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03/19/2005: Jon Rowe Finds More Good Stuff...
Jon Rowe posted this piece of a reader "comment" on his Blog:"...It only demonstrates your near-perfect ignorance--even of the Bible that you claim to love. A more thoughtful Christian would concede that we've learned about freedom slowly, over time, and that most of our civil liberties can't be found in the Bible, a book whose main benefit lies within the soul of the believer--not as a manual for government. Even mainstream conservative Churches have come to this understanding (witness the Catholics, for one, who were understandably hostile toward democracy when the French Revolution came, but who have lately stood up to communism quite admirably and defended the cause of human freedom).
But your way is typical, I suppose, of an entire generation of politically-involved people in the United States, who have been raised to view Ann Coulter as the best of the right and Ted Rall as the best of the left. All it takes is a single sound bite to convince such people that their preferred beliefs were right all along; sustained, thoughtful analysis escapes them, and for them all nuance is a sign of pure weakness. For people like these, that a belief be steadfast is far more important than that it be well-considered or well-argued. And, although I do not say it lightly, this is the intellectual origin of fascism.
Politics now becomes an exercise in shouting and making up mean names (for which you can arguably find justifications in the Bible, provided that you go by the letter of the book, although it does seem rather contrary to the spirit). I will have none of it.
I may not be a Christian, but I am certainly a better Christian than this. Goodbye, Sirc. I no longer consider your deranged ravings to be worth my time."
This was a very well written and thoughtful point...I've had similar feelings myself.
Karen on 03.19.05 @ 06:42 AM CST
