Thursday, December 22, 2011

How Christians are Second-Class Citizens

While news regarding the “War on Christmas” brought this topic to mind, that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. The fact of the matter is that Christians have become second-class citizens in our culture. We are less than other people in our society. It’s a real problem.

I started noticing this when I was in college. I was sitting in one of my education classes. During this class, we did a series about certain students and their needs. This included students that had physical handicaps, students who were special needs, and students that were homosexual. I found the inclusion of the last one to be rather interesting.

We talked about a number of topics related to homosexual students including what to do if a student came out of the closet during class and the fact that we as teachers shouldn’t use phrases such as “That’s gay!” or “Don’t be a queer.” Those phrases that might be offensive to gays who are gay and may or may not be open about it. Fair enough. I don’t want to do offend my students.

But, playing devil’s advocate, I thought of a few arguments that people might use for that whole ordeal. These included things such as “They shouldn’t force their opinion of sexual orientation on me!” “You’re just a nut-job if you believe that that’s natural!” and “Well, that’s their opinion on that topic and I don’t agree with it.” While I don’t approve of the homosexual lifestyle, I don’t believe that these are acceptable arguments and I doubt many would.

Being a Christian, I started thinking about what others have said and done that has offended me, including the teacher that had us go through these sessions. One thing was the fact that people take the Lord’s name in vain. I’m insulted when someone irreverently throws around the name of my Savior. Yet I get a common response when I mention this to someone. It’s usually something like “You shouldn’t force your religious views on me.” “You’re just an overly sensitive nut,” or “Well, that’s your opinion and I don’t agree with it.”

Odd how those seem rather familiar to arguments most people wouldn’t accept for a different topic. But we never had a class discussion about how to not offend Christian students or what to do if a student declares they got saved.

Recent news has shown me that this wasn’t an isolated thing. Fox News’ Eric Bolling recently had a little “discussion” with Dan Barker, an atheist with Freedom From Religion, regarding the “War on Christmas.” During the discussion, the atheist called Christianity a mythology, a superstition, and repeatedly called it an insult. Barker goes off topic to say these things as well. Bolling never asks Barker his opinion of Christianity. The fact that Barker thinks so little of Christianity has nothing to do with if the Nativity Scene in question is okay. And then Barker goes out of his way to attack Christianity a second time after Bolling tries to get Barker back on topic.

Eric Bolling, ladies and gentlemen.

Outside Christian and conservative circles, which are usually connected like a Venn diagram, I haven’t seen any of this hit the mainstream media.

Now compare that to the fact that Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for using an anti-gay slur. It was one of the largest fines the NBA ever delivered. His words weren’t as explicit as Barker’s were either. Bryant just muttered a word while Barker went on a full-out assault on Christianity. I don’t approve of Bryant’s actions, but I’m sure a number of players have said things I would find offensive and no fine has been issued that I could find.

Again, there are more examples out there. With Denver Bronco Tim Tebow being so vocal about his faith in God, he’s become a controversial topic. Bill Press had some thoughts during his radio show. Here’s a clip.

For those not up on acronyms, STFU stands for “Shut the F dash dash dash up.”

Press calls Tim Tebow a disgrace and an embarrassment mostly for his faith in Jesus. His argument doesn’t rely on Tebow’s QB rating, completion percentage, or number of interceptions.

Press didn’t finish his rant there. On his blog, he posted “Jesus said a lot of strong things. But one of the strongest things he ever said was: When you pray, don’t be like those hypocrites who like to stand on a street corner and pray, so everybody can see them.”

Press apparently doesn’t know his Bible very well.

Acts 1:8 says “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Matthew 28:19 reads “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 “Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you.”

I could go with more, but I’ll leave just one more for Press, Proverbs 17:28 “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”

As if Press’ comments weren’t disturbing enough already. I look at them with an additional perspective. Growing up in the ‘90’s, I had David Robinson as a role-model. I watched him and was encouraged by his faith in God and the quality of his character.  While I enjoyed watching the Spurs win, it wasn’t their record that caused me to become a fan. It was who they were as a team.
Compare that to the characteristics of so many professional athletes. There’s a large number of them that are getting into drugs, cheating on their wives, getting arrested, and shooting themselves in the leg. With that in mind, why in the world would Press bash Tebow? What message is he sending to our kids? He’s essentially saying that in a world where having a rap sheet is common, talking about Jesus is what makes one a disgrace.

It’s not that big of a stretch to say that Press would have gotten different results from the public if he said such things about an athlete regarding another aspect of who they are. Compare Press’ comments to this clip.

Rush Limbaugh on ESPN

For the record, Rush Limbaugh was forced to resign following those comments. They were comments more focused at the media than anything else, but they were close enough to being offensive that they merited the end of his work with ESPN.

