Tag: christian

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

The Preacher in Chief?

As we all know, the president of the United States is elected by and swears to serve all citizens of this nation by protecting and defending the Constitution, not the Bible or any other religious text. America — founded by men who in some instances proclaimed Jesus as their God — was created to assure the freedoms of religion and conscience without regard to an individual’s personal beliefs, creed, or worship practices.

The Republican Party appears to have abandoned any commitment to this tenet of the Constitution and is positioned to nominate a preacher in chief, whose first loyalty will be to the dogmas of Christian fundamentalism.

And they have a constituency. Across the country, sprawling corporate religious “lifestyle centers,” serving more as Christian country clubs than as houses of worship, have produced congregations who foster a blend of ostentatious piety, self-righteous intolerance, and unyielding arrogance. For these churchgoers, voting Republican is de rigueur.

Unprecedented amounts of wealth have been amassed in many of these churches, not in small part as a result of the wealth-redistribution policy of the Republican administrations’ faith-based government programs. The threat of losing this power and money may in fact be looming large in the selection of the party’s nominee and in the desperately pious tone, manner, and attitude of the Republican presidential acolytes.

Not to be outdone, the media, particularly cable television punditry and radio talk-show hosts, are reliably helping to advance the idea of establishing a religious “test” for candidates. Although the most recent Republican debate fielded questions created by viewers of YouTube, those questions were vetted and selected by officials at CNN. Thus, all Republican presidential candidates were asked by Wolf Blitzer if they believed in the inerrancy of the Bible. (Any guesses as to how the pack of them answered?)

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a proud member of God’s Own Party and an ordained Baptist minister, may be the most flagrant offender against the Constitution. Huckabee recently told a group of students at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University that his astonishing rise in the Iowa polls is an “act of God.” He has also received letters of endorsement from Tim LaHaye, author of the “Left Behind” series of novels which extol the Rapture as an imminent end-of-the-world phenomenon.

Huckabee has stated on the record that he does not believe in evolution and lists among the most urgent issues facing the country the perils of abortion and gay marriage, as well as threats to the unlimited rights of gun-owners. His frequent statements of religiosity are delivered with a jocular smile and a sense of humor — designed, apparently, to seem non-threatening to anyone who is not a believer.

And, as if this country hasn’t suffered enough division, enough religious hypocrisy, and enough self-righteous intolerance in the last seven years, now we have former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, an ex-moderate of sorts, hastening to join the ranks of Christian soldiers in the Republican Party and seeking like the rest to impose a religious obligation on political service. His immediate motivation, amplified by concern about rival Huckabee, is to gain the White House at any cost, but the ultimate result of his apostasy from reason is to further erode the wall separating church and state in this country — something most Christian fundamentalists believe is a myth concocted by God-hating secular liberals.

Prompted by Huckabee’s surge, Mormon Romney has ramped up his attempt to sway the fundamentalist crowds and seems determined to try to one-up Preacher Huckabee. He may indeed have trumped Huckabee with this mind-bending assertion: “Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom. … Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.” Can Romney really not know of the suppression, torture, and murder of heretics and infidels by Christians (and members of virtually every other religion) throughout history?

When candidates such as Romney and Huckabee ratchet up their efforts to destroy the separation of church and state established by this country’s founders, it requires those of us in the electorate to ratchet right back. After all, it is an election that will be held in America next November, not an altar call.

Cheri DelBrocco writes the “Mad As Hell” column for MemphisFlyer.com.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

MAD AS HELL: Keeping the Faith in God’s Own Party

As we all know, the president of the United States is
elected and swears to serve all citizens of this nation by protecting and
defending the Constitution rather than the Bible or any other religious text.
America, founded by men who in some instances proclaimed Jesus as their God,
was created to assure the freedoms of religion and conscience without regard
to an individual’s personal beliefs, creed, or worship practices.

The Republican Party appears to have abandoned any
commitment to this tenet of the Constitution and is positioned to elect a
preacher- in-chief whose first loyalty will be to the dogmas of Christian
Fundamentalism.

And they have a constituency. Across the country
sprawling corporate religious “lifestyle centers” serving more as Christian
country clubs than as houses of worship have produced congregations who foster
a blend of ostentatious piety, self-righteous intolerance, and unyielding
arrogance. For these parishioners, voting Republican is de rigueur.

