A long Good Friday

One of my boys said we are living through a long Good Friday.  It's hard to disagree.

That first Good Friday, from the POV of Jesus' followers, ended a good thing.  A week earlier and a triumphal entry.  Dare we think Rome will be tossed out the window and a new David will reign (minus the bad stuff)?  Now He's dead.  Lying on the ground, dead.  And having made Himself an enemy of the powers that be, his followers knew the score. 

We often give the disciples grief.  Couldn't you even stay awake?  How could you be so daft?  Running away from Jesus?  Ages ago in my ministry days, I recall one Easter sermon I gave. 

In that sermon, I took on that tendency to judge too harshly when it comes to His followers.  I told the congregation that I can show some pity since I'm sure I never would have abandoned Jesus.  Unlike the disciples, I would not have run away. 

How do I know this?  Sounds sort of arrogant, more arrogant than just judging the disciples, don't it?  Well, how can I make such a bold claim?  Easy. I wouldn't have abandoned Jesus when He was arrested, tried and crucified because I wouldn't have been within a hundred miles of Him in the first place. I would have been home, going about business, doing my thing.  Perhaps I heard of Him, saw Him, was even healed by Him.

But knowing me, I would have been glad, maybe liked what He had to say, then back to business as usual.   To abandon Jesus, the disciples already had to have given up everything and everyone to follow Him.  They would have done more than I ever have.  Only when you leave hearth and home and walk with Jesus through thick and thin do you have the chance to fully abandon Him.  Or even betray Him.  And how many of us who so easily judge the disciples over that first Good Friday can say we've made the grade in that department? 

Well, today there are ones who are holding fast to the historical Faith as so much of it is being pulled out from under us.  We see the World openly make war on everything God revealed.  And as we watch our leaders and those we  trusted throw in the towel, wave the white flag, and willingly question anything we ever believed rather than stand up to the World, it reminds us of something. Something that might make us a little more understanding when we see such capitulation.

We've been a godless, atheistic, secular society for many generations.  Oh, there was some Christian residue, but that was fading fast.  By now, we can see the secularization was purposeful, and the paganizing increasingly complete.  From a time when leaders invoked Almighty God, to today where ideas of the afterlife or divine will have no place anywhere in our social debate, we've seen a growing number of believers and leaders turn their backs on God, Christ, the Gospel, and goodness. 

And I know it's frustrating.  As my son said, we're heading into a long, dark Good Friday that seems to show no end.  But as we see so many throw in the towel, consider that at least until recently, many were holding fast..  If they're buckling now, they've had decades to join our nation and abandon God and flip the bird to the Gospel, yet they didn't until relatively recently.

Perhaps they're finally doing it now.  But at least they held out, so there is hope.  I'm not downplaying or diminishing the harm being done as Christians and our leaders day after day seem to grovel and buckle under the World's assaults.  But at least they made it this far.  Many buckled ages ago.  Many turned their back on God long before I came along.  Our nation certainly did.  But the ones we're watching today at least made it to the modern Gethsemane.  And that's worth something.

Again, I'm not downplaying the severe harm done in our Church's age of capitulation.  The harm it does and the damage to the witness of the Truth.  But before we get too angry, consider that the ones we talk about and say "I never thought it would be him" at least made it this far.   As a former agnostic, I can testify that our God fearing nation had already gone pagan, and provided plenty of reasons and excuses to abandon God back when cable meant twelve channels.  Yet these who are struggling and giving in today made it this far. 

Of course there is even hope for those who turned away decades ago or grew up never caring because our nation and its institutions told them not to.  Thief on the cross moment there.  But for those who fought the good fight until the Internet, or Facebook, or Twitter, or BLM, or this or that social woke twist to sanity in recent years, at least made it farther than we sometimes give credit.

So pray that at some point as we stumble through this Good Friday time in the Church's history, they will come back around.  That those of us who say 'surely not I Lord'" will mind ourselves so that we don't join the ranks of those fleeing into the woods.  Instead, pray that we remain faithful, and those who traveled so long will return to the narrow path.  For however long our Good Friday is, we know that Easter is always round the corner.  And that's our hope and assurance that nothing happening today can't be overcome. 

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.   John 16.33b

Russ Moore and religious clickbait

Distraction is the basis of illusion

So my old classmate Russ Moore stepped forward a while back to demonstrate just what a court prophet in our new era will look like.  Russ isn't like some who simply align blindly with the leftwing colossus of our time.  He continues to keep one foot in the old time religion while trying desperately to stay friends with those whose feet are firmly planted in the profane. 

That is, after all, one of his selling points for the modern Left.  He maintains a 'still a Bible believing Christian at heart' identity while continually assuring the Left that all its hatred and accusations against Christians, especially Evangelicals, are spot on.  One of the few times the Left will spot you some dissenting views is if you make sure to confirm its hatred and contempt for others in your hated demographic. 

