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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| Curse of the Christian-Bashers |
| 2007-02-16 |
| By Mary Eberstadt Heavens, it's getting crowded in the pews these days--at least with Democratic presidential candidates. Here is Sen. Barack Obama in California's Saddleback pulpit at the invitation of mega-selling pastor Rick Warren. There is Sen. Hillary Clinton with downcast eyes in Newsweek, praying before the cameras in New York's Riverside Church. And there preaches John Edwards, also in Riverside Church, weaving his personal faith into everything from AIDS to the minimum wage. Clearly the push is on to show that, for now anyway, the Democratic hopefuls are just plain folks in the religion department. All the more reason to plumb the curious episode of Amanda Marcotte, that blogger for the Edwards campaign who resigned on Monday and was followed out the door Tuesday by another technical consultant, Melissa McEwan. Both quit thanks to circulation by conservatives of some of these former staffers' Internet musings. That is to say, in Ms. Marcotte's case especially: scatological Catholic-baiting rants about "theocracy" marked by leering references to the pope and liberal use of the F-word. So far, so unremarkable. Just being a bilious feminist with a potty mouth doesn't much distinguish one in the blogosphere these days. What does matter is something else: We have here a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern moment, in which the fate of bit players becomes emblematic of a larger drama. For what the blogger tempest really illuminates is a fact that could come to haunt the Democrats as they vie for national office: namely, that their past few wilderness years have also been boom years for the church-loathing liberal/left punditry. As a result, anti-Christian invective now graces (or disgraces) many of the books, magazines, Web sites and blogs to which liberals, including the Democratic elite, habitually look for ideas. One motto of this cottage industry is that the most serious threat to the American republic can be found in, no, not those religious fundamentalists, the ones that first leap to mind after 9/11; but, incredibly, certain other believers--our nation's Christians. The cover of Damon Linker's 2006 "Theocons: Secular America Under Siege," for example, declares: "For the past three decades, a few determined men have worked to inject their radical religious ideas into the nation's politics. This is the story of how they succeeded." Again, he is not talking about al Qaeda. Other books in a similar vein include Michelle Goldberg's "Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism," praised on its cover by Katha Pollitt for exposing "the ongoing takeover of our country by right-wing Christians." There is Kevin Phillips's "American Theocracy," which identifies in its subtitle "radical religion" as a "peril" facing the nation. Enter also Randall Balmer's "Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical's Lament," which opens with the unfortunate metaphorical notion that evangelical faith has been "hijacked by radical zealots" and closes with a vow about "taking America back." To repeat, this apocalyptic rhetoric is not being heaped on, say, bomb-toting Islamists but on your churchgoing neighbors next door. Some authors even argue that those neighbors and Islamic "fundamentalists" are joined at the hip. Mel White's "Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right" is one; he warns that Christians want to "forcibly" take back the country. Not to be outdone is the recent tome "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America," by New York Times reporter Chris Hedges. It delivers more of the same, studded with that tonier F-word, "fascism." Yet despite the book's conflation of prayer groups and jackboots, Publisher's Weekly awarded "American Fascists" a starred review and praised its attentiveness to a supposedly "serious and growing threat to the very concept and practice of an open society." Of course, whatever has been hurled against Christians in books and magazines has been positively restrained by the standards of the blogosphere. Like Ms. Marcotte's more embellished arias, a lot of blog commentary cannot be printed in a family newspaper. Sophisticates and secularists have always titillated themselves by despising the Bible Belt. But professional Christian-bashers have never been as "embedded" in the liberal mainstream as they are today. And therein lies a problem for Democrats. More Amanda Marcottes are not what the party needs as it scrambles to re-establish its religious bona fides with wary red-staters. No wonder so many Democratic candidates are in church. Now they really have something to pray about. Ms. Eberstadt is a fellow at the Hoover Institution and editor of the newly released "Why I Turned Right: Leading Baby Boom Conservatives Chronicle Their Political Journeys" |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #7 I'm an athiest, and poisonous deranged leftists scare me far more than religous christians. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-02-16 21:40 |
| #6 The problem with the democrats is that their party has always appealed to the disgruntled, disenfranchised and the fools - at least as long as I can remember. Half of Americans are below average intelligence. The name of God has always been called upon to fleece well meaning people from their hard earned money or support. They think their money will go to feed the hungry, the homeless, or will buy them an appointment with God to hear their pleas. Suckers. At least, that is how those who trick them see them. Hillary and Obama are little different from those Sunday morning con-artist preachers who sucker millions of people not smart enough to recognize a scam. They promise if you just send them a check, Democrats have proven themselves to be disgraceful haters, con-artists and loons. Let's hope the other half of America can expose their callous and shallow attempts to exploit their own power at the expense of the common man. People who have faith in a soul are not as crazy as we were taught by our esteemed media and educational system to believe. It's easy to exploit the poor and disenfranchised. I think exploiting the millions of Americans, of all faiths, will be a much tougher sell. |
| Posted by: Shineger Unatle5424 2007-02-16 13:38 |
| #5 Two abortion doctors killed about a decade ago and some half witted protests against textbooks are about the only damage that Christian extremists have done (some people would add the OK City bombing but the perps weren't working on a Christian agenda). Weigh that against the 9-11 atrocities, the wife beatings in moslem homes, the forced marriage of cousins in moslem clans, the multiple incidents of sudden jihad syndrome, the fund raising for terrorist groups, etc. Yet most of the lefties are way more upset by the former than by the latter. |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-02-16 10:37 |
| #4 At some point, the Dems are going to have to make a decision. Are they accepting of faith, even if they may not share it, or not? Is Amanda Marcotte the true face of the party, or not? You can't truly respect the faith of people you consider ignorant fascistic sheep. |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-02-16 10:16 |
| #3 The Judeo-Christian side of the culture at least displays spasms of conscience. It means they believe they have a soul. ThatÂ’s what the lefties use to leverage their power upon. For the lefties have no conscience. Being a lefty means never having to say your sorry for your philosophy and actions no matter how many hundreds of millions were hurt. Sorry is only used to explain why they didnÂ’t succeed in maintaining power at any price. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-02-16 09:13 |
| #2 I don't consider myself religious at all, haven't set foot in a church in 35 years, and I want to take back the country from the Godless Left. My feelings towards the Jews/Christians is positive, even if I am not all that spiritual, but where the left is concerned, they'd be packed off to "camps" if it was up to me. Starting with the crowd in DC, Murtha in particular. |
| Posted by: Omolurt Elmeaper6990 2007-02-16 08:45 |
| #1 ...he warns that Christians want to "forcibly" take back the country. Actually, we do. |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2007-02-16 07:00 |