Speaking Truth To Charisma

7 Responses to Speaking Truth To Charisma

1. Thrasymachus says:

   November 25, 2008 at 7:58 am

   At least Kathleen Parker came out and said it, which none of the other worthies (Colin Powell, Peggy Noonan, David Frum, and countless others)have quite been able to bring themselves to do. Which is just come out and say, “These lower middle class/working class low church types, well, they’re just gross, and we really don’t want to associate with people like that.” Politics are aspirational, for a lot of people. The politics you adopt say who you think you are, who you hope to be, and what kind of community you think you belong to.

   When is somebody going to kick the religious *left* in their tiny little balls? I grew up in a family of educated, liberal Catholics who were as rigid and fearful in adhering to the doctrines of the Democratic Party and the Church as they were rude and bellicose in questioning anything Republican or corporate.

   A story- I was five or six, and the family was preparing to go to church (I really hate calling it “Mass”) Sunday morning. I was standing by the door, as we were ordered to do when dressed and ready, and I ask my father, “Why do we have to go to church?” It seemed like a rather pointless exercise I guess. Now my father is a very intelligent man, with a PH.D. in chemistry and a master’s degree in computer science. He went to a Catholic grade school, a Jesuit high school, and a Jesuit college. Presumably he could have given me a very comprehensive explanation of the reasons for the requirement for Sunday attendance, but instead he stepped towards me with an angry look on his face and clenched his fists at his side. Other than spanking me once that’s the only time he ever behaved in a threatening manner toward me. OK, I understand. We go to church because a big person will get mad and hit you if you don’t, or even say you don’t.

   Pretty “oogedy boogedy” to me. And just because it’s got no God or Jesus doesn’t mean liberalism is not a religion. It’s all as oogedy boogedy as it gets.
2. Grant Canyon says:

   November 25, 2008 at 10:40 am

   I think that Parker is right on. It’s why I left the Republican Party. Until the party divorces itself from people who believe that our secular government can be used to push religious and moral beliefs, I think more people will make the choice I made and abandon the party.
3. A-Bax says:

   November 25, 2008 at 11:37 am

   Kathleen Parker should be applauded…the GOP is in danger of becoming lead by the kind of men who scoffed at math and touted the power of the miraculous. “Majored in Miracles” indeed. This bozo represents the danger of social conservatism linked with centralized government…except that the Huckster wouldn’t even pretend to be conservative like Bush had to.

   I think the GOP is wary of alienating the devout – they know all too well the role evangelicals played in defeating Gore and Kerry. While using the kid gloves against the nut-job right might be smart tacitcs, it ultimately is bad strategy as it opens the entire party up to attack as backwards, superstitious and ultimately unserious.

   I’m all for people indulging in their supernatural fantasies and practicing their faith…we seem to be wired that way, and there’s no getting round religiousness, ultimately. But Jebus, does the Right have to remain hostage to antiquated empirical notions that have the unfortunate property of being eminently falsifiable, and falsified?
4. Pim says:

   November 25, 2008 at 11:57 am

   I see a lot of bigotry towards Christians. The democrat party is a much bigger pusher of religious (both non-christian and atheistic) and moral beliefs, primarily through the public education system and heinous court decisions like Roe. I admire religious people and sometimes wish that I could believe in god, particularly a Christian god. Religious people are dare I say “blessed” to be given a sense of moral certitude in a world inundated with moral relativism. This certitude, I think, is often wrongly characterized as a naive blindness towards nuance, shades of gray, etc. The Republican party should jettison a large part of its foundation? Engaged and liberty-loving Christians? I don’t think so. Parker’s characterization of the Republican party convention as an “annual Depends sales meeting” shows how little many Americans respect the wisdom of time-tested tradition. What shall we replace it with? For me, Christians are allies and can still teach me, an atheist, a lot about the world.
5. Grant Canyon says:

   November 25, 2008 at 12:10 pm

   “I see a lot of bigotry towards Christians.”

   They give more than they get. (See, for example, putting one group’s fundamental constitutional rights to a vote in California, driven mainly by religious, and specifically Christian, bigotry.)
6. Pim says:

   November 25, 2008 at 6:05 pm

   What fundamental constitutional right do you refer to? I am not opposed to gay marriage, but the constitution doesn’t mention marriage.
7. Grant Canyon says:

   November 29, 2008 at 9:45 pm

   “What fundamental constitutional right do you refer to?”

   Equal protection.

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