But how do you balance that 'I could never attend a gay wedding, but I sure could party at your gay wedding reception' approach without losing the old timer side of the aisle?  Easy.  You get back to basics now and then and do what worked in the past.  A little trick called distraction. Pay no attention to this hand, just look at what this other hand is focusing on.  Magicians use it all the time. 

In Russ's case, this is accomplished by getting our attention away from his mounting allegiance with the modern Left and pointing out that a major threat to America today is - drum roll please - Dungeons and Dragons!  I can almost conjure images of Russ on the set of the 700 Club next to Pat Robertson on this one.  Fantasy Roleplaying is hurting America!

That's as much a costless slab of meat for the more traditional supporters of Russ - and he still has them - as anything.  In recent years, his pronouncements have begun to make some who have stood by him a bit uneasy.  His claim that Evangelicals, being the racists we know they are, never cared about the unborn but used abortion to attack Jimmy Carter for daring to oppose racism, raised more than a few eyebrows.   

Likewise, his ardent anti-Trump rhetoric, in which he insisted that almost all support for Trump was from hypocritical fascist sexist Christians, ruffled more than a couple feathers.  It's worth noting that his famous 'Evangelicals are now what they once warned us about' quote deftly ignores the glaring hypocrisy of the Left in its condemnation of Trump over sexual behavior.  But that's a court prophet for you.

Just like this swipe at Dungeons and Dragons. He assuages fears of being a fundamentalist stereotype by snickering at the old 'it's of the devil!' concerns.  Instead, he says it's truly of the devil because of the terrible ways it portrays things like violence and heroism and fighting for a cause that stinks more of ancient pagan virtues than Christian ones.  

Which is likely fair.  But what he doesn't mention is that this is simply a small part of a broad pop culture attitude that can be found every bit as much in the latest Marvel movie or Disney outing as any D&D book on the dinner table. 

Why not throw all of the modern pop media culture offerings onto the fire?  Why pick on D&D?  That's what Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell would do. Like them or not, they didn't just stop with screaming at D&D, but would launch full form against Hollywood, the whole of the entertainment industry, vast corporate interests, or anything they saw as a threat to their Christian values and understanding of the world.  

But why doesn't Russ do that?  Why single out D&D?   Because regarding D&D, even in 'the age of the Geek' when geekdom and nerdiness are mainstream and even powerful, the old stereotypes that emerged from media brainwashing in the 80s still apply.  So it's an easy target.  It's what old timers called 'shooting cripples.'  Attack something that will cost nothing in return. 

But Marvel Studios?  Disney?  Modern Hollywood?  The general media culture of our day?  That's where the money is.  Buck such outlets and you might just loose those cushy dinner parties and media events hobnobbing with the beautiful people.  And we can't have that.

So just throw out a little slab of meat to the uneasy in your more traditional camps.  And make darn sure to ignore the donkey in the living room, since that might jeopardize your next media dinner party.  Look at the D&D in my hand, not the cozy relationship with vast powers opposed to the Faith in the other.   A little sleight of hand, a bit of the old distraction, but that's how it needs to be done.  For now at least.     

What does it profit a man to gain the world

We call this the humble surroundings of a brave servant leader

And forfeit his soul? 

I thought of that as I saw a story about my old classmate, Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Now Russ may be the luckiest fellow in the world since he always seems led by the Holy Spirit to be just where the latest ascending movement happens to be.

Born in a family aligned with Democrats, he embraced conservative Calvinism just as Al Mohler was kicking off the Calvinist Renaissance wtihin the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1990s.  What his own opinions were, I don't know, but he happily stood by as Mohler and the gang made strides to sever the SBC's ecumenical dialogue with such heretical sects as the Catholic Church. 

Later, when GW Bush was elected, Moore led the charge for conservatives around the world to unite, put aside differences, and win one for the Culture Wars.  Then, toward the end of Bush's disastrous presidency, as conservatism became fractured and a progressive tidal wave was brewing, Moore had a change of heart and realized 'culture war' was just stupid talk for silly, ignorant little  people.

When Obama won handily in 2008, Moore began his swing toward the center, openly disparaging more traditional believers and finding a place of prominence on the Obama White House guest list.  Then in 2016, Moore led the Evangelical Never-Trumper charge against Trump and his deplorable followers.  While doing this, he became quite the icon among a desperately not-Trump Catholic culture that embraced him and heard of, for the first time I was knew, his lifelong gushing admiration and love for the Catholic tradition. 

Of course Hillary lost, so we'll never know what may have happened to Moore as he followed his conscience during a Clinton Administration. But now that Biden is back, Moore has stepped forth and once more cheered the new administration for its work reaching out to the faithful.

