For those of you who know me and the faith journey I have been on, you know I don’t wear my faith on my sleeve. I don’t trumpet it to the world that I believe in God and I profess to be a Christian. Other Christians fault me for this because it is exepcted that “we” (Christians) share our faith with others. But it is what it is. I don’t put it out there because, for me, it is a personal thing. I have been on a journey that has disillusioned me on church as an institution.
Awhile back, my father and I had a bit of a rumble. He is a pastor and he very much believes in church as an institution….naturally. He, to this day, would like to know where along the way I became so turned off to church.
Let me highlight a reason from todays news. Pat Robertson is a leading voice in the Evangelical Christian community. He is the host of The 700 Club and over the years he has increasingly pissed me off more.
In yesterday’s broadcast, Robertson endorsed assassinating the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. There is no parsing of words in what he said. You can read the whole thing but let me quote this part:
You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.
<snip>
We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.
Excuse my French, but what the fuck??! Whatever happened to “Thou Shalt Not Kill?”
I am drawing closer to my conclusion on religiosocietal integration.
Radical Christianity is as bad as Radical Islam.
Stumble it!
About the Author: Aaron Brazell is the lead editor of Technosailor.com and a social media expert. His passion is to see companies and individuals use the internet and web technologies wisely and effectively to promote their brands and companies. He served as Director of Technology at b5media from 2005-2008 and is currently an independent consultant.
Didn't Robertson also call for the death of some of the more liberal supreme court justices to get a bigger proportion of conservatives in there? And doesn't he also use his tax-exempt status in creative ways, such as using his show to market a health shake he sells at GNC?
My point is, Robertson's a huckster and nobody should be taking him seriously. He does a disservice to organized religion and I don't think he really believes it himself.
I'm not a big fan of the actions of many churches (and haven't since the church told my mom they needed a "bigger contribution" to allow me to receive first communion when I was 13; yeah, perfect thing to tell a single mom of 4 kids who teaches kindergarten for a living), but I don't fault anyone for pursuing higher beliefs than what's on this planet. In the end though, religious extremism and corruption will do much more harm for any issues relating to religion than any atheist could.
Let me make the point that I am not opposed to state sponsored assassinations. What I am opposed to is the hypocrisy of the Church sactioning the killing of anyone. These guys are the saem guys who picket abortion clinics demanding that unborn life be protected while in the same breath advocating the murder of another human being. That is hypocrisy. That is what I can't stand.
Aaron - I'm way ahead of you regarding religion. I was raised a Catholic and had eight years of schooling with the Sisters of Mercy. My view on religion is that they are just something created by man to gain power. One thing to remember is that religion has been the cause of more deaths throughout history than anything else... Regarding assassinations I'm willing to go that route, especially if it will save lives. WWII might have ended much quicker if Hitler had been successfully assassinated. Regarding Pat Robertson and the rest of the television evangelist, I can really do without them. To me they are just money grabbers living off human emotion. Look back at ole Tammy Faye...
Dude I am far from the one to be trying to make any formal comments about religion. Like the two previous commentors we too have had conversations of religion and what role it plays in our personal lives.
This is the first I have heard of the Pat Robertson but as much I too DISAGREE with what he said it is nothing out of the norm in today world.
The president has made some real bad decisions and some even more jacked-up comments. Religion and the DEMISE of the moral fiber that comes with Christianity has been in the front lines for quite a while now.
Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Jim Baker just to name a few have not only said some real bad comments and some of their actions have been questionable too. But if I am going to be the serious "Sean" that you know let me say this...
NEVER and I mean NEVER let anyone stop you from building a closer relationship with GOD. Church is a place where you learn to build that relationship. I myself like smaller churches because you don't become just another face they actually care and show an unconditional love that bigger churches don't. Continue to grow closer and let those who stake the claim answer for the sins when their time comes.
That is just my 1 1/2 cents.
Hi Aaron, LTNS, I appologize but life as you know has grabbed a lot of my time lately. While I have a minute tho, I wanted to expand on your thoughts and share some of my own.
While you know what faith I belong to (we had that discussion once), I don't go around advertising it to too many people because everyone then makes assumptions and believes I am a crackpot. LOL I assure you I'm not! :) I agree with you about your faith being your own deeply personal thing and therefore you desire to not broadcast it like a loud mouth screaming liberal! LOL Bravo! You are one more step closer to becoming more conservative (it's not just a political position).
It's true that there are a lot of different christian groups out there who say "Believe in my way or go to hell", but I feel alot of them miss a very serious point, and that is your faith IS your business because ONLY YOU are held responsible for your personal salvation!
I see a lot of intolerance with all different religious groups (mine is no exception) but we must remember that it's the church that is perfect NOT THE PEOPLE!
If we were all perfect wouldn't we already be up in Heaven with Jesus? Instead of down here working from paycheck to paycheck?
I will only disagree with 1 thing about Pat Robertson. While I think he's a moron for saying something that outlandish, certainly you've (not you personally) been overheard saying something ignorant or dumb. Count your many blessings that you don't have the national audience that he does which garners immediate gossip and speculation everytime you mention assassinating a moron dictator like Chavez! :)
While it does say in the 10 commandments "Thou shalt not kill" Heavenly Father is seen in the bible killing thousands. (Easy one to remember Moses and the Romans, Red Sea, etc.) We lose sight of the fact that war among men is sometimes called to action and that what happens in a war is death. Heavenly Father knows which wars were committed in righteousness and that is why people should recognize the difference in death from war and outright murder.
As for assassination, I am all for it if and only if the ends justify the means. In otherwords, I would have been all too happy to see Saddam take a bullet instead of spending billions of our tax dollars holding him in a maximum security prision where I'm certain he's fed steak if he wants it, lawyers, trails, judges, clerks, and everyone else we have to pay for so he can get a "fair trial". LOL
Hugo Chavez is an evil man, anyone who's read news coming out of Venezuela would know that, and to have this guy removed before he becomes the next Saddam is something worth considering.
We will have to come to the realization that in this day and age we spend more of our time policing the world because everyone holds US responsible when "it hits the fan".
Take it easy guys! And just spend some time laughing at the public jesters ;)
I have learned that Crhistianity means that God loves you, as long as you follow our teachings. If you believe in abortion, homosexuality, killing, etc. then you are going to hell. If you don't go to church and most importantly don't give money to the church, then you are not a part of the Catholic faith.
If you read the Bible, God accepted everyone unconditionally. The Catholoc church has so many exceptions that it's sad. That is why I tend to turn from the church.
The church is almost like a cult and I cringe that Christainity is promoting martyrs at this point. When I heard about Pat, I really hoped that it was a bad joke; that his words were mistaken. Guess Not.