revisiting Jesus Camp
In a longer piece describing bullying tactics of so-called "Christian right" - most of which I agreed with - I took issue for another reason with the whole of the piece for the attitude expressed in this one line:
"The truth is that Christanity has become a political movement, not a spiritual one-
and it is important that secular people fight them when necessary to preserve American values."
I think I understand reasons for that statement, and may I point out that it is but one man's "truth" ... ?
To me such a statement exemplifies the difficulty we (all of us) face in effecting solutions.
... as if, for instance, only "secular people" can have ability "to preserve American values"
That is what I derive from the statement, anyway, and I see that as the same sort of "us and them" mentality a self-described "secular" (whatever that is) might attribute to "THEM" - the very sort of thing which initiates hysterics ...
... like a carnival ride.
In my view it is not that *Christianity* itself has become "a political movement" but that a well-recognized (respected by some) portion of "Christian leadership" (call it what you want) has made *their* "christianity" a political statement.
Christians right now are no less divided than most any other group.
There is no "truth" such as "all Christians support Bush" or "all Christians believe United States is moving in a good direction" or "all Christians believe Saddam connected to 911" - such a list might seem endless, and all of it no less fallacious.
Whatever flaws the video report "Doomsday Code" might have, one of its strengths I believe is how clearly it shows that our situation is NOT one of "us and them" in the sense too many folks seems to hold dear - NOT a "one group against another - choose sides" kind of contest or conflict.
Anyone who could not see it before should easily begin to understand from "Doomsday Code"
http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=995877910757286588&q=doomsday+code
... how many different *sub-groups* (if it helps you to envision better) - maybe *within and outside of* Christianity (if that is your focus) are in some way "at odds" with each other ... working in different directions, toward different ends - all at once.
The *membership* in those "sub-groups" crosses and blurs any "lines" between them so that we ourselves sometimes do not quite understand how our own actions might actually be going against our own personal objectives - yet maybe because of our competitive natures, we somehow still find it easy to state a clear (in our own mind) "us and them" ...
"The truth is that Christanity has become a political movement, not a spiritual one-
and it is important that secular people fight them when necessary to preserve American values."
I think I understand reasons for that statement, and may I point out that it is but one man's "truth" ... ?
To me such a statement exemplifies the difficulty we (all of us) face in effecting solutions.
... as if, for instance, only "secular people" can have ability "to preserve American values"
That is what I derive from the statement, anyway, and I see that as the same sort of "us and them" mentality a self-described "secular" (whatever that is) might attribute to "THEM" - the very sort of thing which initiates hysterics ...
... like a carnival ride.
In my view it is not that *Christianity* itself has become "a political movement" but that a well-recognized (respected by some) portion of "Christian leadership" (call it what you want) has made *their* "christianity" a political statement.
Christians right now are no less divided than most any other group.
There is no "truth" such as "all Christians support Bush" or "all Christians believe United States is moving in a good direction" or "all Christians believe Saddam connected to 911" - such a list might seem endless, and all of it no less fallacious.
Whatever flaws the video report "Doomsday Code" might have, one of its strengths I believe is how clearly it shows that our situation is NOT one of "us and them" in the sense too many folks seems to hold dear - NOT a "one group against another - choose sides" kind of contest or conflict.
Anyone who could not see it before should easily begin to understand from "Doomsday Code"
http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=995877910757286588&q=doomsday+code
... how many different *sub-groups* (if it helps you to envision better) - maybe *within and outside of* Christianity (if that is your focus) are in some way "at odds" with each other ... working in different directions, toward different ends - all at once.
The *membership* in those "sub-groups" crosses and blurs any "lines" between them so that we ourselves sometimes do not quite understand how our own actions might actually be going against our own personal objectives - yet maybe because of our competitive natures, we somehow still find it easy to state a clear (in our own mind) "us and them" ...
posted by JamesB at 11:11 PM
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