It's worth noting that not all is well within Moore's SBC family.  A report by the SBC has found that Moore is increasingly alienated from the sizeable part of the SBC not in line with liberal Democrats.  He is also increasingly portrayed in ways not charitable by a manipulative press seeing him, no doubt, as quite the useful fool.   I know some from my old SBC days who believe he is not working from some deep desire to aid the denomination, but rather is embracing a clever throwing of his fellow Baptists under the bus to curry favor with the Leftist State.*

Whatever it is, I know he's either the most fortunate person in the world who always seems led in the right upward direction, or he's joining a growing number of other leaders who feel the battle is lost, the war is over, and it's time for the Left to learn who its friends are, and who its enemies are.  I saw this and pondered it just as I was pointed to a pertinent little scene from the wonderful film A Man for All Seasons: 

Given all we're seeing among our various Faith traditions' leadership, such a scene is worth watching again and again.  

*Contrary to the article's suggestion, it is not only Moore's opposition to Trump that is the problem.  It's his condescending attitude toward those in the denomination who don't share his approach  to compromise with the modern Left, as well as his willingness to embrace decidedly leftwing narratives and interpretations of those who fail to conform to leftwing ideologies and agendas.  Among other things.  Also, I could bring up a few problems with the heavily quoted David Gushee, a former mentor, but I'll leave that for another day. 

Biden is now President Biden

And Never Trumpers everywhere rejoice:

As for me, I follow the old John Wayne rule: I didn't vote for him, but he's my president.  And I mean that, not like those who said it about Trump the morning after the 2016 election and by that night were calling for the entire electoral process to be burned to the ground. 

Likewise, I won't do to him what the Left, press, Democrats, Hollywood and most of Corporate America did to Trump and, in some ways, Trump's supporters.  Not only on principled grounds, but because I'm not stupid. As Trump learned all too well, if you're a leftist calling our election rigged, expect the might of the mass media to be on your side.  If you're not, and you're a right winger calling our election rigged, expect the might of the mass media to be against you.  Same with anything at this point.

I intend to oppose the Biden administration on the key issues, which probably means most things.  But I won't play the Left's game since the Left can make or break the rules as it sees fit.  I will, as I'm commanded to do, pray for the Biden administration.  But I plan on being wise as serpents on this one, not stupid like stupid people.  I'm not blind to what is happening.  The world teeters on the brink of a new epoch in its history, and it won't include  many things we've long taken for granted.  In some Lovecraftian sense, it will be a complete flip upside down of everything we assume to be real, true and good.  Furthermore, it will take on a global mandate since that is where we're heading, with the support of most power-players, including the Pope. 

So there you go.  That's where things stand as I see them, FWIW.  He's my president, I'll pray he do right by his office, I won't be stupid and play the Left's games, or be a coward and play the Never Trumper games.  I'll try to keep one foot on the ground and one ready kick the dust off as need be.  

Governor Mike DeWine wins one for Religious Liberty

A hateful thought to many 21st Century Americans

By signing a law that will allow religious students in public schools to express their religious beliefs freely.  Naturally that great opponent of non-secular progressive values, the ironically titled ACLU, has fought this like a mad dog.  As have most open minded and tolerant liberal activists.

Their fear is that this will allow students to dismiss science and state their fanatical belief in the world as the great Earth egg goddess.  Which, of course, is ridiculous .  That's simply the same hysterics, stereotyping and fear mongering that progressives always engage in when someone wants to think freely.  Fact is, the law does not allow students to answer the wrong answer in a classroom. If the class taught evolution and evolution is tested, the student must answer what was taught.

No, this will allow students to wear religious symbols, refer to their faith where appropriate in school, stand up for religious perspectives where secular perspectives have alone been given, and generally be free of being barred and banned due to their religious faith.  You know, a freedom of religion thing. 

Which, of course, is anathema to the secular left.  To the left, there is only the freedom to tear down the Christian West and America in deference of a strong Marxist inspired totalitarian state that will shower me with endless free things, including the right to define my gender and abort six million prenatal babies while pursing endless narcissism and decadence. 

That is what the left wants taught in school.  What Mike DeWine did was take an important step in allowing those who don't see such things as the highest values for which to strive a chance to speak out and express themselves accordingly.

Did Democrats cause Texas shooting?

Actually, it would be easy to say 'Democrats caused Texas Shooting', followed by spewing contempt and loathing on Democrats as the party that wants people dead or shootings or whatever.

Fact is, pushing through legislation is a difficult thing.  Consider the following academic treatment of the process:

Yep, we all know it.  It remains to be seen if this would have stopped the shooting.  And even so, was this something even on the radar of the Democrats, could Cruz have taken a different path, or what other factors are there worth considering?  All questions worth asking.

No, I can't help but think one of our biggest problems is that we have made politics our God, and we all are willing to engage in jihad for our new Almighty.  We watched the following special about Jimmy Stewart last week:

It's long, but worth the watch.  If for no other reason than Stewart is one of the truly heroic American celebrities in the last century, and a genuinely good man.  While we were watching it, my boys noticed that many of those singing his praises (including host Carson), were actually Democrats.  Maybe not liberal Democrats in the modern sense, but clearly liberal and clearly Democrat.  Stewart, on the other hand, was famously conservative and an open supporter of Reagan and the GOP.

