"We have a sports culture that practically encourages this and promotes it, by rewarding the most obscene behavior with the most television time and the most attention, and the most appearances on the highlights reel, and so one thing feeds off the other. So I don't know what they're going to do to get hold of it. I think just put it in perspective. As I said before the last hour ended, "Just rename the city of Detroit to 'New Fallujah, Michigan,'" and then what happens at the palace of Auburn Hills will be understood by everybody who goes there. By the way, has anybody noticed all these outbreaks, all this violence, all this stuff happens in blue cities, ladies and gentlemen? I mean, you don't see this happening in Charlotte. You don't see this sort of stuff happening. But you do see it happening out of Miami; you do see it happening in the blue cities out there. So, you know, call L.A. "New Mosul, California." You could call New York "Baghdad, New York," and this helps people put this in perspective. But you just listen. You listen to all these ex-NBA players saying, "I'm not going to get dissed. Any fan touches me is going to get his head knocked off." You're going to hear that said all over the place. It's all about this hip-hop culture not getting dissed and not being embarrassed in terms of your manhood and all this."
Doctor-shopping, Oxycontin-snorting, multiple-times divorced, draft-dodging moral values arbiter, Rush Limbaugh. November 22, 2004
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I woke up this afternoon thinking that the problem for this country is that there are two strains of christianity running through it. One, in my opinion, goes against the ideals that Jesus probably stood for.
But I was thinking is that what is needed is a national debate on whether Bush's policies are actually "christian." And don't get me wrong, I'm a secular humanist myself, but what little I read of the Bible suggest to me that Bush is not at all christian in a biblical sense.
Wouldn't it be wild to see Bush's policies debated from the two schools of christianity? A televised debate--"Are Bush's Policies Christian?" See the religious right try to defend them relative to the new testament, while the religious left explains why they are not christian relative to the new testament. I think that would be fascinating and very healthy.
If he is going to call himself a christian, then he must be doing something that aspires to the goals that Jesus promoted.
I keep thinking about the folks at Sojourners, and the Archbishop of Canterbury who begged his congregations not to turn their backs on gays, and the Berrigan brothers, and Chencho Alas, and Dr. King, and Archbishop Romero, and Archbishop Hunthausen, and I wonder why those are not the voices of Christianity that get all the publicity. Why is it the folks who think Jesus was some sort of hater who would have stoned gays and women and Iraqis? Why have they been allowed to hijack the Christian message?
Jesus wept.
Didn't hire the right publicity agent? No, but seriously. I think that is why a lot of people are turning to George Lakeoff's suggestions about framing issues.
Meanwhile, I am thinking of starting an online petition requesting the major networks to host a debate of major religious scholars from the right and left to debate whether Bush's policies are actually christian relative to the new testament.
There's a great web site: Four Inches of Ego that has a bunch of posters you can download. One of them says, "I just read the Bible I got from the Christian Right, and George Bush is definitely going to hell."
I think a lengthy discussion among religious leaders would be fabulous, Sheryl. Great idea.
Thanks. I just asked my republican, christian friend Oren what he thought of the idea, and he said it sounded very interesting to him. You asked how can we reach the right. This might actually be a way--pit them against themselves. So, I'll do it!!! :)
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