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Saturday, Jul 4, 2009
Alex, great interview! David: Thank you - very much looking forward to reading the book!
I particularly appreciate that David did NOT fall into the moral trap of criticising anyone's faith per se. What clearly concerns him (and what can be usefully critiqued) are the results not achieved: "By their fruits you shall know them."
I'd forgotten how great that quotation from Chuck Colson was. Eeeek!
As a Christian myself I am sad that political 'use' of the Christian right has made so many potential allies (people I want to work with on poverty or whatever) think that Christianity = hypocrisy. I agree with David that the way forward is going back to our roots and simply doing what Jesus told us.
I first heard about this book on Keith Olbermann's show last week, and have been looking forward to hearing from Mr. Kuo himself. He sounds like a very thoughtful, conscientous person who got caught up in a bad situation. I only hope the folks he's talking about, evangelicals, really listen to what he has to say. I'm also a Christian, the politically liberal variety (yes, we do exist), and I hate how the actions and beliefs of right-wing Republican Christians have led to a false image of how the rest of us operate.
The day after the 2004 election, a friend of mine told me that (1) she was an evangelical Christian, and (2) the thought of Bush Junior in office for four more years made her nauseous. Clearly not all evangelical Christians are the same, but unfortunately, a big block of them have consistently equated the GOP with God.
It would be easy to sympathize with the evangelicals who voted Republican for the past six years if the GOP had strung them along with promises like, "We're going to feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, end social inequality, take care of the planet because it's the only home we've got, and even respect the rights of people we suspect to be our enemies." But that's not how the GOP won the arch-conservative Christian vote.
The GOP-evangelical agenda was about elbowing science out of public-school science classrooms, outlawing abortion while withdrawing a safety net that would let poor parents take better care of their kids, and sniffing around the bedrooms of consenting adults--all the while keeping inquisitive noses out of corporate boardrooms. And it was about a bloody, needless crusade in an oil-rich Muslim nation. Bush Junior and his cronies seduced millions of evangelicals by appealing to their worst impulses. The only question remaining is: Will conservative Christians do a little soul searching and learn something from all this, or simply call themselves victims again?
As a registered Republican and a nominal trinitarian Christian (many have questioned this, but that's their problem), I find it remarkable that anyone is surprised that evangelicals have found it true that lying down with dogs, one will often get up with fleas. I also find it very telling that Christians were, as Kuo states, so enamored of power as to be "seduced" by the Bush administration. The fact is these people who have been pouring on the Cross wrapped in the Flag for the past few years are not representative of Christianity any more than George W. Bush is representative of Republicanism. Both have been guilty of the most hideous failures of character and principle and both must now pay, in various ways, for their perversities.
"Seduced" is too kind a word. When a guy sees a hooker on a street corner and decides he's going to buy what she's selling because he wants it that badly, he hasn't been seduced. He's been out whoring. So have evangelicals who, by definition can't leave anyone alone, can't not mind the business of everyone with whom they come into contact, and so were properly attracted to Bush and his utter disregard for all those things sane people hold most sacred. Now they are all in a boat together, and a big mother storm is whipping up. Can't call on Jesus to get out of this one, boys and girls. You built it, you climb it. You demand we worship a President, even a sane and intelligent one, let alone the lunatic we have now, and you've sold your soul for a quickie that will cost you for the rest of your natural lives.
Wish I could help, but I'm too busy enjoying the real "end times." Hey gang, it's The Rupture!
After living in fear of and disdain for the religious right for years, believing everyone who talks about Jesus to be a hypocrite who would burn Jesus at the stake if he ever showed up again--I'm so pleased to see (on 60 Minutes) this guy who really IS christian (note the small "c") and has his money right smack where his mouth and heart and soul, are. Bravo, David Kuo.
The relevant section in _The Prince_ is XVIII.
Machiavelli goes on at some length about the realities of statecraft and the impossibility of keeping your word or being a good or religious person. He then talks about the importance of appearing to have these virtues.
Appearing to be religious is the most critical. That's the one that the yahoos of his day fell for too.
I don't know if Dubya ever read Machiavelli, but Carl Rove sure did.
Kuo is just saying things, finally, that anybody with half a brain has always known.
Without a shred of evidence, I always knew that W's fervent Chrisian persona was fraudulent. When Republicans basked in his apparent piety and even when liberals bemoaned his religiosity, I NEVER bought into W as a serious Christian. I guess I don't see him as a "serious" anything--he's just not a thoughtful, discerning, reflective person. The idea of him praying has always struck me as a facade--kind of like one of my brothers goofing around in church when we were little and then, when hit with a stern glance from my mother, transitioning immediately into what he thought "pious" should look like. As far as I'm concerned, Bush's frat-boy smirk and darting eyes gave him away a long time ago.
PS I'm surprised Alex didn't ask Kuo about John Dilulio, the first faith-based director, who left the White House in the summer of 2001 because he had never experienced an atmosphere so devoted to politics and so devoid of actual policy.
The Wasilla soap opera just gets weirder as Palin complains critics are "picking apart a good point guard"
The media outlet's use of Bush euphemisms sparks a much-needed debate on journalistic standards.
And so are his Fox News pals, who lambasted Sen. Al Franken's "stolen election"
An inflexible right wing is allowing the Golden State to drown in debt. But it's not alone
Thanks for sharing, Governor. Now please take a cue from Norm Coleman, and go away
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