And yet - they noticed - everyone seemed to love the guy.  This was in stark contrast to the death of Charlton Heston, which was met with half baked memorials from so many on the Left, if they mentioned him at all.  A few civil rights leaders did give him high fives for being one of the biggest A-List celebrities to support the Civil Rights Movement back in the day, but stopped short of fully celebrating his legacy due to his politics.

My boys asked what happened.  Easy.  Politics is now God.  It is everywhere and in everything.  And more than that, it is a burning, zealous, fanatical religion.  It teaches us to hate those who vote differently.  To hate those who don't agree; to see their disagreement as an unspoken desire to kill and murder and maim and oppress us; to understand their differences as a hate based assault against us.

But the special in question, made in the late 1980s (while Reagan was still president), showed a different world.  It's worth noting that, with the exception of Richard Dreyfuss and Sally Field, most interviewed were from an earlier era.  And even those two were Boomers, still reflecting the attitudes that predated the postmodern notion of Politics as Jihad.

So for this, remembering the complexities of the real world and an age where adults still understood that fact, I'll not say Democrats caused the Texas shooting, or any such thing.  I'll leave it as an example of the complexities of politics and social issues, and reference it later when someone tries to say 'GOP starves babies' because the GOP might actually think there is a better way to help feed babies than what the Democrats are proposing. After all, it's not like Jesus said that only one party was capable of doing His will. 

God and the Constitution

And interesting article.  When people ask me if I think America was founded as a Christian nation or a secular nation, I always say 'Yes.'  Especially based on how we define the terms today, those are distinctions of our own making.  I have a feeling the Founding Fathers wouldn't' easily fit into any of our modern demographics.

And the nice thing about being an American Christian

We are almost always on the top of the lists of charity and service.  In addition to Christians being there, along with others of course, Americans come out looking pretty darn awesome in the world of generosity and time and service.  I know, the popular notion is that Americans suck, and American Christians are the bottom of the barrel.  But as a non-believer, I couldn't help but notice my personal contact with Christians in America was different.  Well done Catholics, well done Christians and religious and others in America who continue making our country still one of the most generous and giving not only now, but ever. 

An interesting article on Secularism

Found this and it was an interesting read. The trick to anything dealing with religion is that it is all a belief.  Including the completely not provable by science belief that there is no supernatural or divine.  Those are beliefs, too.  Some more crazy atheists like Bill Maher will sometimes unintentionally assert this when the try to excuse evils done by atheists or in the name of secularism as those rascally atheists treating their atheism like religion.  Since few people treat gravity or Newton's laws of thermodynamics as religions,  I'm inclined to think there is something about the belief or non-belief in supernatural or divine ideas that separates it from the realm of physics and chemistry and calculus.

From memories of my childhood view of patriotism

And in response to a tirade against this by one of the commenters of the Catholic blogosphere, who declared his eternal disgust at having to sing this song in school because of that wretched 'land of the pilgrim's pride' part.  For me?  I'm more than happy to remember and proclaim it.



P.S.  The cookout was great, we watched the entire wonderful series on the American Revolution narrated by the late Charles Kuralt, and now the fireworks begin.

Islam's greatest boost

I've often said that the 9/11 Terrorist attacks that happened on September 11 in the year 2001 were the best thing to ever happen to Islam.  Two ill-conceived and executed wars, in which most casualties were the result of Islamic insurgents, have allowed Islam to emerge as a religious faith on the move, in which we respect, learn about, discover and even promote it against our growing loathing and disgust for all things Christian.  Before 9/11 it was still an obscure religion seen as a threat to modernity and progress by religious and secular alike.  Since 9/11?  You could do worse in our pop culture than be Muslim.  Despite an historically unprecedented level of restraint on the part of the US, we're told that Muslims by the millions have been slaughtered by endless mobs of bloodthirsty Americans.  Or at least you'd think.  Meanwhile, we continue to unpack Islam, learn about Islam, focus on Islam, assume the best and give the benefit of the doubt to Islam. 

And now, a brand new Marvel Comics Hero is about to be introduced who is, guess what, Muslim.  No problem with that of course.  If it were a small, isolated story.  But when put against the overall narrative of the last 12 years, you can see that Islam has truly won, and the terrorists achieved what Japan had only hoped for on that sunny December 7th all those years ago.  As for the progressives who seem to embrace this approach and support such things, there can only be one of two reasons.   Either they are that scared of a real threat, as opposed to the supposed threat by those little old ladies in the country church.  Or it's true that progressivism is truly the enemy of the Church, and sees it and only it as the sole enemy that needs defeated. 

Millennials are leaving the Church!

Oh no!  It must be true, CNN says so.  And the proof is that one of many religious forum blogs has more atheist followers on the atheist page than Christians on the Christian page!  Well, it couldn't be that there are legions of Christian blogs out there, and many believers feel no need to follow these big tent blogs that often have a strange mix of representatives or anything.  Nope.  It must be that Millennials are leaving the Church! Oh No!

