On Sep 22, 2009, at 1:36 AM, Doug Pensinger wrote:
Yes but, calling the U.S. a Christian nation is a little beyond "the merest mention."
More than a little, although in this case, the usage didn't seem to be malicious.
The origin of that phrase is a multilayered equivocation on the part of certain right-wing religious movements whose doctrine involves a fundamental rejection of even the concept of separation of church and state, and the equivocation is both in the glossed-over distinction in meaning between "nation composed mostly of Christians" (true) and "nation whose government rests on, and is meant solely to promote and enforce, Christianity as a state religion" (false, but an often intended misinterpretation), and the equally glossed-over distinction between the broadest and narrowest possible definitions of "Christian". Ultimately, it's a code-phrase, one that means very different things to the in-group that uses it as a rallying point than it does to those outside that group, and the resulting confusion is by design, at least at the origin.
And it's often repeated by people outside the group without a full understanding of the memes it belongs to and the agenda those memes serve. As I believe happened in this case.
That said, I agree with the tenor of the message forwarded by Chris.
As do I. Whatever the language used or the associations it might have, to me, the underlying message was clearly a call for civility, empathy, and compassion for others, whether we agree with them or not, and I am completely in agreement with that message.
I've been disturbed enough by the hate speech from the right; Beck, Limbaugh et al, that I've considered taking some sort of action to express my displeasure.
The worrisome thing to me about voices like Beck and Limbaugh is that they're symptoms, not root causes. There are far more hateful people in this country than the ones we hear on right-wing talk radio. (Radio is nothing compared to what circulates via viral chain-email back channels on the right wing.) Neither Beck nor Limbaugh would be on the radio at all if they didn't draw listeners by telling them what they want to hear. And it's their audiences that worry me, because the fact that guys like Beck or Limbaugh make money doing what they do is a clear sign that those beliefs are already out there.
"No, I'm disagreeing with you. That doesn't mean I'm not listening to you or understanding what you're saying. I'm doing all three at the same time." -- Toby Ziegler
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