Neo-Christians

There is a lot of ugly bigoted behavior going on these days in the name of folks who regard themselves as "Christians." As an unchurched heathen, I tend to ignore this type of American or if forced into conversation I always strive to avoid talk of politics and religion. In fact, talking to people I don't know too well I tend to avoid talking politics and religion as a matter of course, especially if I think that I might have to work with them in the future. There have been times when I wished I didn't know what people think in their heart of hearts about these things because I have come to the opinion that had I not known about their general level of intellectual banality, I very well might have been friends with them at a simple plane of shared humanity. Not everyone I like is as addicted to symbol manipulation as I am.

I just don't know how twisted some folks belief systems are, how internally self-serving their bargain with the lord may be. I think this is probably a commonplace for a lot of folks who abhor the anti-gay, pro-slavery (pro-life my ass) prayer in school, jihad against the Muslims crowd. They think that these folks are Christians because they claim to be Christians. Hey, I can claim that I am going to be re-incarnated as a black Labrador retriever but that don't necessarily make it true. Self-proclaiming is popular. We want to think that however oddball we are, their are others who are oddball too. Kinda a weird self-denying prophesy if you come to think about it.

But frankly much of that hate speech uttered by the devout is just plain self-serving shit, and we who dislike the architecture of their frightened minds shouldn't take the shortcut and call them Christians. Meaning when we say it that if you swallow the dogma, your basically admitting that rationality runs second to magic wands in your personal cosmology and that you shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a court of public opinion. I think in fact that much as the way "Neo-Conservatives" has come to mean "crazy-fucker working for the rich and filled with hubris" we might start differentiating between those who actually holds some Christian love in their heart and those who simply want to be declared the victors in an evil bargain with death. There is a substantial difference between MLK and James Dobson. Dobson doesn't ask much of his audience, other than that they should hate what he hates. In return they get to believe in salvation. Hitler offered as much, and his followers are called neo-Nazis. Call Dobson's Focus on the Family sheep, Neo-Christians.