Truth be told, they are.  The iPad generation is doing with religion what it is doing with everything else: cutting and pasting whatever affirms my isolated world I've carved out in some obscure corner of the Internet filled with like thinkers.  Likewise, it isn't shocking that after 30 years of propaganda at the hands of schools, entertainment and media, many young people consider Gays as the Jews being persecuted by modern Nazis (those religious types who don't accept homosexual normality).  And it doesn't hurt that some who oppose homosexuality do so in ways far less than Christian (and are often the focus of news stories), while those not wanting to be the Westboro types stumble and fumble about not knowing where to compromise and where to stand.

Plus, of course, the idea that we are nothing but glorified animals and religion is made up myths and fairy tales is the narrative of our time, and just as children growing up in the old South in the 30s assumed blacks were inferior, and children growing up in the 30s in Germany knew Jews were inferior, so those growing up today know that religion is hateful, bigoted and a lie.  It's the cultural ocean in which they swim.

Add to that the vacant attempts by a variety of churches and traditions to deal with these challenges, and it's not hard to imagine young people flocking out of the church doors in droves. Of course they aren't becoming atheists either. They are, in that classic salad bar approach of the iPad generation, becoming karma believing atheist mystics who pray regularly to a personal god. In short, they are whatever they want to be because nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about, and the Internet proves it.

FWIW, CNN lost me on a couple points, most of which was failing to examine just what this phenomenon is, as well as by letting Mr. Mehta, of the ironically titled Friendly Atheist, use this as a platform for the modern Atheist gospel, rather than holding his feet to the fire about the things he says. Given the impotence and ineptitude of the media regarding religion, atheists usually come out the winners since they can spout any ludicrous atheist dogma and pretty much get away with it.  Anyway, watch and learn.  This, as much as anything, is the world of truth that millennials are experiencing, which probably answers much:

The Feast of the Presentation of the Groundhog

I suppose in some desperate attempt to rid itself of those Roman shards, our nation did the best it could by replacing the Feast of the Presentation (or historically Candlemas) with, well, a rodent.  If secularists and other cranks can warp history by saying that Christmas was just a cheap steal from pure Roman celebrations, I can assume that Groundhog Day was just a cheap ploy to avoid what was once an important feast day in the Church.  For Catholics, this marks the 40th day since Christmas, when the temple priest held the baby Jesus up to look for his shadow and see if there would be a short winter or not.

Really, it's the presentation of our Lord in the temple.  More traditionally, it also marked the obedience of Mary to the Mosaic law, and some Catholics prefer to keep the focus there.  But as Mary should always point to Jesus, the I like the point of Jesus being offered up in obedience to the organized religion of the day.  If I had anything I could take away from this, and if we had such things in my Protestant evangelical days, I would certainly use this as a smack down for any of that "I love Jesus but hate religion" rubbish. Nothing screams 'why learn when you can rant instead' than the banal 'I'm spiritual, not religious'  And nothing dispels it faster than a good soaking in today's readings.  And it didn't end when Jesus was out of diapers.  He, like the apostles who served him, would carry on as devout Jews in their own way.  As Jesus said, he came to fulfill the law, not abolish it.  Something our 'religion of me' generation would do well to remember.

The feast was first observed in the Eastern Church as "The Encounter." In the sixth century, it began to be observed in the West: in Rome with a more penitential character and in Gaul (France) with solemn blessings and processions of candles, popularly known as "Candlemas." The Presentation of the Lord concludes the celebration of the Nativity and with the offerings of the Virgin Mother and the prophecy of Simeon, the events now point toward Easter. 

"In obedience to the Old Law, the Lord Jesus, the first-born, was presented in the Temple by his Blessed Mother and his foster father. This is another 'epiphany' celebration insofar as the Christ Child is revealed as the Messiah through the canticle and words of Simeon and the testimony of Anna the prophetess. Christ is the light of the nations, hence the blessing and procession of candles on this day. In the Middle Ages this feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or 'Candlemas,' was of great importance. 

"The specific liturgy of this Candlemas feast, the blessing of candles, is not as widely celebrated as it should be, except of course whenever February 2 falls on a Sunday and thus takes precedence. There are two ways of celebrating the ceremony, either the Procession, which begins at a 'gathering place' outside the church, or the Solemn Entrance, celebrated within the church."                                                                         — From Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year

Mike Huckabee hearts Jefferson Bethke

Now Mr. Huckabee is perhaps known to most.  Jefferson Bethke, by name at least, probably not so much.  To the Internet generation he is probably better known as the man who hates religion but loves Jesus.  In a Youtube Rap, he tapped into the modern trope that 'religion bad, me centered spirituality good'.  I first heard of the video on an atheist blog where atheists sang the praises of a confessed believer who finally admitted what most modern atheists were trying to insist: that religion was a blight upon the face of humanity.

Armed with unintended irony to spare, Mr. Bethke appeals to the post modern notion of a nationalism of me, whereby I am no longer attached to anything that puts demands on me beyond what I prefer.  Seizing upon this 'me and the rest of the universe' mentality, he launches into a string of shallow clichés about what makes religion bad, but his particular approach to Jesus so darn good.

