- Field Day |
- Buildings Alive |
- Visions |
- CLGBT |
- Green Community |
- Fun & Free S#!T |
- Crossword |
- CL Space |
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Are Christians under attack?
Posted by Lorna Bracewell on Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Editor's note: Most Creative Loafing readers already know and love Lorna Bracewell. Luckily, for us, the St. Pete-based singer, guitarist and songwriter has agreed to be a contributor to our music blog. She will be blogging about everything from her adventures on the road as a musician and speaker to politics, religion and any other topics that raises people's blood pressure. Lorna has released six albums on her own label Braced Well Records and has toured throughout the United States and Europe. In addition to her musical performances, Lorna lectures at colleges and universities nationwide on topics ranging from folk music and the civil rights movement to constitutional law. To bring Lorna to your campus, coffee shop, community event or house concert, hit her up at lornabracewell.com.
I received an email forward yesterday warning me about an imminent Federal Communications Commission hearing on something called "RM-2493," a petition that would "pave the way to stop the reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior on the airwaves of America." (If you're baffled as to why an agnostic, folk-singing lesbian such as me is receiving email forwards such as this you should definitely come spend Thanksgiving with the Bracewells this year!) Now, I adopt a generally skeptical attitude toward all email forwards so, before raising the alarm to all of my First Amendment-cherishing, agnostic, folk-singing, lesbian friends, I subjected this email to my standard vetting procedure: Snopes.com, an online urban legend encyclopedia.
According to Snope, the true aim of petition 2493 was to ensure that broadcast channels reserved solely for educational purposes were not being hoarded by religious groups looking to use them for different purposes unrelated to education. The operative word in that last sentence is "was." RM-2493 was taken up and rejected by the FCC in 1975. (Go here if you want to read the FCC's entire opinion in this matter.)
So, given that the true aim of petition 2493 fell far short of removing Christmas carols from public schools (another charge alleged in the email forward I received) and that the FCC rejected it over 30 years ago, why is this email still making the rounds? My guess: Because Christians read it and think it's true. This email confirms a perception shared by many Christians that the culture, the media and the government are all out to get them. They read this email and suddenly they're awash in memories of that time they surfed past the Logo channel or saw that trailer for Bill Maher's latest film, Religulous, or learned all of that troubling stuff in high school civics class about Jefferson's "wall of separation" between church and state. Christians today feel besieged.
Well, I'm here today to tell you Christians to take heart! You may feel that your cultural and political influence is dwindling, but nothing could be further from the truth. Just think back to Election Day 2008 when you succeeded in enshrining your religion's conception of marriage and the family in the constitutions of California, Florida, Arizona and Arkansas. If that's not enough to ease your troubled minds, just take a walk out to your mailbox this coming Sunday. It'll be empty, and that's just one of many ways that the government of the United States of America honors your god. From its money to its Pledge of Allegiance to the declarations and reassurances it demands (informally, of course) from any candidate for its elected offices, America is firmly in your grasp and I think it's time you admitted it. Leave the "We're an oppressed and persecuted minority!" shtick to the gays and the Muslims.
Lorna Bracewell and Her Boyfriends (that’s the hilarious name the open lesbian gave ’em) are playing Ruth Eckerd Hall’s intimate, acoustically impeccable Murray Studio Theatre on Nov. 14.
Comments (18)
Showing 1-18 of 18
Lorna, you're awesome. When i first read the blog title i was a bit worried. ;) Rock on, lady.
like
dislike
"why is the Bible still making the rounds? My guess: Because Christians read it and think it’s true. " :)
I always liked that picture of you. I think that your conclusion does not follow from your reason. Just because Christan influence dominates the status quo doesn't mean their culture is not under attack. "Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle .... They conquer by strategy." -- Sun Tzu
"Just because Christan influence dominates the status quo doesn’t mean their culture is not under attack." This isn't entirely accurate either...Christianity is something that, by definition, resides in an individual's relationship to God, not the general American culture. Sure, there are churches, where people come together in groups to celebrate common faith, but that should really be the extent of Christian culture, biblically. Outside of the church, Christians are called to be good citizens and even "salt" (a preservative force), and, typically, since Jesus, this has been in a secular world. There is no call in the Bible to legislate morality or insist on one form of faith above all others in the public square. Christian culture is not under attack...instead, the natural evolving culture, which celebrates all people, of our nation is always under attack from a growing group of misguided people who label themselves "Christian" and then follow the broad, oppressive forces that led the pilgrims to high-tail it to this land to begin with.
