Critical minds should make critical distinctions...Yes, unless we are talking about Christians

A friend sends this wonderful exposition which has attained an orthodoxy among secular minded people of left wing political persuasion and imagine themselves champions of diversity and tolerance. A mark of real diversity and tolerance is the ability to restate your opponents positions in a way that he recognizes as true and accurate. The liberal left in America finds that almost impossible when dealing with activist, serious, Catholic, Reformed or evangelical Christians. The following piece by Daryll Hart breaks me up. Enjoy and learn.

A while back the History News Network featured part of a Harper’s interview with Max Blumenthal, the author of the new book, Republican Gomorrah (published by Nation Books). This snippet included Blumenthal’s explanation for starting the book with a portrait of R. J. Rushdoony, a pastor in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (full disclosure, my denomination), who advocated the use of Old Testament law for modern statecraft. Blumenthal then played pin-the-tail-on-the-intellectual donkey, linking Rushdoony to Francis Schaeffer, the so-called father of the Religious Right, who influenced Marvin Olasky, who was an advisor to George W. Bush especially in developing the theme of “compassionate conservatism.” Blumenthal concludes his answer with this:

After Roe v. Wade, Schaeffer became convinced the government had legalized
infanticide. He was radicalized almost overnight and began churning out polemics
urging evangelicals to use “force in the defensive posture,” a watchword for
domestic terrorism, to stop abortion. While Rushdoony provided the Christian
right with its governmental blueprint, Schaeffer offered it the political
strategy–organizing against abortion–it required to attack America’s secular
underpinnings, including the moderate Republican establishment. It’s important
to remember that prior to Schaeffer, right-wing evangelical leaders like Jerry
Falwell were fixated on stopping the racial integration of their so-called
“private Christian schools.”

There you have it, a neat bow on a frightening package – Old Testament law, presidential politics, opposition to abortion, and terrorism, all signifying the conservative movement. And liberals think Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck simplify the Obama administration. Granted, these radio personalities have a larger audience than Harper’s, the Nation, and the History News Network. But Limbaugh and Beck don’t claim to be scholars, and their listeners don’t claim to be experts about politics, religion, or history. If Susan Jacoby really wants to claim that conservatism has dumbed-down American culture, she may want to hold up a mirror to her reasonable and smart friends who can’t tell the difference between picketing an abortion clinic and flying a 737 into a skyscraper.

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