Letter to the Editor
Preaching politics
Published Sunday, November 23, 2008
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To the editor:
I was very disappointed to see “Republicans kill animals, Democrats kill babies” scrolling across the electronic sign at Bible Baptist Church last week. Why would a church want to pit people against each another? Why preach the politics of hate?
Sen. John McCain had a different message for America on the night of Nov. 4. McCain said “I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger better, country than we inherited. Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans.”
This was a much-needed message for us all. That goes double for those who think they have a monopoly on truth and wisdom. We need to start acting as if we all live in the same country. There’s just too much at stake.
Churches that preach the “we’re better than you” message are not serving the community as a whole. Churches that preach one political party over another should have their tax-exempt status pulled immediately.
Community Discussion
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Mr. Eagan asked…
“Why preach the politics of hate?”
Please someone explain to me why this sign is supposedly so “hateful.” Why is it that when people are confronted with something they don’t like, they automatically deem it “hate?” Why can’t people simply have differing opinions, and be able to discuss the differences without being labeled a bigot or hate-monger. More importantly, if you’re labeling someone as “hate-filled,” then you’re probably just as irrational as the people you’re labeling.
I mean if you think about it, that sign and its message is fairly accurate. Go to the national or state website for the Democratic Party and you’ll see that reproductive rights (a euphemism for abortion) is part of the party platform. And for the most part, republicans are very supportive of gun rights and/or hunting. So there’s all this hullabaloo about a message that is pretty truthful.
Apparently, we’ve become so sensitive that we can’t stand to be reminded of the truth. It’s very sad.
Fantastic letter, Greg, and good points throughout. I particularly agree with your last sentence.
The problem with this sign is its gross over-generalization. They imply that all Republicans are red-blooded, Joe Six Pack hunters like our Governor, while all Democrats run through the streets pushing teenage girls into abortion clinics, when, in reality, both images are far from the truth.
With all respect to the author's letter, I cannot resist just one jab: if Republicans care so much about the sanctity of life, as the aforementioned sign implies, then why don't they work on real health care reform in this country so all those non-aborted fetuses have a shot at a healthy life! Instead, our current Republican President vetoes a bill looking to provide critical health coverage to children from lower income families:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Child...
I guess those non-aborted fetuses can just fend for themselves. Those infants need to accept some personal responsibility!
<steps off soapbox>
Freedom of speech. Would you give freedom of speech up to censorship because you do not like the message. You need to look at what it says and be grateful you live in a country where such a billboard can display this message, whether you like the message or not. I personally find the billboards displaying the price of gas in Fairbanks much more offensive.
The sign authors at that church are certainly getting a lot of mileage out of it. I expect when the clamoring dies down, they'll come up with an even more offensive and/or polarizing statement, you think? Maybe we can help them out. "My God can beat up your god!" "Jesus likes white meat better than dark meat!" "... Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the (Re)publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.”
Mike- to answer your question, a real conversation intended to share and communicate does not start on a negative.
You make an excellent point, MikeDanger. There was no hatred involved. It was simply a truthful statement designed to make people think.
Abortion is not a political issue. It is a moral issue, and the reasons why it is wrong are well within the realm of what a church should be teaching.
If you had attended services following the election of President-elect Obama, you would have heard a reminder that the Bible teaches us to respect those in authority, and that, whether we agree with Obama's position or not, God expects us to repect him and pray for him.
Compromise, on the other hand, is another issue. Why would someone be willing to compromise what they believe is truth? Truth is not negotiable. Bible Baptist Church stands uncompromisingly for the truth as given to us in the Word of God, the Bible. Bible Baptist Church is also perhaps one of the most patriotic congregations in Fairbanks.
FreeDarfur,
"Would you give freedom of speech up to censorship because you do not like the message..."