Unprecedented amounts of wealth have been amassed in many
of these churches, not in small part as a result of the wealth-redistribution
policy of the Bush and Republican faith-based government programs established
in this century. The threat of losing this power and money may in fact be
looming large in the selection of the party’s nominee and in the desperately
pious tone, manner, and attitude of the Republican presidential acolytes.

Not to be outdone, the media, particularly cable
television punditry and radio talk show hosts, are reliably helping to advance
the idea of establishing a religious test. Although the last Republican
debate fielded questions created by viewers of You Tube, those questions were
vetted and selected by officials at CNN. Thus, all Republican presidential
candidates were asked by Wolf Blitzer if they believed in the inerrancy of the
Bible. (Any guesses as to how the pack of them answered?)

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a proud member of
God’s Own Party and an ordained Baptist minister, may be the most flagrant
offender against the Constitution. Mr. Huckabee recently told a group of
students at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University that his astonishing rise in
the Iowa polls is an act of God. He has also received letters of endorsement
from Tim LaHaye, author of the Left Behind series which extols the
Rapture as an imminent end-of-the-world phenomenon. Huckabee has stated on the
record that he does not believe in evolution and lists among the most urgent
issues facing the country the perils of abortion and gay marriage, as well as
threats to the unlimited rights of gun-owners. His frequent statements of
religiosity are delivered with a jocular smile and a sense of humor —
designed apparently to seem non-threatening to anyone who is not a believer.

As if this country hasn’t suffered enough division, enough
religious hypocrisy, and enough self-righteous intolerance in the last seven
years, now we have former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, an ex-moderate of
sorts, hastening to join the ranks of Christian soldiers in the Republican Party
and seeking like the rest to impose a religious obligation on political service.
His immediate motivation, amplified by concern about rival Huckabee, is to gain
the White House at any cost, but the ultimate result of his apostasy from reason
is to further decimate the wall of separation between Church and state in this
country–something most Christian fundamentalists disbelieve anyhow as a myth
concocted by them God-hating secular liberals.

Scarified by Huckabee’s surge, Mormon Romney has ramped up
his attempt to sway the fundamentalist crowds and seems determined to try to
one-up Preacher Huckabee. He may indeed have trumped Huckabee with this
mind-bending assertion: “Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires
freedom—-Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.” Can Romney
really not know of the suppression, torture, and murder of heretics and infidels
by Christians (and members of virtually every other religion) throughout
history?

When candidates like Romney, Huckabee and others ratchet up
their effort to destroy the wall of separation built by the founders, it
requires somebody to ratchet right back. After all, it is an election that will
be held in America next November, not an altar call.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Dick Morris Hearts Huckabee

On realclearpolitics.com, former Clinton political advisor Dick Morris calls former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee the Christian right’s last survivor.

When it comes to abortion, Morris points out that Mitt Romney has flip-flopped back and forth; Fred Thompson was once paid to lobby for the weakening of anti-abortion regulations, and that has left Huckabee.

“In the meantime,” Morris says, “plugging away in the shadows, with no money and no political backing, an articulate, principled, knowledgable, conservative Christian, Mike Huckabee, has been plowing the fields in Iowa hoping to catch a break.”

Read more here.

Categories
News

Coulter Wants to FedEx Jews to Perfection-ville

Professional right-wing provocateur and attention-whore Ann Coulter has a new book out, which can only mean one thing: She’ll go on television and say something mind-bogglingly outrageous.

This time, however, she’s outdone herself, and in the process has dragged the name of Memphis’ biggest employer into her self-serving slimelight.

A sample of Coulter’s rhetoric from MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch show, “The Big Idea”:

DEUTSCH (who is Jewish): We should all be Christian?

COULTER: Yes. Would you like to come to church with me, Donny?

DEUTSCH: So I should not be a Jew, I should be a Christian, and this would be a better place? We should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then, or —

COULTER: Yeah.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Do you know what Christianity is? We believe your religion, but you have to obey.

DEUTSCH: No, no, no, but I mean —

COULTER: We have the fast-track program.

COULTER: No, we think — we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.

DEUTSCH: Wow, you didn’t really say that, did you?

COULTER: Yes. That is what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws. We know we’re all sinners —

And there you have it, the Christian Gospel according to Ann Coulter, who is no doubt acting just like Jesus (a Jew, by the way) would have wanted her to.

We’d tell you the name of Coulter’s new book, but we forgot what it was. Guess we’re not perfected yet, either.

