Christian Doublethink

My sister is the only member of my family who voted republican. I was disappointed. I told her that I had four years in order to work on her.

I started my campaign with email, which is the most convenient way to get my argument to her. (I want to remind anyone who might not know me that I am not trying to pull her out of her republican trench in order for her to become a democrat, my wish is that she becomes a critical thinker in her political decision making.)

My challenge is made harder because republicans have cloaked themselves in christianity, and the christian world has reciprocated. How could this have happened? When did christianity become such a conservative religion? Christ himself was an activist, becoming violent at times, to get his point across. He was against the money changers being in the church. (I don’t think the money changers are in the church, these days, but the opposite is true: the church is mucking about in the world of capitalism.) So he went in and started turning over tables and pushing people around, saying, “get out of my father’s house!”

The most disappointing aspect of the battle with my sister is that she would not take up arms and engage. She refused to defend what is an unsupportable opinion: an opinion she wished to continue holding.

My sister is not unusual.

Recently, I had a discussion with a christian scholar. I made the proclamation that Bush Jr. was not a christian. (This claim could be made about most americans.) I made this claim not because I am against Jesus or think that one should not become a christian, (though I am an athiest) but because Bush kept using words like ‘crusade’ and ‘evil-doers’ to the point where christians were freaking out in an orgiastic stupor at Bush Jr’s feet.

As president of the United States of America, he is the commander in chief of the armed services and is supposed to be defending our rights to free expression.

Now, with my christian scholar, the argument I used to prove Bush Jr’s non-christian status, was to compare something Jesus did to something Bush Jr. did.

In the bible there is the story of Jesus coming upon the woman who is about to be stoned. Jesus picks up a rock and says, “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.”

Ok, had I been able to get past that point with this christian combatant I might have been able to gain some ground, but it was at that point, my stating what Jesus said, (it is, after all, in the bible he has studied) that he stopped me with, “Well, there are some who believe that that didn’t happen.

Hm.

As an atheist, I would argue that none of it ‘happened’ but that the bible in its entirety is supposed to be a lesson in how to live your life. However, this person had acknowledged that he was fundamentalist in his thinking, meaning he believed in the bible as written, that, because it is written it happened just that way, and is not a metaphor.

Ok, now, his statement that some believe it didn’t happen would have been fine and we could have gone further, had he answered the question, ‘are you one of those who believe that it didn’t happen?’ His answer to me was “I don’t know.”

Wow!

How can you be a fundamentalist christian and not know? And, then there is the issue of one having faith. Aren’t christians supposed to have faith? I’m not even sure what the point of having faith is, but I know it is a big one with with fundamentalist christians.

Ok, when I couldn’t shake him on the issue of whether or not he was one of those that believed it didn’t happen, though it was in the bible, I asked him, “was the story something you think Jesus would have done?”

His answer was, “Well I don’t know.”

How could a biblical scholar not know!!

Of course, I was beginning to wear myself out trying to craft new ways of getting him to give a concrete answer to anything, so we could in fact engage in a debate, but he went on to discuss the story itself, and to make judgements about what happened.

Dang!

I was blown away. He first tells me some believe that it didn’t happen and would not say if he was one of them; wouldn’t guess as to whether, true or not, that it was something Christ-like to do, and then wanted to argue the merits of the story.

I had never come across a true example of doublethink before. I knew that it would come to be in the murky future of America, but had not realized it would come so soon. When 1984 (the year) passed fairly uneventfully, I’d assumed we’d dodged that bullet. Then, twenty years after the time Orwell’s story 1984 took place, we are living it.

And my attempt to argue a point with a fundamentalist christian is just one example of the common rhetoric of the corporatist/republicans in America.

One thing is the other thing.

Black is white.

Yes is no.



This man, this christian right-wing, corporate apologist, biblical scholar was muddying the issue, and when I finally asked him, “Ok, so what is a christian?” his friend steps in.

His friend said, “Let’s say you are a republican (I’m not), do you have to believe everything that republicans believe to be a republican?”

Of course, the answer is ‘no’.

Of course, christianity is not a political party: if you claim to be a christian, you are not supposed to be able to pick and choose what you believe. It is as if these men believed christians have a line-item veto.

Is that what modern, pop-christians believe? What would Jesus think of that?