But maybe I’m wrong on this. Maybe I’m picking a few key cases and this isn’t representative of the majority. So I figured I’d turn to the 99%. Enter the Occupy Movement!

The people at Misfit Politics put together a nativity scene at Occupy DC and shared some of the reactions they got. Censorship warning: one hat in this video does have profanity on it.

How ya gonna tweet about the Nativity Scene? “On our iPhones!”

This display showing the religious nature of the upcoming holiday at an Occupy camp is met with questions regarding its legality (oh, the irony!). They’re advised to move it. One man says it’s offensive to him and other people, but the message of the Occupy movement is offensive for anyone who works for a living and is proud to do so. One girl says she’s Jewish and offended by the display. But I don’t know a single Christian who is offended by a menorah. In fact, Fox News’ show “The Five” has a menorah as part of their holiday decorations.

About half of the people interviewed are positive and the other half are negative, but I challenge anyone to find a group of people that would draw that much hate from the Occupy movement (not counting the “1%”).

It’s not just limited to Occupy. When ignoring groups such as the KKK, Neo-Nazis, and the Westboro Baptist Church, it would be a challenge to find a group of people in America that will publicly express distaste for a group of people because of their race, religion, or anything of that sort.

Yes, there are probably some who mumble to themselves a comment about terrorists when they pass a Mosque. There are still some people who privately hold racist views. But publicly, these types of comments just aren’t acceptable. However, a show like Family Guy can totally get away with a “joke” like this and get zero public scrutiny.

This shows a complete lack of understanding when it comes to history

The fact that I have to look for groups like the KKK, the Nazis, and Westboro Baptist Church to compare to people like Barker, Press, and the creators of Family Guy is very telling. It’s not only telling of those who participate in it, but also of those who let it happen.

UPDATE:
News on this topic flows in on almost a daily basis. During the holiday weekend, Comedian Bill Maher tweeted "Wow, Jesus just f---ed #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere ... Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler 'Hey, Buffalo’s killing them'" (censorship mine). Bill Maher still has a job and hasn't been publicly reprimanded by HBO which airs his show.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Latest is Over a RealReaganConservative.com

I've been a bit annoyed by the negativity by a number of conservatives regarding 2012. Clearly, we're not happy with the field. We can all find problems with each candidate. I'm not too surprised. Given the mess the past 3 years have been, we've needed the perfect candidate. But we're not getting it. That doesn't mean conservatives should give up on 2012. I wrote about why there's still plenty of good to be had in November.

Check it out!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Why Ron Paul Can’t Win

I’ll never forget the first time I heard Ron Paul speak. It was a little over four years ago. I got a phone call from a friend of mine who was, at the time, attending the University of Michigan. He told me that Congressman Paul was going to be there to give a speech. At first, I was a little hesitant.

After all, despite being a lifelong Wolverine fan, the reason I didn’t personally attend U of M was because as far as politics are concerned, it is extremely left-leaning. So why a Republican candidate would pick that location to give a speech in Michigan was beyond me. Having attended school in West Michigan, I knew that that was a place that was much more friendly to conservatives (maybe that’s why Grand Rapids is in better shape than Detroit, but I digress).

Despite my reservations, I figured at the very least I would get to visit with some old friends, so I went anyways.

As Paul began to speak, I started thinking “This is our guy!” But that started to change as the speech went on.

Paul would say something along the lines of “We need to follow our Constitution as it’s written!”

YES!

“We need to secure our borders”

RIGHT ON!

“We need lower taxes and have more personal responsibility!”

AMEN!

“We need to legalize pot!”

Uhh….

“We need to decrease the size of our military!”

Hold on…

I had never gone from loving a guy to hoping that he wouldn’t get the GOP nomination so quickly.

Thankfully, Ron Paul has no chance of winning the GOP nomination. That was true four years ago and it’s true today. The “Paulbots” as some are calling supporters of Ron Paul, need to realize this.

National polls have Ron Paul hovering between 13% and 4%. However, consider this: RonPaul.com reports that in a national poll in August 2010, Paul brought in 4% of the vote with 5 choices presented to those surveyed. In November 2010 when the number of choices went to 8, Paul had 5%. What does this mean? People aren’t going to jump from one of the other candidates to support Ron Paul. He gets about the same percentage if he’s got 4 competitors or if he’s got 7. So as the numbers decrease (for example, if Cain drops out as some are suggesting he may), there’s no evidence to suggest that people will join the Paul camp. It doesn’t matter if there are 2 choices or 200, Paul will consistently get anywhere from 4% to 13% of the vote.