The re-imposition of the Fairness Doctrine is Censorship. We already have the "opposing view" to "Right-Wing Talk Radio" - it's found on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. They are so openly and blatantly Liberal in their policies and programming that they counter what comes out on Talk Radio. NPR is funded by the US Government and does not open itself to the "opposite view". "Right-Wing Talk Radio" is successful because of Capitalism - people listen to it because they agree with it or they listen to hear what the conservatives are saying (but they usually listen for 15 minutes or less before they find themselves gnashing their teeth).
That is the ultimate goal of the "Fairness Doctrine" - to force people to listen to the drivel of the left and consequently to turn off their radios and stop listening. I don't believe it's going to work - there used to be such a thing as "Pirate Radio" and I think it will rise again and the Federal Government will find it's hands full trying to "police the air waves" again.
Access to abortion also has nothing to do with morals or politics.
It has to do with money!
Those who have no money have very limited access. Period. So only poor women are discriminated against by any legislation to further limit access to one. How many wealthy women go to the clinic all the picketers are at? How many wealthy women get the license number off their car written down so they can be further harrased at home. How many poor women can hop a plane to a different country, passport in tow, to go somewhere else to get it done with no one the wiser?
So would that mean Democrats champion poor women & Republicans don't?
I spent ten years of my life defending these folk's right to say this, but once again, Bible Baptist is trying to raise the bar on hate speech!! Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I guess they are just misguided. I grew up in a pretty conservative Baptist church, but this kind of speech just drives people away!! I guess they just do not see it...they do not want to convert people, they must not want to share heaven with those types of sinners!! Be holier than thou, I think God will have something special to say to you on judgement day about things like this. Oh, and by the way, when it is political, the govt. should immediately take away your tax exempt status!! Good letter!!
"Churches that preach one political party over another should have their tax-exempt status pulled immediately."
I was talking to God the other night down at the bar. He said He personally pulled Bible Baptist Church's Christian status at the dawn of time. Said if I couldn't figure out why, that I'd never understand anything He said. I replied, "Way to go, God," and bought Him another shot of bourbon.
Never drink with God. He'll always put you under the table.
BTW: God takes it straight. No chaser.
I agree with this letter. Divisive politics is ruining the country and Bible Baptist Church is doing an excellent job contributing. It should most definitely lose its tax-exempt status.
Patriotic -- yes, much like the Christian German congregations in the 1930s.
I wonder how all of the African-American Christian churches are going to feel about losing their tax exempt status. Should we go retroactive, back to the days of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.?
We better revoke the Catholics tax exempt status, since they so blatantly oppose abortion.
Then we're going to have to revoke the tax free status of synagogues that speak against more pogroms and holocausts.
Oh, and let's not forget the Muslim faithful, some of whom have supported charities that supported Hezbollah and other groups tied to terrorism.
The Clintons and Gore have had exceptional skill at fundraising at Buddhist churches in recent years. Let's revoke their status also.
I guess that we could make a law that just excludes free speech for tax exempt predominantly white Christian churches. It seems that those are the only religious groups that bothers liberals. We all know that liberals are the ultimate judges these days on what speech is to be allowed.
Or maybe, we should just let the Bible Baptists have their sign, and their tax exempt status.
G-les: I gotta agree with you about letting the BB's keep their sign. The entertainment value alone justifies it. For all my years in Alaska, it remains the single best and most consistent slice of humor I've encountered. Laughing at that sign has gotten me through many a long winter's night.
Fairbanks has lost too many landmarks in recent years. We've gotta hang on to the ones we still have.
At least the sign did not say "...no,no,no. Not God bless America, but God damn America...."
Doug_in_Salcha, I find that I usually listen to talk radio for less than 15 minutes because of the personalities involved. I am open minded and admittedly ignorant on many issues; I have a sincere desire to learn. I appreciate hearing the other side, especially on issues about which I am passionate.
What I cannot tolerate is the self-righteous, I know everything, disrespectful, yell at the top of my lungs, God complex demonstrated by many talk show hosts. I respect presenters who don't tout their own godliness and I tend to switch channels when I find myself gnashing my teeth; it's dentist-recommended.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
- Voltaire
You know, churches do not have the right to set up signs like that and stir up hate just so people will come into their congregation to figure out how they should deal with that hate.
