest brand of christian intimidation is an expression of "deeply felt" christian faith and to ask someone to tolerate other faiths/belief systems by not engaging is hate-speech is telling them to "bottle up" all that joy-joy-joy-down-in-their-hearts.
This is relativism turned on its ear to serve a form of fascism. And who knows where this will lead.
My sense, too, is that many liberals need to get a grip on the political correctness and stop with the culturally relativist thinking. Cultural relativism is not tolerance but a form of blindness to the ways in which cultures and subcultures are negative. This type of relativism also forgets that subcultures exist within a larger culture and that within the larger culture certain things are tolerated and others aren't so that all might benefit from the freedoms of the culture. Saying the Air Force Academy is its own subculture and can do what it wants because the majority of students might be some form of religious persuasion is...well...a type of relativism that will adversely effect the rest of us in the long run.
But as long as liberal thinkers give a ton of lip service to the glories of other cultures without acknowledging how they have their negative aspects, various subcultures that reflect ultra-right, fascist agendas will be allowed to grow and flourish. Right under our own noses and in plain view. Because to say anything against them is, in effect, stomping on their unique and glorious and "deeply felt" intolerant world view.
I guess, then, if we have pogroms in this country, it will be okay. After all, "christians" are a unique culture and to oppress their feelings is, well, intolerant and politically incorrect...isn't it?
(a little footnote here....according to "christians," Catholics are not chrisitan, but Pope worshippers. Go ask a few Fundies and you'll see what I mean)
Religion
Not only do we have rape and general sexual harassment in this august institution, we also have open proselization and intimidation of those who are not "Christian."
I'm sorry, but neither is true Christian behavior, and I'm sick and tired of "Christians" who use the title to further their own power agendas.
Open proselization on college campuses is nothing new. It's been around for awhile, but ramped up in the late '80s and into this century with the advent of the Campus Crusade for Christ and other cult-like groups. Campus Crusade preys on vulnerable students and is very appealing to those that are lapsed Mainline Protestants. Its Ministries target various ethnic groups as well as minorities and, yes, THE MILITARY.
With our military in lands that openly distrust "christians," we have fundamentalist ministries openly functioning within those lands. No wonder they hate Americans.
But, back to things on the Home Front...
Groups like Campus Crusade openly promote hatred and intolerance by insisting on high pressure proselization. I had my own encounters with them when, on the Smith Campus, they set up a boot on the most-traveled footpath. They were sitting there all smug and self-assured, calling out "hi! would you like a piece of chocolate?"
I went up to them and said "I know Jesus said to be fishers of men, but do you think he really wanted you to use chocolate as bait?"
The main thing that most of these insidious, disgusting little christian groups has forgotten is that to truly proselytize, one should be an example. A quiet example, walking in peace with the Lord. Not sitting there preying on the weak by offering treats or other things (Campus Crusade often offers friendship to the friendless--as long as they tow the party line). Baiting people with chocolate, luring them to repeated showings of Mel Gibson's insidious and gratuitously violent "The Passion" and showing open intolerance to others who follow different faiths or belief systems is NOT christian.
In their own vernacular, it is Not What Jesus Would Do.
Unless those fools are reading a different Bible than I am. And I believe wholeheartedly that they are.
I do not think they realize that with their smug self-righteousness and intolerance of others that they are the sinners--they are the ones not following the path of Christ. They are abusing the name of Christian for their own self-aggrandizing.
But what is even further infuriating in this whole thing at the Air Force Academy is how Tom Minnery, v.p. of public policy at Focus on the Family (one of the 100 or so active evangelical groups in the Colorado Springs area) said about this whole thing--that any sort of initiatives to stop discrimination of others are actually initiatives that are discriminatory against christians.
Well, once again, the Rabid Right has learned to use the rhetoric of Loony Left Political Correctness against itself. According to Minnery, this latest brand of christian intimidation is an expression of "deeply felt" christian faith and to ask someone to tolerate other faiths/belief systems by not engaging is hate-speech is telling them to "bottle up" all that joy-joy-joy-down-in-their-hearts.
This is relativism turned on its ear to serve a form of fascism. And who knows where this will lead.
My sense, too, is that many liberals need to get a grip on the political correctness and stop with the culturally relativist thinking. Cultural relativism is not tolerance but a form of blindness to the ways in which cultures and subcultures are negative. This type of relativism also forgets that subcultures exist within a larger culture and that within the larger culture certain things are tolerated and others aren't so that all might benefit from the freedoms of the culture. Saying the Air Force Academy is its own subculture and can do what it wants because the majority of students might be some form of religious persuasion is...well...a type of relativism that will adversely effect the rest of us in the long run.
But as long as liberal thinkers give a ton of lip service to the glories of other cultures without acknowledging how they have their negative aspects, various subcultures that reflect ultra-right, fascist agendas will be allowed to grow and flourish. Right under our own noses and in plain view. Because to say anything against them is, in effect, stomping on their unique and glorious and "deeply felt" intolerant world view.
I guess, then, if we have pogroms in this country, it will be okay. After all, "christians" are a unique culture and to oppress their feelings is, well, intolerant and politically incorrect...isn't it?
(a little footnote here....according to "christians," Catholics are not chrisitan, but Pope worshippers. Go ask a few Fundies and you'll see what I mean)
Religion
posted by Tish Grier at 8:18 AM
2 Comments:
Shalom Tish,
Ah, spring quarter at Ohio University, kicking back on the Quad, listening to the hilarious antics of Jed and Sister Cindy. This duo showed up every spring like clockwork. No Chocolate. No devil's rock 'n' roll. Just good ol' tag-team preaching.
Thanks for dredging up the fond memory. I need a good smile on this dreary day.
B'shalom,
Jeff
Jeff....sounds like a new sitcom! (and the way sitcoms are going these days, it can't get any worse).:-)
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