Sunday, November 10, 2013

Frank Schaeffer reports on the "Dumb Evangelicals who are holding the US hostage."

Courtesy of Patheos:  

The media failed to tell the real story of how we reached the shutdown and brink of default. To get what’s happening to the GOP and, to America, you need to understand the theology of the extremist frankly stupid and misinformed evangelical heartland. We don’t have a political problem. We have an evangelical stupidity problem. The Republican Party has fallen into the grip of an evangelical-led group of religious fundamentalists who are either true believers or who know how to cater to them. Now the experience of the hostage taking these “Christians” did in the shutdown is over, it’s worth figuring out how things got so crazy because they will again– until we admit who and what is at the root of our political dysfunction. 

In the late 19th Century a battle began between fundamentalists and liberal Protestant theologians. The battle between those who claimed to believe in the Bible literally and those who wanted to bring historic fact, science and nuance to their faith raged on into the 20th Century. By the mid 20th Century the liberals had won the argument but they lost the popular vote as it were. But for all its popularity fundamentalism was no longer intellectually respectable. So it was rebranded by a core group of image conscious preachers and evangelists as “evangelicalism” to take the edge off the scorn reserved for faith rooted in biblical literalism. 

The echoes of the bitter theological battle left the evangelicals feeling embattled and adversarial. Then from the mid 20th Century forward, Billy Graham, and many other evangelicals (including my late evangelist father and religious right founder, Francis Schaeffer) convinced a huge swath of America to convert to born-again faith. 

While the evangelical camp grew the mainline denominations shrank. The fine print of conversion to a hot literal faith included a directive to not to trust facts (the way those liberals did) but to look for special information which was visible only to the faithful. This way of thinking led inadvertently to an us-or-them view, revealing those with whom you disagree to be not just wrong, but lost, or even willfully evil. When politicians operate from this mindset, the agenda is no longer political. It’s a holy war. While the Tea Party gets blamed, there tends to be silence about these folks’ religion. But to cover the story of the takeover of the GOP by extremists without delving into the beliefs behind it is inexcusable. I’m not anti-religious. I’ll be in church next Sunday. I’m just against the insanity of literalistic, retributive theology that’s the basis of the bitterness evident in the recent shutdown and near default. 

The evangelical subculture has bought into an angry God whom we must placate by being saved through a revivalist born-again formula. This pits the true believer against not just science but any information that comes through nonapproved channels. There are two kinds of facts: theirs and ours. This theology has trained millions of brains to choose between God and truth. The folks that believe in a literal Bible don’t believe in evolution, in global warming, in gay rights or, we now know, even in increasing the debt limit. These are not theological issues per se but the spirit of sectarian warfare is at the heart of the bitter refusals to be swayed by mere facts.

This of course is exactly what I have been talking about for the last nine years as well. The Tea Party is just the latest incarnation of a nasty little group that has been attacking our fundamental rights for decades.

And they are part of the underlying darkness which continues to permeate our politics and endangers our future.

The more we recognize this, and report on it, the harder it is for them to operate in secret, and the quicker they will be removed from power. Perhaps not soon, but someday.

17 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:34 AM

    I personally don't want to be part of a country that disparages intelligence and science. If that's where these people take us then it won't be America anymore, it will be The United Stages of Evangeliban.
    I'm personally ready to stop letting these folks drive the narrative and I proud to let everyone know I am a liberal through and through.

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  2. Anonymous11:05 AM

    I remember the enormous impact Francis Schaeffer had on the evangelical community. His son, Frank, speaks with authority and wisdom. I only wish he'd frame his argument without the incessant, distracting book promotion.

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  3. angela11:19 AM

    I remember my first run in with a scary fundamentalist.
    She was a book burner. In 1979 she wanted a third of the books out of our school library because she thought they were about sex, communism, secular humanism or had "dirty" words in them. She staged a book burning in her front yard. We all laughed as all her skirt wearing big haired church members looked lovingly at their pastor who hurled venom at us. Her poor son looked humiliated.

    Who knew these people would get scarier and
    and have a serious hand in controlling our lives. Think fake christians like Palin, dominionists like old Cruz and anyone from The Family Research Council or whatever they're called.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:57 PM

      Wasn't Palin was it? JK :)
      I did read of a Wiccan woman in a town like that and she had to leave. It all started when they would pray during the city council meetings. She objected and they started harassing her and killed her pets.
      Fucking Assholes!
      She had to leave the fucking town! I h8 these MF'rs I really do.
      Glad Frank Schaffer reporting on them & the website Talk2action does too, has a lot about Griftata and Mary glazier and how she bragged about "praying to death" Mother Theresa and Princess Di! Can you imagine? Two of the most beloved of Women!
      They are straight up EVIL! MG was Sarah's Mentor!
      I don't believe in hell but...they certainly all come from somewhere "Evil"!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous1:09 PM

