An Article of Faith Take no comfort from what you are about to read. Unless you're desperate... In which case the old adage "any port in a storm" would have to apply. Since the advance of conservative leadership over the past two general elections, many have noticed that the concept of "faith" has crept up to our collective chin. All kinds of stories have bubbled up to the surface, like hot gas breaking through Yellowstone's crust, about Christianity's role in the fields of politics and government. We've come a long way since those WWJD bracelets started popping up. A Baptist minister resigns after it was determined he forced nine clergy members out of his church; their sin was that they had voted for John Kerry. An FDA official gives a sermon to explain why God made him oppose a "morning-after" type of birth control being sold over the counter. HMO owner and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist vows to defend "people of faith" against the horrors unleashed unto God's green Earth by those Democrats who oppose Christian judges. These age-old epiphanies have bloomed in our culture as well. The "Left Behind" series of novels, gobbled up by apparently housebound "people of faith" the way Harry Potter books are consumed by children, has all but taken over the Best Seller list. Christian groups are forming and are holding their meetings at work, even at large corporations, with guest speakers no less (AOL employees, for instance, just hosted former pro football player Reggie Evans, a very inspirational guy). Even network television has sniffed the air and programmed for Heaven's sake. God knows they could use the boost in the ratings. As noted by columnist Leonard Pitts, who has written extensively on the subject of this latest crusade, it has been 45 years since John Kennedy had to openly vow not to let his religion guide his approach to making policy (after saying so, he won the election, and was killed). Obviously, much has changed. I've confessed it before; I'm a Catholic, as was Kennedy. Faith is not a problem, never has been. However, I'm not inclined to take pointers on God from a bunch of blank-eyed idiots who believe and openly espouse that war is good, that the poor don't need help and that God's green Earth is their personal toxic waste dump. And I can't much get behind a movement whose legions are stocked with such idiots. A long, long time ago, Catholics had a different approach. If you weren't a Catholic, and a darn good one at that, you might find yourself stretched out on a rack. Or with a wad of burning wool stuffed down your throat with a stick, and then yanked back out. By the time the Church was through with you, you were ready to embrace Jesus all right, one way or another. They probably learned this from the Romans, who fed them to lions and bears for the purpose of pure entertainment. If you were one of those Moorish heathens, though, it was even worse. For you, they'd suit up an entire army of Christian soldiers and send them marching into your village, cutting off heads and whatnot. That was a fairly long-lasting bit of unpleasantness, the likes of which we've not witnessed on a purely religious basis in this country - unless you count the Civil War, in which case only half a million people lost their lives. It could've been worse. Such extreme activist Christianity hasn't reared its ugly head in about nine hundred years, and has been outdone by secular brutality anyway. Of course, one could easily argue that it has since been replaced as a force in the world by extreme activist Islamic behavior, as most terribly demonstrated on September 11th, 2001. Then it could also be argued that America's sudden affliction with divinity, from the Capitol to the cubicle, is a natural backlash of spirituality in response to an attack that is perceived as having been done in the name of Allah. However, whereas the terrorists' fervor manifests itself in explosions and is borne out of desire to become a martyr, Christians have been playing defense as religious introverts for a long time. Not anymore. When someone asks "how are you," they are increasingly sticking to the smug reply, "I'm blessed." Excuse me, that's cute and all, but nobody noticed you sneezed, so don't worry about it. Sorry for my tone, but such public piety comes off as a wee bit shallow (and I harbor a deep hatred for all things shallow) coming from the same people who think that America is a "Christian nation", and that George W. Bush is the war hero of their personal Best-Seller. To my mind, these folks need to be sat down and made to explain something. It's a pretty simple question, and if they can answer it, then everlasting salvation will truly be their prize: WWJK? Who Would Jesus Kill? Paul Heller 05/16/05 << back to the archives
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