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All that remains is a fragment of song

All that remains is a fragment of song

Last updated on: April 17, 2011 at 3:54 pm by Fred Clark

All that remains is a fragment of song 2011-04-17T15:54:50-04:00 Fred Clark

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.

The Revealer brings us news of a study on the religious right’s bold new campaign to stand up for bullies and bullying. Among the groups bravely fighting for the right of the strong to torment the weak are the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family and the American Family Association.

Basically, any group with “Family” in the name is demanding the right to steal your lunch money.

The objective of most of these organizations isn’t to just influence hearts and minds to follow their idea of moral living but to do so via legal and legislative means, using existing local and national networks for fundraising, media reach, and legislative influence. And so, attempts to teach kids that heckling their neighbors for being different has rhetorically become an attack on tolerance.

It reminds me of that song we used to sing in Sunday school, “Dare to Be a Nebuchadnezzar.”

Jim Evans has more on the AFA campaign at Ethics Daily: “As Self-Appointed Media Watchdog, AFA Goes on Attack.” Ethics Daily is a mostly Southern Baptist site, and Evans is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Auburn, Ala. That’s why it’s really encouraging to see him shaming the AFA for its recent efforts against the Day of Silence:

The idea behind the Day of Silence was to call attention to the pain inflicted on LGBT individuals by bullying, mean-spirited jokes and harassment.

The AFA encouraged parents to take their children out of schools that were supporting this observance. Apparently, in the skewed AFA view of the Christian gospel, making fun of people is a way of showing the love of Jesus.

Regardless of where Christian individuals stand on the issue of homosexuality, there can be no defense for condoning attacks on people – verbally or otherwise.

The suggestion by AFA that parents withdraw their children from efforts to restrain verbal and other assaults is a tacit blessing of promoting verbal and other assaults. And from my perspective that is totally unchristian and they should be ashamed.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals remain first and foremost human beings. And the God who became human and dwelt among us has made it abundantly clear that there is profound love for the human species – all of us.

That’ll preach.

* * * * * * * * *

I picture this as a slightly more affordable alternative to the Charlie Sheen tour: “Love Worth Fighting For Events With Kirk Cameron and Warren Barfield Sell Out Across Country.”

It’s a bit odd that a marriage and relationship advice seminar would choose the verb “fighting” for it’s title. They mean the good kind of fighting, I guess, the kind that encourages “men and women to find the victories on the other side of the battles they face in their relationships.”

Not just fighting, then, but fighting to win because relationships are battles. That’s our Buck.

* * * * * * * * *

Hugh Hollowell gets the usual questions from the evangelical inquisition. “Occasionally I get emails demanding to know my stance on a particular piece of ‘historic orthodoxy,'” he writes.

Hollowell, you see, runs a ministry for homeless people. So for the self-appointed evangelical inquisitors, that suggests he’s some kind of Spong-lovin’ librul. His most recent catechist demanded to know whether or not he denies the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hollowell responds by quoting Peter Rollins:

I deny the resurrection of Christ. … I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system. …

As Hollowell notes, such an answer probably won’t satisfy his inquisitors. But here’s the thing: No answer will ever satisfy those inquisitors. Their whole sense of identity comes from trying to control others by catechizing them about proper and correct dogma. They imagine that this gives them power.

Such people can never and will never be satisfied. Trying to satisfy people who can never be satisfied is a waste of time.

* * * * * * * * *

Grist reports on yet another energy-related catastrophe. A year after the Gulf oil spill, in the midst of Japan’s nuclear crisis, and in the wake of countless coal mine explosions and collapses, this happens:

Oh the humanity.

As Grist notes:

The most recent reports indicate that so far the only casualties are a wide swath of grass and possibly a family of voles. So far no evacuation zone has been declared. There are no threats to sea life, and the fallout from the disaster was not detectable thousands of miles away. Cleanup efforts are in progress, and will not include covering the area in a giant concrete dome. No workers have been asked to give their lives in order to save their countrymen from the menace of this fallen wind turbine.

* * * * * * * * *

Amanda Marcotte has pointed out that on any given day you can type the words “youth pastor” into Google News and … well, the results won’t be pretty.

It’s true. And it’s sad. And it clearly suggests, as she says, that American Christianity’s obsession with mostly imaginary external monsters is in part an attempt to escape dealing with our own internal problems.

But then I don’t want to read too much into that because I am, among other things, a stepdad.

And the same exercise produces similarly dismaying results if, on any given day, you type the words “step father” into Google News.

* * * * * * * * *

The title here comes from Paul Simon’s new song, “The Afterlife.” It’s kind of brilliant.

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