      I remember being taken to lunch with a friend whose sister in 1971. She tried to give us the “talk” about our souls. We thought she was going to give us a talk about birth control (we were 17)! I still giggle when I think about it. Yes, who knew they could get this scary! I found it interesting Palin was talking about how government is overstepping. It is a lot of claptrap from the very seriously religious right, some which came about during the McCarthy era, John Birch period. Gullible people who never pick up a book (and seem proud of it!) seem to fall prey to these hucksters. BTW, have you ever seen well stocked bookshelves in the Palin homes? Her office while governor looked like a furniture store display, soulless and lacking of any human activity.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous11:48 AM

    In the beginning of this movement, the money was flowing from the poor and middle class believers to the evangelical hucksters, who happily used the gullibility of the ignorant to become wealthy. Now, however, there is a frightening amount of money supporting this movement from the Koch brothers and their peers.

    They, of course, have little use for the religious aspects of evangelicalism, but the end result is certainly beneficial to their bottom line and their unquenchable quest for power, and it's easy for them to use the unquestioning faith of the followers to accomplish their mercenary goals.

    It's a scary time for this country, balanced on the precipice between democracy and a long tumble off the cliff into theocracy.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:00 PM

      Its like a "last stand" as studies are showing more and more people are moving Away from churches! They are either quietly reading the bible or not religious at all or pagan/Atheist.
      The dominionists are on their last legs!
      Good riddance.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous11:55 AM

    Just heard the news on MSNBC , NBC is NUTs to interview Palin again tom morning on Today Show and Matt is going to Alaska to spend time with Palins for his show. WTF

    http://www.showbizspy.com/article/263091/matt-lauer-heading-to-alaska.html

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:59 PM

      FOX, NBC, CBS and ABC are fretful about their demise. I have decided to dump the cable. It is simply too much to pay for the CRAP we are offered. Obviously these organizations are looking for viewers and it will not be my family. It is time to tune up the piano, listen to audio books and save that $110 each month for a pleasurable trip abroad in a few years.

      Delete
    2. AJ Billings4:14 AM

      If you live in some East coast cities, you can subscribe to Aereo, a TV-over-the-web service

      For about $10 a month, you get access to all the channels in a metropolitan area, using an antenna inside their computer data center.

      https://aereo.com/

      Delete
    3. Anonymous5:13 AM

      Thank you for the Aereo tip. It's not available in my city as yet but it is available across Tampa Bay so I'm hopeful it will be here soon.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous12:33 PM

    @11:55 - it just shows you the corporate ties between Palin, her book publisher and NBC. Totally blatant - same as the publishing conflict of interest with CBS and that Benghazi book that was pulled.

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  7. Anonymous12:39 PM

    Glad to see Gryph getting Frank Schaeffer's article blogged here. Frank's father, Francis, was joined at the fundie-hip with JR Rushdoony, the godfather of Christian Reconstructionism and confidant with the Koch Bros. father, Fred, when he co-founded the John Birch Society. We're now seeing the ripening of fruits in a orchard that was planted a long time ago.

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  8. Anonymous12:53 PM

    Frank Jr. is spot on. And, he knows what was really going on at his parents’ evangelical retreat in Switzerland. In his book he describes his father’s rages and the abusive of his mother. It is really quite disturbing and yet another example of how easily it is to create a fantasy about family “values” in the evangelical world. People seeking “truth” are often the first to be deceived by cons. Schaeffer Sr. was a disturbed grifter. His son is working hard to set the story straight and atone for his parents’ sick behavior. I think he is courageous and has a good heart.

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  9. Anita Winecooler6:02 PM

    I admire Frank Jr. for his honesty.

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  10. Anonymous7:45 PM

    This is all such divisive rhetoric attempting to single out and demonize a group of individuals. You operate just like this administration, the ones before it, and all of the politicians who have been taking part in dividing this nation. This is not something to be celebrated. You are using some characteristics of individuals to identify an entire group of people, nice strawman.

    "The more we recognize this, and report on it, the harder it is for them to operate in secret, and the quicker they will be removed from power."

    You could be talking about the corrupt government and the corporations and banking institutions which have completely manipulated the economy and our government. But instead you are going after a group of citizens who want freedoms restored. They aren't right about every social issue, and don't think I identify myself as a member of that party or ideology. But instead of talking about what is real, you are being a coward, and attacking a group of people who want their country back from those who have taken it over. If you don't know what I'm talking about, do some honest, unbiased research. Don't go looking to single out peoples over social issues. They are being used all over the media to divide the country. You're attacking the wrong group over the wrong reasons.

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  11. Anonymous2:32 PM

    I had not read anything of frank schaeffers writings till a couple if wks ago yet they have struck such a chord with me

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