Categories
Music Music Features

Blister Christian

Several years ago, while cheerfully performing my filial duty, I attended a morning service with my mother at the First Baptist Church in Euless, Texas. It is a monolithic megachurch in the sprawl of Dallas/Ft. Worth and features a replica of Jesus’ tomb — complete with a roll-away stone. At one point during the service, stewards in ornate robes and tall white hats brought out a replica of the Ark of the Covenant. I whispered to my wife, “If the lid falls off that thing, avert your eyes. Bad face-melty things will happen.”

During the sermon of this already memorable church visit, the pastor began talking about his daughter, who had recently started college. After bemoaning the high cost of textbooks, he stated that all college students, or any of us for that matter, need to read one book, and one book only. (I’ll give you a hint: It wasn’t the vegan advice book Skinny Bitch.) I left the church feeling miffed, silently crafting a defense of Western literature. However, there was still a part of me that wanted to peek inside that faux Ark and try to roll the replica stone away.

As I Lay Dying

The Christian church has been aware of the value of entertaining the masses ever since Michelangelo got a crick in his neck painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It may seem a long way from the art of the High Renaissance to the concussive sounds of Christian metalcore, but the bands of today understand the evangelical value of theater and, more importantly, how to appeal to that most desirable of demographics: the kids. 

Thankfully, two of the more popular Christian metal bands of the moment have not followed the bibliophobic advice of the goodly pastor from Euless. In fact, they’ve both taken their names from works of fiction. Other than cribbing the title from Faulkner, As I Lay Dying seem to have little connection to Yoknapatawpha County. I suppose that it just sounded hard, heavy, and suitably morose. The San Diego quartet’s fourth full-length, An Ocean Between Us, debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200 chart. That’s impressive for any metal band, much less a Christian one. 

Without prior knowledge that As I Lay Dying is a Christian band, it would be difficult to determine their beliefs. The word “Christian” doesn’t appear once on the band’s promotional materials. The closest we get is the fact that “the band always has something thoughtful and positive to say while still playing a combustible, aggressive style of music.” They’ve played the decidedly not-Christian Ozzfest and Sounds of the Underground tours. No offense to vocalist Tim Lambesis, but his indiscernible words could just as easily be espousing a belief in the Baha’i faith. Even the addition of a visual element doesn’t necessarily help clarify As I Lay Dying’s faith. The video for the album’s lead single, “Nothing Left,” features a sci-fi dystopian theme but no overt symbols of Christianity. 

Thank God, then, for printed lyrics in CD booklets. “Nothing Left” contains the lines, “If all my sorrow has led me here/Then I would cry all of my tears/To have this chance again/And know there’s more than this.” It’s a little clearer that As I Lay Dying is talking about the limitations of the material world and Christianity’s promise of a life beyond. If that’s still not overt enough for you, try these lines: “For what use is there in praying/If you only hear what you want to hear?” from “The Sound of the Truth.” The words, though simple, are actually thoughtful and profound, careful to sidestep the pitfall of preachiness. Those who continue to doubt As I Lay Dying’s devotion are directed to the liberal use of the reverentially capitalized second person “You” in the album’s last song, “This Is Who We Are.” 

The music on An Ocean Between Us is leaner and more direct than on previous releases. Gone are the galloping, Maidenesque twin-guitar solos. However, there is a sense of urgency in the new, stripped-down sound. The two guitarists, Nick Hipa and Phil Sgrosso, still get to showcase their chops on occasion. “Forsaken” has a brief, drama-building intro before the pair of ax-men launch into a propulsive riff. Lambesis alternates between singing and growling, with more emphasis on the latter. Those qualities are certainly nothing new in the world of metalcore, but Lambesis does it well and knows when to get out of the way of the rest of the band. 

As I Lay Dying’s motivational lyrics offer a faith-based twist on the positive words found in many emo, screamo, and metalcore songs. It’s easy to see the band’s appeal to kids who feel isolated, as if there were, indeed, “an ocean between” themselves and others. Judging from record sales and all the young folks in As I Lay Dying T-shirts, it seems that they have found a perfect formula of understated Christianity and musical severity. 

The Devil Wears Prada took their name from Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel, not necessarily the resulting blockbuster movie. (We can only suppose that another band had dibs on The Nanny Diaries.) Plagues, the band’s second album, comes less than a year after its debut. To be fair, the Devil Wears Prada also had a respectable showing on the Billboard 200 chart, debuting at #58 with Plagues.