Of course Jesus never came to abolish religion. As Protestantism continues to splinter and fragment into a hundred thousand denominations of 'me', most forget that the notion that religion is bad is really a recent phenomenon in Christian history.  It certainly would have been foreign to Jesus, and Paul, and others of the New Testament who were devout Jews following the religious norms of their Jewish faith.  It obviously would be a shock to Jesus to think striking down religion was his goal, when he assured his listeners that he didn't come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.

But post-modernity being short on deep research and long on 'that's cool because it makes me look so darn hip', has embraced our good Mr. Bethke and made him the Billy Graham of the Youtube generation.  On Mike Huckabee's show tonight, I watched to see if former minister Huckabee would call him on some of the more ludicrous levels of irony in his approach; if Mr. Huckabee - whom I admire - would remind him that not only is he giving ammo to those who hate all aspects of religion, but he is being unintentionally just as judgemental and religious as any of those whose religion he appears to hate. I watched in vain.

Yes, Mr. Bethke assured us that he really meant we should be sincere and honest and real about our faith.  He even went so far to say going to church was important.  Not that any of those unnamed religions he puts in the cross hairs have missed that point.  It isn't as if those not-Bethke religions go around promoting hypocrisy or shallow standards of living.   Especially humorous was Mr. Bechke trying to establish the type of institutionalized religion he was talking about, while mentioning the logistics and fund raising he was engaged in while attempting to establish organized ministries on college campuses. Again, completely blind to the obvious.

That Mike Huckabee let him off the hook by ignoring the grave problems in such a careless, shoot-from-the-hip approach that has mocked the efforts of so many millions of sincere Christians, even if unintentionally, shows just why it can be dangerous to always try to be a nice guy.  Nice is nice.  I'm all for it.  But sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.  And tonight, Mr. Huckabee missed a perfect chance to do so.

Religious Freedom in America is doing just fine

According to the good Rev. Emily C. Heath of the United Church of Christ.  FWIW, the UCC is about the most radically left leaning denomination of Christendom.  It was a UCC pastor who once said she just didn't see how people could think God cares about us on a personal level.   It was a UCC pastor that told me she was hip to the whole gnostic gospels of Judas as a viable alternative to those dusty old sexist and racist things most Christian endure.  It was the UCC that put out a deplorably intolerant and judgemental series of commercials a few years back, in which it made clear that if you didn't completely support and celebrate the glories of homosexuality, then you probably hate mothers, babies, blacks, Jews, and any other group under the sun.  So in short, the UCC straddles dangerously that fence that is on the opposite side of the field from the Fred Phelps expression of religion.  Really.  Any Christian who says you are an evil racist if you don't conform to liberal values is basically the same thing, right?  For to exploit racism in order to advance an ideology is no better than racism itself.

Anyway, over on the always fair and balanced Huffington Post, she has posted a quiz to debunk the idea that Americans are losing their religious freedoms.  The quiz itself is a rather humorous thing, that if it were put out by a Fundamentalist group would (and should) illicit endless guffawing.  But because its basic premise is the increasingly popular notion on the Left that Freedom of Worship is alive and well as long as you keep your religion to yourself and out of the public arena, it's garnering serious consideration by those on the Left.   It's not surprising that it's her most flagrant expression of this ideal that gets the praises and celebratory high-fives of the ironically titled Friendly Atheist. 

The gist of the quiz is that if you answer a select number of heavily weighted questions, and A is in any of your answers, your religious liberty might be threatened.  The one that our friendly Atheist posts, and the one that screamed Warning Will Robinson, was this little gem:

"4. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) I am not allowed to pray privately.
B) I am not allowed to force others to pray the prayers of my faith publicly."

Note the qualifier.  I am not allowed to pray PRIVATELY (emphasis all mine).  Privately.  Because nothing screams liberty like being forced to do something privately.  That is, of course, the hallmark of old time Soviet style religious freedom.  In the USSR, everyone was guaranteed the freedom of worship.  What people living there soon found out was that meant you had best keep your religion under a bushel or invest in some heavy layers of thermal underwear, if you're lucky. 

And yet, that phrase in becoming increasingly embraced by the post-liberal Left.  From the White House's use of the phrase in the HHS mandate debacle, to this, it is keeping in step with the evolving understanding of the Constitution that suggests what it really did was ensure us the right to sex, drugs, bathroom humor, and the right to abort snot nose brats so I can continued to indulge in unabated hedonistic narcissism.  All that freedom of speech and religion garbage just meant that Congress shall establish a secular leftist nation by brutally censoring the right to fail to conform to the secular left thereof.

And I can't think of anything that shows this more than the idea that as long as we can do something enshrined in the Bill or Rights in private, we must be free. 

