Subtle Attacks on Christianity

Barak Obama's statements about us "red-staters" in "fly-over country", in reference to our God and our guns, betrays a bias that merits discussion. In a world rife with fears over religious "extremism", one in which the nightly news is saturated with scenes of carnage from around the world of "religion run amok", I have noticed a trend with regard to the treatment of Christians by bureaucratic governmental agencies and major media outlets alike. That trend can only be defined as disdain. The attempt to mitigate Christianity to a government and media-labeled "loony bin" is palpable.

The demonization of religious fundamentalism has long been with us, however, the blatant couching of a Biblical world-view as something that is only for zealots and those who take religion just a little "too seriously" has been incrementally inserted into the public mind, and is something of a new "tactic" undertaken by those with a vested interest in mitigating the Judeo-Christian basis of the American experience. In the treatment of stories like the "Branch-Dividians" in the mid-1990's and lately the Mormon community in Texas, the assertion that anyone who would take religion to heart is in some way mentally deficient or emotionally disturbed has been propagated not by overt statement, but rather by the dismissive and critical pallor under which these stories are presented.

This hue of dangerous eccentricity, by any definition, is one distinct from that which is cast over the traditions and epistemic stances of any other major world religion. The relativistic "kid gloves" worn to handle these other faiths are visibly absent. In other words, the urge to rationalize, legitimize, and normalize (bordering on idolize) the abhorrent behavior within other religious groups, for some reason is not present in the discourse on Christianity. In a society where an Islamic "honor killing" or the Hindu practice of "Satee" can be tolerated without so much as a peep of objective distaste, and can even be presented in an intellectual context as a "unique" practice of another "culture" that holds an ancient and significant role in said culture, (that, by the way, cannot be criticized due to the state-imposed lack of objective footing for fear of the inference of "right" and "wrong", or offending someone unless they happen to be a Christian conservative), how then can a Christian' s individual choice towards spanking, abstinence, the right to life, or love of family be criticized as backwards, archaic, or even "abusive?" The double standard is now, more than ever within American society, a brightly drawn line that marks a stark juxtaposition. No matter your doctrinal differences with him, if David Koresh can be labeled a "nut-job" by most for shooting at ATF and FBI agents bent on invading his home through windows with guns in hand, and yet millions of Muslim globally are treated as "victims" when the world erupted in violence in the wake of an editorial newspaper cartoon; in a society where Muslim foot baths are placed in airports in hopes to make said people feel welcomed and where Christian children are prohibited from silent prayer in school, how can anyone deny the evident nature of the two distinct and separate standards used to judge, well, Christianity and "everyone else?" Perhaps now, one's motivation toward tangential and hurried judgement of Koresh and his ilk, even within the Christian community, merit self-examination. In short, are you a "nut job" for what you believe?

If one were to lend even tertiary credence to the above statements, then one owes it to oneself to examine the probable cause behind the modern American media and governmental disdain for Christianity. Why do they hate us so much? My answer, we don't fit the mold of the modern homogenized globalized society. We don't feel "it takes a village" to raise our children, but rather would like to school them in our homes. We don't believe in the Oprahesque all-inclusive dogma of a "higher power", but rather accept a singular God and avenue to salvation. We don't see children as a "punishment" like Barak Obama (or B.O. for short), but rather see them as blessings from God. And finally, and perhaps most germane to our discussion, we will always choose our God over our government. We refuse, contrary to the contemporary trend, to deify governmental policy as the savior of all, and rest in our assurance that the nature of man, even in its most righteous incarnation, is inherently flawed and doomed to fail. We refuse to subjugate our beliefs behind the Clinton-contrived veil of "private life" and are called to live out our calling in service to our God. In short, we owe God our most stringent allegiance, and are specifically called not to subdue that allegiance especially due to governmental compulsion. We are, for lack of a better term, the new "counterculture."

As with prior definitions of counterculture, the current zeitgeist and powers-that-be are made uncomfortable by even a hint of the differences we embody, i.e. the Divine Presence within our lives. We are, as alluded to by the term "culture war," locked in what can only be described as a dialectic confrontation of Hegelian proportions. However, unlike prior clashes, we, as the counterculture minority, are not seen as upstarts by the current societal members, but rather as an oppressive regime to be sloughed off in hopes of a newer more free existence of man. We are the last true impediment toward the anticipated acme of human evolution foretold since the dawning of the enlightenment. In the absence of objective standards and individual rights born out of the Christian construct, future generation will no longer be judged by standards, and have no expectation of individual rights nor culpability. With Christianity dead, man can be the "animal" that he has dreamt of being since Darwin. On top of those concepts, we are the last threat (outside of the Muslim world, and we all know what is happening there) to the new non-judgemental and all-inclusive religion that is, for lack of a less trite term, humanism. With all of its governmentally enforced diversity and acceptance, the only law is that judgement based on any assertion of universal truth is not allowed. And, like any other circular argument, defeats itself by positing the absence of a standard as the standard, the absence of God as god, a disdain for faith as the only acceptable manifestation of faith.

We are under attack. Our rights are being subverted with rounds of applause, as evidenced by the recent scandal in a Wisconsin Christian school, where children who were thought by state officials to have been "abused" (read spanked) , and were forced to disrobe by a state thug. The minds of the next generation are taught to resent Christianity by outlets like M.T.V. The world in which we must live is one where homosexuality is embraced and marriage is scoffed at, one where fully developed fetuses are pulled from their mother's womb and murdered, where higher education is nothing more than indoctrination toward atheistic statism, where the rights of animals are held in higher regard than humans. As the prophet Isaiah stated, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil."(Isaiah, 5. 20) I for one will not be counted in the number of those who do so. Scripture calls us to be "as wise as serpents and as Innocent as doves."(Matt 10.16) To turn a blind eye to the fact that Christianity is both decaying and being systematically condemned and marginalized would be a choice towards ignorance. We must make the stance that our so-called "conservative leaders" won't. We must reject the false choices presented to us as a body politic. We must make a stand, and when we have " done everything to stand. Stand therefore." (Ephesians 6.13-14) If revolution is what it takes, then revolution it must be. Perhaps the Spanish revolutionaries stated it best when they said "it is better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees." So, be unpopular, be a "religious zealot", be a "Bible thumper", if not for yourselves then for the next generation.

And for you non-religious conservatives, keep in mind that the existence of God as he is defined within Judeo-Christian culture and the United States Constitution, is the entity, whether actual or purely legal, that guarantees the rights you hold so very dear. If God were to be expelled from the modern mental lexicon, that would leave only government as the source from which all freedoms flow. If you are not made a man by God. then you are made a "citizen" by government.