Thursday, August 14, 2008

We "Ironic" Liberal Christians

I knew the media has a hard time making sense of the diversity present in American religion (or religion in general), but I did not expect this from NPR, of all places.

On Morning Edition, correspondent Mara Liasson declared it "ironic" that a "liberal Democrat" (that would be Sen. Barack Obama) would showcase his Christian faith.

I know that the Religious Right has highjacked public religious discourse in our country, but, as Jason Linkins at the Huffington Post notes, that is the true irony:

[E]veryone knows the story of how Jesus Christ stood and yelled at Lazarus, "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you dirty appeaser!" just before inviting the moneylenders to set up shop in the temple to fondle Congressional pages.


That quote is obviously dripping with sarcasm. This one, however, is not:

[T]he central tenet of Christianity is Christ's admonition that we shall be judged by what we do for the least among us, making it, wait for it... IRONIC!...for Christians to lobby heavily for massive tax-cuts for plutocrats.


A great many ironies could be added to this, none more potent than that a man claiming to be a disciple of the one many Christians call the Prince of Peace (his favorite philosopher, even) could lead us into an illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation that never attacked us. Or that said invasion and occupation was made politically possible by the persistent lies of one who claims allegiance to the Truth.

As for Barack Obama's Christian faith, I see no obvious irony.

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