The members of the Dayton, Ohio, sextet are barely out of their teens, but they have shown considerable musical growth in the short time between their first and second releases. However, in comparison to As I Lay Dying’s professionalism, the Devil Wears Prada are amateurs. Song structures are random and cobbled together. Chugga-chugga guitar solos get ambushed by James Baney’s epic, swooshing keyboards. Andy Trick’s bass licks trip over themselves. On “Goats on a Boat” and the following songs, the band uses two vocalists to achieve the scary-screaming/anthemic-singing dynamic. Primary lyricist Mike Hranica is the bad cop, and guitarist/vocalist Jeremy DePoyster is the good one. 

The Devil Wears Prada is much more obvious about its Christianity than As I Lay Dying. Apart from the biblical wrath of the album’s title, the band’s Web site and MySpace page are very up front about the band’s beliefs. Hranica has defended the band’s much-derided name by stating that the band rails against the rampant, un-Christian materialism of our culture. Hranica really does have it out for the fashionistas. On “Number Three, Never Forget,” he yells, “You’ve surrendered yourself to fashion/Come back to your faith/Come back to grace.” I hate the thin and rich ones too, but a lot of people deserve Old Testament wrath more than Vogue’s readership. Remind me not to invite the dudes from the Devil Wears Prada over for a Project Runway marathon.

Chalk it up to youth, but the lyrics of “The Scorpion Deathlock” are straight out of Teenage Self-Pity 101. It’s hard to imagine anyone being converted by this lyrical gem: “In this moment I am helpless/Why is it so difficult to see ourselves?/No poem I’ve wrote, nor song I have sung/Can halt the army of wrath.” 

The religious spectacle of these bands may pale when compared to a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, but at least they are promoting literacy, and, no matter what your faith is, that’s a good thing.

Categories
News The Fly-By

“Refuge” Closed

For the past few years, local filmmaker Morgan Jon Fox has been piecing together a documentary about Love In Action (LIA), a Christian-based ministry for people struggling with their homosexuality. But Fox needed one more thing to wrap up production: a happy ending.

For Fox, that came last month when he learned that Refuge, LIA’s two-week “straight camp” for teens, was closed.

In 2005, 16-year-old Zach Stark posted a blog entry about his parents forcing him into the Refuge program. The post sparked a week of protests by gay activists and criticism that adolescents were being sent to Refuge against their will.

“One thing that really concerned me about Refuge is that when some kids weren’t changed after going through the program, they would be abused by their parents,” says Fox, who helped organize the 2005 protests.

Josh Morgan, communications manager for LIA, says the protests did not affect the center’s decision to close Refuge. It was replaced by the four-day Family Freedom Intensive to improve communication between parents and their children. Refuge did not include parental involvement.

“We’re focusing on giving parents and kids common language and helping them understand exactly what’s going on,” says Morgan. “We don’t want to work with the child and let parents stay out of the loop.”

LIA’s Web site describes the Family Freedom Intensive as a “course designed for parents with teens struggling with same-sex attraction, pornography, and/or promiscuity.” The program involves lectures, workshops, and discussion groups and costs $600 per attendee. Parents can sign up with or without their children.

The $7,000 Refuge program was a two-week summer day camp. After two weeks, parents could opt to leave their child in the program for additional time. During its three-year existence, Refuge saw 35 clients.

“We don’t turn people straight. That’s a common misconception,” says Morgan. “We exist for people who already feel a need to change or explore different options. If someone is … happy with the way they are, we wouldn’t accept them into the program.”

Peterson Toscano, a former LIA client who tours the country with his one-man comedy Doin’ Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House — How I Survived the Ex-Gay Movement!, is happy to see Refuge go but doubts the new program will be much different.

“How does [LIA] know they’re not taking kids against their will? Parents have a tremendous amount of power,” says Toscano.

Including parents in the program could result in both the child and parent leaving with mixed messages, says Toscano. When he attended the adult residential program in the mid-’90s, parents were invited to attend a few days of treatment.

“The parents hear generalized teachings about what makes a person gay. The basic ex-gay ideology that’s been going around for decades is you become gay because you have an overbearing mom and an emotionally or physically absent dad,” says Toscano. “Parents walk away with the message ‘I screwed up my kid.'”

Fox, however, is glad to see some change at LIA. He hopes to enter his documentary, This Is What Love In Action Looks Like, in this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

“To me, [the Family Freedom Intensive] is way different from Refuge,” says Fox. “But who knows? Maybe kids are still being forced to go. It’s really hard to tell.”