Christian Intolerance is Nothing New with the Left ....
William Thatcher Dowell's commentary on Christianity and his comparison to the extremist teachings of Wahabi Islam is not only intolerantly silly, it's down right inane in it's agenda driven factual blindness.
It's obvious that Dowell has issues with Christianity. But to claim that the Christian Right is America's brand of extremism is insulting to the 3500 men, women
and children who were murdered by Al-Quida Wahabi's on 9-11. Or did I miss the section in the 9-11 report which focused on Christian terrorists who take charge
of airplanes and fly them into buildings? Christians who use cellphone detonators? Or even Christians who bomb train stations? Not even Google gives examples
of that.
He seeks to justify his statement by saying that posting of the 10 Commandments in government buildings and lawns (scandal!) is tantamount to public stonings and chopping off of hands as punishment for breaking of Islamic Law. This only shows how poor his grasp of Christian teaching truly is - where Jesus taught "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
He "outs us" as trying to assert a "cultural point of view," rather than acknowledging that the right has just as much a voice in the public policy debate as
any other "cultural point of view," including LIBERALISM. Christians have a right to comment and debate against teachings in school which seek to socially engineer our kids, rather than teaching them to read and write and prepare them to compete in an
adult world. He seems to feel that objecting to the reading of "Heather has Two Mommies" is anathma and extremist, but showing our children how to pray to
Mecca as a form of political sensitivity towards Muslims is good education.
He also wants to paint a picture of the Christian Right as "selectively interpreting scripture so we can delight in such acts as the death penalty. As if the
Christian Calendar has a holiday called "Execution Day." He feels he can back this intolerance up with the tried and true scripture teaches "thou shalt not kill" and that vengeance should be left up to God. Even the most rudimentary reading of scripture teaches that that commandment is more likely "thou shalt not commit murder," and that a trial by a jury of one's peers, endless appeals, and over 17 years on death row is more justice long delayed than vengeance. Nobody
delights in having to resort to the death penalty. And what religion doesn't have radicals in it? I don't know of a single church or christian teaching which embraces or even advocates the murder of those who practice other faiths. Where in the 21st Century has a Christian church taught that the Bible advocates "jihad" against those who aren't of the faith? Where in this country are people not allowed to "seek God on their own terms?" A basic teaching not only of this country, but of our church. Tolerance, though, is a TWO way street, Mr. Dowell. And only one who is
intolerant of the Christian faith would seek to inflame passions and play the race card by declaring that Christians long for a fantasy world where we all worship a White Jesus in a redneck members only club.
Christians are seeking mainly to be sure that VALUES are taught in the home, and English, Science, and Algebra are taught in our schools. That is hardly, blurring the line between religion and politics - and can hardly be considered an extremist agenda, unless one has a stake in the victimhood of a welfare state.