That being said, the other day I put in a quote from Martin Luther King Jr and it is appropriate to this conversation as well. He was in jail in Birmingham in 1963 when he wrote "The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion, it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society."
In other words, a church has always had the role of being the voice for the moral compass to the masses, that will directly involve politics as well. Governments are seperated by church and state, not churches.
I completely agree with The_Alaska_Curmudgeon. Religion which I personally think is, to varying degrees, becoming more and more misguided when the leaders of that Org stop focusing on principles and start focusing on personalities. If it starts supporting various political ideals, it's no longer about religion. Thus it absolutely should lose it's tax exempt status.
Hey Greg....where have you been? We already went through BOWLS of popcorn on this one!
“The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think.”
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
We have a choice to make here.
Do we allow everyone to say what they believe and let the market place of ideas determine what to select or reject? Or do we allow a censorship panel to impose a dictatorship of permitted thought, ideas, and expression? This is the fundamental issue, and the rest is commentary.
Have we become a nation of idiots too thin skinned to assess an idea without being overwhelmed by emotions? Do we need a government to protect us from ideas that some might find offensive?
Okay, let's back this up a few steps. I would assume that all pro-life individuals are pro-life because they are anti-abortion.
If I were a pro-life politician, however, I would have little incentive to be anti-abortion because I would not be sure of your faithful vote. The Republicans controlled all of Washington for 8 years and what did they do?
Now, I hope I have some points that might surprise you. Just because someone is pro-choice doesn't mean they are pro-abortion. In fact, many good pro-choice people would like to see abortions reduced to zero because they themselves also would not choose abortion.
That is why the sign is wrong. It assumes wrongly that Democrats don't hunt and, also wrongly, that, pro-choice means pro-abortion. By promoting stereotypes, they are promoting an un-Christian and, especially, unproductive message. In fact, based on history, supporting pro-life candidates does not reduce abortions, so it must be that Republicans want to kill babies. I hope you can see the hopelessness of this logical extension.
We have not succeeded in decreasing abortions through law. And, perhaps surprising to some, abortions were significantly lower when Clinton was president than when Bush has been president. Okay, so we both want to reduce abortions, whether we agree or not, the fight at the legal level has not made much progress - in great part because the pro-life camp wanted to make the perfect the enemy of the good and would not even consider the life of a living woman. How do we change things?
There is a third way - which Obama mentioned in his campaign speech. That is, Choose Life. When a young woman or a woman in a bad marriage gets pregnant, their decision seems to them to be between being shot and being hung. People, in general, do not choose abortions lightly. If we, together, can find a way so that education is available to prevent pregnancy and that when women get pregnant, choosing life is a wonderful and positive option, then I think we can, together, make progress.
Jesus said "Suffer the little children to come unto me." He asked us to choose Him. Let us commit to work together so that women in the US are also able to Choose Life.
I know many pro-life people cannot get past the idea that pro-choice people are evil and Godless. I do hope that you have a place in your hearts and minds for another way of seeing this that leads to actually reducing abortions tomorrow if not today.
That is why the sign on the church betrays complete ignorance and lack of thought or even heartfelt honesty about this situation. They are stating a lie (isn't that sinful?) and clearly have not even considered the Christian solution to this - Choose Life.
I guess everyone is free to show their stupidity, you'd just expect more from a church.
Doug in Salcha
The response to the imposition of the Fairness Doctrine must be the equivalent of the radio programs broadcast into Eastern Europe during Soviet occupation in the cold war, where every aspect of communication in the occupied country was being controlled from Moscow. In our case, it might be named “Radio Free America.”
This name, "Radio Free America," would force the overreaching politicians to acknowledge the fundamental problem and similarities.
Want to bet that this effort could be funded?
FlawedPerspective: I didn't advocate revoking the church's tax exempt status. I was quoting the letter writer in my first paragraph. Then I quoted God, who told me over a few drinks that the Bible Baptists aren't Christians.
Don't argue with God. Especially when He's been drinking.