In fact, the diversity of the GOP field coupled with Paul having a guaranteed 4-13% is the main reason he took second in a recent Iowa poll. He may have done better than Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann, but if that crowd was smaller, he would have lost because those that remained would have gotten votes from the supporters of candidates who left the race.

There’s a reason for this. Let’s consider just one part of Ron Paul’s platform: Israel. Here’s what Paul said regarding the US and Israel during one of the debates.

Paul doesn’t stand with Israel

Ron Paul is saying we’re in the way of Israel. He says he wouldn’t support Israel if they attacked Iran to prevent them from getting nuclear weapons. He goes on to say that we “interfere” with Israel.

I challenge any of the Paulbots to find a case where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says anything similar. I want to hear it right from Netanyahu’s mouth that we’re “interfering” with Israel. Netanyahu makes regular trips to the United States. I don’t get the impression that that’s his key message.

The fact of the matter is that Israel is a friend of the United States. How many standing leaders of NATO nations have had the honor of speaking to a joint session of Congress? Netanyahu has done it twice. And, as Paul pointed out, we don’t even have a treaty with Israel. At least nothing like we have with NATO.

And this isn’t a GOP/Democrat thing. When Netanyahu addressed Congress in May, he said “And I do see a lot of old friends here. And I see a lot of new friends of Israel here as well, Democrats and Republicans alike.” That was only followed by about 20 seconds of applause. It was followed by Netanyahu saying “Israel has no better friend than America and America has no better friend than Israel.” That was followed by about 17 seconds of applause. Not many statements will get that kind of support from a group fairly evenly divided by party affiliation. And yet, Ron Paul has pretty much written off support of Israel. Even if he was elected, how is Paul going to get these people who are standing with Israel to change? As Paul himself says, it’s Congress that declares war. Well look at where Congress is with Israel on your own.

Shorter Netanyahu: US+Israel = BFFs

That’s not all! The Anti-Defamation League put out an article saying the support of Evangelical Christians for Israel is a good thing. It goes on to say “In many ways, the Christian Right stands out as the most consistently supportive group of Israel in America.” It also says that while members of both parties in Congress supports Israel, “…there is no doubt that Evangelical members are notably aggressive in their support, proposing resolutions and speaking out forcefully.” 

It’s not just Christians in Congress. The article also says “…polls of American public opinion reveal, in marked contrast to similar polls in Europe, that the American people support Israel over the Palestinians by a significant margin. A key element in these consistent findings in many polls… is the overwhelming support for Israel among individuals calling themselves Evangelical.” The article goes on and on and on.

If someone said to me that Obama was more pro-Israel than Paul, I wouldn’t be able to argue against that.

Ron Paul’s platform doesn’t sit well with THE biggest voting bloc in the Republican Party. This isn’t to say that Christians will go out and vote for Obama, it’s to say they won’t show up on election day at all. How does a Republican win without them?

Weakened support from Christians for the GOP Presidential candidate will trickle down to Congressional races and the Democractic Party could potentially have the biggest victory in history. A Ron Paul nomination would be the best thing that could happen to Obama and for ObamaCare, Porkulus II, you name it. With a President and a party that ignores the Constitution so much, a Ron Paul nomination would damage that document more than any other candidate in the GOP race. How’s that for irony?

And it’s not just his platform that’s going to sink Paul. He’s not going to be able to replace much lost support by picking up people who don’t identify as Evalgelical Christians. Let’s listen to Ron Paul talk.

Um…

When watching this video, I used an old teaching method I was exposed to when I was getting started in radio. It’s called an “um” counter. In short, we count the number of times a person stutters or says something like “um” or “uh.” In 5 minutes, Paul’s “um” counter was at 14.

Now contrast this with President Obama in one of his debates in 2008 race.

No Ron Paul

While Obama stumbles a couple times, he’s clearly a better speaker than Ron Paul. Hillary Clinton even complimented Obama on his speaking ability.

And before any Paulbots say that that shouldn’t matter, unfortunately it does. If anyone disagrees, just do a Bing search on the Nixon-Kennedy debates. There’s a reason Time said “It’s now common knowledge that without the nation’s first televised debate… Kennedy would never have been president.” Any history teacher will say the same. Debates matter and public image matters. Ron Paul can’t win against someone as polished as Obama. That’s especially true considering he’s already alienated the Christian Right by not supporting Israel.

I haven’t even touched on other parts of his platform or the fact that he’s a Congressman (how many people from the House have been elected President in the past 100 years?). To cover all the reasons who Paul can’t win, I’d have to write a book. These are just the key reasons.

So, Paulbots, when a commentator overlooks Ron Paul, don’t act like they’re not giving him a chance. Don’t say that they’re in with Corporate America, are part of the war machine, or anything like that. Wake up and smell American politics. He doesn’t stand a chance.