April 07, 2007
What would Jesus really do?
When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant caring about only two issues, abortion and homosexuality?Like so many other things, it all comes down to king of the semiotic hill. That words retain multiple meaning is especially true for supercharged character-defining labels like "Christian," but present-time media discourse doesn't permit a vast range of meanings--rather, it permits one or two. When media the stood behind Bush and his post 9/11 clout, seemingly overnight we witnessed an unprecedented swarm of news commentators providing us with the "Christian" take, which was almost entirely conservatively slanted. And while the Christian left has been largely silent, it's not entirely the Christian left's fault, as there is limited mediated podium space for those labeled Christians, and the right aggressively sought that space while the left stood dazed, as if a game of musical chairs was being played where only those on the right could hear the music. Hopefully that dynamic is changing, if CNN giving Roland Martin prominent column space (linked from home page) is any indication.Ask the nonreligious what being a Christian today means, and based on what we see and read, it's a good bet they will say that followers of Jesus Christ are preoccupied with those two points.
Poverty? Whatever. Homelessness? An afterthought. A widening gap between the have and have-nots? Immaterial. Divorce? The divorce rate of Christians mirrors the national average, so that's no big deal.
The point is that being a Christian should be about more than abortion and homosexuality, and it's high time that those not considered a part of the religious right expose the hypocrisy of our brothers and sisters in Christianity and take back the faith. And those on the left who believe they have a "get out of sin free" card must not be allowed to justify their actions.
posted by scott pilutik at April 7, 2007 12:51 PM