Mike Huckabee hearts Jefferson Bethke

Last updated on: September 16, 2012 at 9:31 pm by Dave Griffey

Mike Huckabee hearts Jefferson Bethke 2012-09-16T21:31:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

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.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

September 16, 2012

A day at the races

Next Post

September 17, 2012 Vatican spokesman gets it right

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the Christian view about material possessions?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Seek them after righteousness Riches guarantee happiness They are the most important thing They are temporary