Atheists and Muslims need not apply for President

On one hand, the findings of this poll, if they are to be believed, are bothersome.  It's not good that in America, we would judge a person just because of their beliefs, one way or another.  Though I partly fault the back-and-forth between the religious right and the secular liberal media.  As ostracizing of traditional religious (read: Christian) values in our country has caused a movement to form in protest (the religious right), the media has turned this into a liability for many candidates.  How many times in the last 10 years have we seen a politician's Christian beliefs scrutinized by the media, as if merely being a devout Christian should somehow preclude you from running for office?

Since most Americans still identify, in some way or another, as Christian, it's not hard to see why this would breed a tendency to look toward belief has a fundamental characteristic of a candidate, especially if the candidate holds beliefs not scrutinized in the same way by the MSM.  Thus we have this, where Christians and those close to the Christian faith come off fairly well in a poll.  Still, it isn't encouraging, and I'd be happy if the idea of religion could be private once again, and that includes private both ways - not just telling Christians to sit down and shut up while folks with non-Christian beliefs can parade them proudly, but keeping all such things to a personal level, and respecting those of differing beliefs and what they bring to the table.

But that's not where things are.  That's the first thing I come from this poll thinking. The second, however, is that if any groups are going to fail, it's not illogical that it would be these groups.  First, the Muslims.  I think it's foolish to imagine that simply because a person is a Muslim, they represent a threat to our freedoms.  That's foolish, and demonstrably false. 

With that said, however, the attitudes and responses to America by Muslims since 9/11 has been, at times, confusing at best.  It took years before Muslim representatives would, on national TV, actually condemn the terrorist attacks outright and without qualifications.  Even then, many continue to dangle old, lame notions that 'it's the Crusader's fault', or 'Christians nuked babies in Japan' as if that somehow reduces blame on the terrorists.  In addition, many Muslims who speak and talk about the topic, tend to wrap it up with 'it's still America's fault' or 'real Muslims never do wrong, so you can't blame Islam', ideals not usually accepted when Christians or other groups attempt the same line of arguments. 

In addition to these tendencies, you have that Islamic characteristic of not looking like the browbeat Christians of America.  More than once, a Muslim will draw stark lines between modern new-age sensitivities and the absolute confessional truths of Islam in a way that, were it a Christian doing the same, he would be lumped into the category of 'right wing fundamentalist fringe.' 

And then, beyond all that, you have Muslims who seem to want to focus on the worst that America has done, which has been, on the whole, very little.  Some vandalism.  Some threats.  In the early days following 9/11, some reprisals and even a few assaults.  But as of now, more Americans have been killed on American soil by Muslims than Muslims on American soil by Americans.  In fact, despite the media narrative, there have been relatively few - proportionally speaking - reprisals against Muslims since 9/11.  And  yet, to hear far too many Muslims speak, we are a nation of ignorant bigots and racists, loping about and looking for innocent Muslims to slaughter by the millions.  Somehow people who seem to want to focus on the minor to non-existent, while appearing reluctant to give credit where it is due, can unnerve people.  These things probably account for the Muslim side of the poll.  Plus, of course, you have some Americans who are just bigots, and wouldn't vote for a Muslim if none of the things previously mentioned had occurred.

Now, the atheists.  That's far less difficult to understand.  Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, the late Christopher Hitchens, P.Z. Myers, Bill Maher - as long as they are the darlings of modern atheism, don't expect the religiously oriented American public to vote yes in November.  In our world, where higher education is secular progressive, and our media outlets are not far behind the same path, these individuals are praised, lauded, celebrated, and rewarded.  If you took their same statements and tweaked them so that Christians said the same thing, they would be condemned, mocked, loathed, and cut off from mainstream debate. 

Their attitudes are based on half-truths, no truths, and an exploitation of a lazy and intellectually floundering generation.  They use bigotry and ignorance to paint ludicrous and simplistic pictures of reality, while meandering about levels of extremism that, if they were in the religious camp, would be somewhere between radical fundamentalist and Fred Phelps.  Logic and common sense should shoot holes in their hatred of religion, and yet the industries that should hold them at bay - education and media - are more than happy to help and reward accordingly.

Still, even though they are beloved of our universities and news outlets, most Americans are, rightly so, suspicious of individuals who more or less say that they are the true intellectual mater race, superior in thought to religious dolts, and religion, being the singular cause of evil in the world, needs wiped off the planet so that humanity may thrive.  Their twisted logic used to support such demonstrably false notions is the stuff of legend, and yet it gets a pass every time.  At least it does with our elites.  With the average thinking American, not so much.  Even a few atheists cringe at what they see representing atheism in our post-modern age.  Unfortunately, those atheists who attempt to distance themselves are not enough, and thinking Americans are not going to vote for someone from a camp that seems to appreciate the idea that religion is a stupid and evil lie that needs eradicated from open society.  Until new spokespeople for atheism emerge, I don't see this changing any time soon.  And that's a good thing. 

