Check the blog of nearly any trustworthy academic who has reviewed Bill O'Reilly's new book, Killing Jesus, and you will find that Bill O. messed up. Badly.
Once again, I agree with Pope Francis – but not on what you think.
Instead of using our smartphones until they have ceased to work for our needs, we give in and get a new phone every two years – or sooner (with wireless carriers advertising heavily this sort of program, and profiting in a major way). Instead of driving a car to the point where it no longer runs without thousands of repairs, we get a loan or lease for a new one. Whenever a small appliance has a hiccup, our first reaction is often to go pick up a brand new one.
Now, there are certain situations where the above scenarios are the common sense thing to do. However, we are trained from our youth to believe that the newer thing is the better thing – and then we need that thing. This has trained us to believe that our desires are the only thing that should dictate our actions.
This is no different for many Christians, though it should be.
With that said, I believe the Pope didn't go far enough. Follow me, here.
Our throw-away culture is a symptom of our consumer culture.
Our consumer culture is a symptom of our capitalistic system.
Our capitalistic system is what makes this country the economic force in the world that it is, it is yet a symptom of our sin condition.
Each of our sins is our responsibility. However, we cannot deny there is something else at work here.
Pope Francis has spoken out against greed and the financial powers of the world. He made his latest comments on abortion to satisfy the faithful who spend way too much time on the big 3 social issues.
I just thought this connection needed to be made.
Though, not many people will read it.
Before today, I had never heard of Crystal Wright. That was until the Christian Post published an op-ed by her, entitled Unlike Dr. King, Obama is Not Black.
In case you are wondering, no, I'm not kidding.
The title of the article is what drew me in – which was the point. The article doesn't really live up to the über-inflammatory title, though it does go off the deep-end.
It is, of course, what you'd expect from a conservative person who has decided anything from this president must be – in the words of Kathy Bates in The Waterboy – "ub da debil." However, more specifically, Wright takes aim at the themes of race and how the POTUS has "used" and/or responded to them. As you'd expect, there is nothing positive to be found.
Sadly, dignity is far removed from discussions on race today. After a jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin in cold blood, Obama blamed Martin's death on racial profiling…[r]ather than acknowledging black men are committing most of the killing in America, Obama continues to feed blacks the lies they want to hear to keep the support of his most loyal, blind constituents. After all when it comes to Obama and blacks, it's about the color of his skin not the content of his character.
Not only are these things inflammatory, almost none of them are true.
Rather than placating blacks with reasons they should remain in a constant state of victimhood, the above quote speaks to the opposite effect.
Again, rather than calling blacks to continued victimhood or to be permanent wards of the state, the implication is that one must actually do something in order to change their circumstances.
As I've said in previous social media engagements, the clever misuse of facts can make anybody's case – and that's what we're dealing with here.
Certainly, strides have been made on the issue of race. However, that does not mean racism has ended – nor does it mean that it doesn't still need to be identified and weeded out of the shadows.
Racists have become a savvy lot. The shining example remains when Regan identified "welfare queens in Cadillacs," but code words and misused and misunderstood statistics have become the weapon of the racially biased.
What Wright does in her piece is to apply the GOP formula of "everything about Obama is bad," and add in the digs on race. She added nothing new to the discussion, and nothing that we didn't hear from any number of black conservatives on August 28th, 2013 – disappointingly, I might add.
My belief isn't that you can't be black and conservative, but that you can't talk about events and twist them in a way that meets your ideological needs. This is the problem with Wright's article.
Now, I'm a white guy. I'm also a pastor. I'm a white, male pastor. Why do I choose to blog about this?
Having been a history major at Ball State University – and having taken classes specifically on the black experience in America – it has become far too easy to see when people are choosing to gloss-over the more painful and disgusting portions of our history.
Glenn Beck and his lackey, David Barton, are the best at it.
The trick is to appropriate all the "pick myself up by my bootstraps" and "rugged individualism," while dismissing and ignoring important facts about the poor and marginalized. Unless it speaks to American Exceptionalism – which has become a dangerous and idolatrous religion for too many people – it has no place in our history, nor does it belong in our collective conscious, according to people like Beck and Barton.
Race is still a problem in this country. Not only in this country, but it still exists here. As a product of my faith, I believe it is the job of people like me – and people who are unlike me – to persist in the march for social justice.
I don't care if that phrase has come into disrepute in certain circles, I will always believe in the importance of social justice. The issue of race is still in need of attention, even when it comes to social justice.
Chris, I have appreciated your posts and support in regards to racism, (particularly towards black people) since we've become fb friends. I continue to appreciate it. It is so healing to have racism not only acknowledged (named) by a white person, but, understood (so to speak). The fact that you have educated yourself about the history of racism in this country speaks volumes during a time when everyone is suddenly, "color blind" and "so over it." I pray that those who read your posts will understand, as you seem to, the deep wounds that racism has caused us as a people, and more, to the human race and that it will help some of us to work more closely and purposefully towards healing them. God bless you my friend and brother.
The wounds of racism are still real and raw for many. In part, that is the reality because racism is still alive and well in our country – despite people's desire to deny it.
The good news is you don't have to agree that something exists for it to actually exist (lucky for us Christians, huh?), so Wright's article isn't all that big a deal. However, in the wake of #MLKDream50, let's not faulter in continuing to seek out the dream.
We've made some strides, but let's not mistake that for a job well done.
Matt Barber is with Liberty Counsel. Essentially, it's like every other conservative group that thinks just because they can't do whatever they want, whenever they want and wherever they want, that they are being persecuted against.
And like an increasing number of these people, they are co-opting the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to prove their point.
I have no proof of this, but I would say Dr. King might have some words for these types of people.
The video above is just more proof that some American Christians have gone soft, and are completely willing to cheapen the real persecution Christians face around the world.
Christians have been persecuted for 2000 years by radical leftists. They used to just throw us to the lions. Now, what they do is try to force us to their way of thinking, to rehabilitate us to their way of thinking, under penalty of law.
This is, of course, ridiculous, wrong, and offensive to our brethren in Egypt and elsewhere – and throughout history – but that doesn't really matter to people like this. At least, in my experience.
There are, obviously, many other things wrong with this man's logic and heart, but I'll leave it here for now.