"the natural evolving culture, which celebrates all people, of our nation is always under attack" I didn't realize we could use unprovable examples to illustrate our point. But as a counter I will merely argue that through oppression comes greatness so our heroes(countries and individuals alike) have their oppressive counterparts to thank for their rise. That seems similarly colorable and unprovable to counter your point. Further, you are arguing a negative inference out of context of the argument. My point was simply the reasoning does not justify the conclusion. It is a positive statement implying that Mrs. Bracewell, who I have the greatest admiration and respect, has committed the same intellectual folly she criticizes in the email that is the catalyst for the blog. Perhaps Sun Tzo was too intense.
Mr. Matlach, a man for whom I have the utmost admiration and respect, has obviously spent the last three years studying the art of verbal warfare in law school and he is to be commended for that. His statement is true: The fact that Christians have won a series of very significant victories over the years is not evidence that they are not being attacked. The point of my blog was to point out that Christians are a *very* long way from having their fundamental freedoms stripped away when compared to other groups in society like homosexuals and members of other religions with less political and cultural influence.
Amen, Lorna. People of the Christian faith will eventually need to realize that they are one group in a melting pot of a variety of religious experiences. But that day has not yet come. Wait until we elect a Buddhist (or, God forbid, a Muslim ;-) to be our American President. We will know we have arrived.
Interesting reply, and I guess I misunderstood the spirit of your own post, but the proof that I could give and have, you would probably refuse to see as valid. Which is fine. I'm not trying to convince anyone...I just find the constant theme of "Christians under attack" to be a red herring to cover for Christian groups keeping their political hegemony through unbiblical actions. (And, as an aside, like you, I also know and respect Lorna, and am really glad she's blogging!) I have been on the inside of quite a few Christian organizations. Despite how diverse the organizations were from each other, each saw any expression of something they don't approve in others' lives as an attack against Christian expression. For example, the groups I used to belong to and/or consume their materials (for the record: homeschool groups, Baptist churches, community churches, missionary groups, Focus on the Family subscriptions, mainstream Christian fiction) would send out "action letters" to members when a judge would protect the freedom of a Muslim to NOT participate in a Christian custom in a public place like the school system...these action letters would gear everything as an attack against Christian culture. They always ended with a phrase like "when they come for your Bibles..." Of course, Christians are persecuted around the world, but a vast majority of the claims of attacks against Christians in this country revolve around a pet list of social legislation that certain groups (notice I said the groups call themselves Christians, not that they represent ALL Christians) desperately want to push on all citizens of a secular country. So, the spirit of my post was: real Christian culture exists in the hearts of Christians and in their protected right of expression...not being able to force an agenda on a greater populace is not an "attack", it's the desired outcome of a working democratic system. Strangely enough, if Christians worked for equal rights for all, even those they don't agree with, their own rights would be secured to an even greater degree.
I believe Christians are totally in danger of losing the freedom to follow their beliefs. For example, slavery is mentioned often in the Bible, as are kings and kingdoms, but there is nary a mention of representative government. We obviously need to go back to having or being slaves, and we need a king to rule us instead of a bunch of ego-driven leaders chosen by counting noses. . Worse, atheistic scientists keep trying to get us to believe the Earth goes around the Sun instead of the other way around, and that "electricity," which is mentioned NOWHERE in the Bible, is just as much a fact as the Sea or the Land. And then there are those "cars" people keep driving around. And indoor plumbing. If a donkey and an outhole were good enough for Jesus, they ought to be good enough for us. Then there are all those doctors with their potions and machines. Whatever happened to praying over sick people and letting God's Will decide if they get well or die? Next thing you know, we will all be worshiping Ba'al or Shiva or some kind of imaginary particle like those Quarks physicists (who are mostly lapsed Jews) talk about. Prepare to burn in Hell along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Albert Einstein, George Carlin, Benjamin Franklin and all the other nay-sayers instead of going to heaven with Jerry Lee's cousin Jimmy Swaggert, Martin Luther, Spiro Agnew, and all the other Godly people who have passed through history. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
Keith: Well said! The First Amendment case before the Supreme Court today perfectly illustrates your point. Robin: Your line about physicists beinig lapsed Jews had me grinning so wide I had to take a moment. :)
Mr. Matlach, Thank you for referring to Lorna as Mrs. Bracewell, since the title "Mrs." is used to refer to a married woman, thus recognizing her married status to her female partner.
Let's compare that to three hundred years ago when Christians were killing each other. This is a lot better.
Houses and cars are expensive and not every person is able to buy it. Nevertheless, personal loans was created to help people in such kind of hard situations.
We have been banned and have a considerable amount of money owed to us. http://www.anfworld.com/abercrombie-and-fitch-jeans.html http://www.anfworld.com/ruehl-no-925.html
DllErrorsFix is an dll errors fix tool.DllErrorsFix can repair and fix dll errors easy, safe and fast. DllErrorsFix will not collect or use any information about the visitors to the Web Site and your visit to the Web Site is anonymous.
Top Commenters