Because all they care about is money, that's why

And today, the winds have definitely shifted toward a progressive, secular viewpoint in our society.  Oh sure, numbers may suggest a split.  But our education systems, our media, our vendors of popular culture, all embrace the various assumptions of secular, post-Western liberal values and ideals.  Therefore, those who don't follow those viewpoints are increasingly shown the door, punished, mocked, ridiculed, ostracized, or in some other ways made to pay for their lack of vision.

While you have a fair amount of folks who may hold to some form of traditional values, but not all are going to stand up and make a stink of it.  Plus, the philosophy that gives you sex, drugs, narcissism, hedonism, open pornography, no-fault divorce, materialism, and basic self focus has its appeal, even to the most dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist.  So while the staunch conservative may rail against gay marriage, there's a least a chance he has a Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition on his nightstand; he may possibly have a copy of Hustler or Penthouse under his mattress for easy retrieval.

Thus there's not really much of a fight at this point.  Many who used to fight are giving up, throwing in the towel, preferring to focus on doing whatever it takes to protect free enterprise, especially if it clears the way to bottomless bank accounts and golden parachutes.  Others are starting to taste of the benefits of a world in which God may truly be dead, or at least in the closet.

Those few who do resist are in a dog fight with one another, some embracing a morally suspect form of 'I'd torture babies to save America' approach to tradition (tradition that never condoned torture, even if it sometimes happened), while others are pushing for a no rules, it's everyone for himself approach.  Even those trying to find some form of traditional Christian values often that split down the line of Catholic or Protestant, Mainline or Evangelical.  Even within those folds, various groups have divided and fought each other with more passion than was ever mustered against any other force or movement in recent memory.

So when we read that Target is aiding the Gay Cause, or that J.C. Penney has decided to go pro-Gay Dad, we shouldn't be surprised.  These stores only care about money.  That is all.  The profit.  The bottom line.  That's all that matters.  If the winds of change were pushing toward outlawing homosexuality, these stores wouldn't get near the issue except to support its ban.  But the winds aren't going in that direction. They are going the other way, and that's where the money is.  As Rod Dreher so bluntly put it, the war is over.  The non-Heterosexual normality movement won.  It's time to reexamine where we go from here.  And where we as traditional Christians go is certainly not relying on companies who worship at the altar of Mammon for our alliances.

Look for him to be on our money in the not too distant future.

Secular political leaders endorse atheism

Atheists cheer.  I wonder if the ACLU will ride in to save the day.  Ahem.  Again, the idea that leftists and secularists want anything other than a brutal secular totalitarian state that brutal crushes, oppresses, and censors all religious thought and practice should clearly, at this point, rank among the most naive and ridiculous ideas in history. 

Much as I understand the concept behind Separation of Church and State

I'm beginning to sympathize with the likes of Angela Hildenbrand.  Originally, it was just this type of public religious expressions that I imagined the Court wanted to discourage, because the First Amendment does make it pretty clear that government shouldn't be sponsoring this religion over that one.  Of course the First Amendment applies to federal government, but we all know how that has evolved over the centuries.  So it's enough to say that someone compelled to be in a government setting shouldn't be forced to endure the evangelizing desires of a religious advocate.  Fine.

Unfortunately, you would have to be either blind, stupid, both, or part of the agenda to miss that many are taking the SCOTUS spin on the First Amendment and using it to further their own belief systems at the expense of the right to promote others.  Whether it's some suggesting that public officials with traditional Christian beliefs shouldn't run for public office, or the likes of Barry Lynn proudly stating that a religion's relationship with public funding is directly related to its beliefs and doctrines, or simply the radical secularists attempting to exploit this constitutional interpretation in order to censor and prohibit the free exercise of religion in America, it's clear that the SCOTUS spin is now being exploited in order to violate the very essence of what the Founding Fathers wanted in the first place.

So on one hand, I can see that this case, especially with the support of the Liberty Institute, would seem to violate the heart of the First Amendment by any fair reading of it.  Yet I can also see that others who continue to exploit 'Seperation of Church and State' for their own interests are no less in violation of the heart of the First Amendment, and in some cases are in even more flagrant violation of the Founding Fathers' intentions than any evangelist could hope to be.

A nice news story showing that people wear shoes in America

Actually, just Reuters pointing out what anyone not living under rocks has always known, that church groups are among the first to mobilize in any disaster situation.  Here they are doing their church thing, as everyone knew they would, for those victims of the tornado ravaged South.  I'm not sure if this is classic 'everyone is in a zoo to the press' stuff, where the reporter is genuinely shocked to see a stereotype broken by reality.   Or if the reporter is well aware of the inherent goodness that exists in religion and is using this lull in a week of super-stories to point out the obvious flaws in history's latest, hippest bigotry.  After all, the modern secular notion of religion, especially of the institutional kind, is just the latest manifestation of the ages old propaganda telling willing hearers that such and such people group is mostly stupid, mostly evil, and the reason there is suffering in the world, and needs eradicated for peace to reign.  Perhaps the good reporter Verna Gates just took this time to derail that little commonly presented spin before something really bad happens as a result.  Who knows?  But it is nice to see what everyone knows.