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?

The Incredibles!

I really wasn’t looking forward to seeing this one. There were a few cute things in the trailer, like Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Frozone, frantically looking for his ‘supersuit’ and his wife’s cagey replies to his urgent questions, but the idea of a super hero at mid-life didn’t seem like much to build on.

Pixar has proven itself a hit-maker for Disney, so it was no surprise that it was a good movie. It was surprising, though, just how good it was and on how many levels.

The obvious thing to mention first is the animation, which blew me away. I’d thought it would be impossible to do that after Shrek and Finding Nemo. The people are physical charicatures, but the story was so good I forgot I was watching a cartoon.

The Incredibles is a story of super heroes living in a society as quick to file law suits as our own. Because super heroes are considered public utilities, the government is responsible for defending them. After having defended them one too many times the superheroes are told by the government that they must cease and desist all super saving activities and go into the witness protection program.

The physical aspects of The Incredibles was, well, real. Except for the over the top abilities of the super heroes, everything falls and bounces and breaks as it would in reality. Not only that, but the psychological make-up of the super heroes is real, too. People are happy, and sad, and self-doubting in just the right measures, which might be the most amazing thing about this movie.

Since the children were born after Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl went into the witness protection program and are denied public use of their super powers, they only know of their parent’s super hero past from stories. Of course, as children of super heroes, they have super talents of their own, but are told not to ever exercise them. So when Elastigirl finds herself in an airplane with her two kids; guided missiles in hot pursuit, she calls upon her daughter for help.

I would have thought that a girl with repressed super powers would jump at the chance at using them, but had discounted the fact that she’d been told all her life not to because she would endanger the family. She began by protesting that she was never supposed to use her powers but her mother, Elastigirl, made it clear that she either use her unique gift or they might all die. So, when called upon to protect them, Elastigirl’s daughter, doing her best, couldn’t pull it off.

There is a message here for those of us who would repress the talents of our children: that we should encourage our kids to blossom, and do great things if it is within them. Maybe we just want our kids to be humble, or we’re resentful that we didn’t get the opportunity that they might have to be a rockstar or a doctor. Let them be who they are.

The nemesis of our super hero family was created by Mr. Incredible himself. As a boy, Syndrome, wishes to be just like his hero, Mr. Incredible. He is president of the Mr. Incredible fan club and tracks ever move Mr. Incredible makes. Knowing he has no ‘natural’ super powers he invents shoes that make it possible for him to fly. He is an enthusiastic pre-teen boy who wishes only to help his hero, but is told to go home, that Mr. Incredible works alone.

Mr. Incredible had handled this all wrong. Of course, the boy had gotten in the way, and a super villain had escaped, but he should have encouraged the boy’s ingenuity. He was obviously smart, but having been rejected, his worship turned to resentment, and in the end, could have been the downfall of Mr. Incredible and his family.

But of course, The Incredibles learn to work together as a team, allowing one talent to complement another in order to save them all from destruction.

As a side note to the movie itself, which was brilliantly executed, I was interested in the fact that it was given a PG rating. I’m not sure an animated Disney movie has ever been given a PG rating. I’m sure PG was the proper rating, but with a few well done edits, it could have been brought into the area of a G. Was this due to a power struggle between the heads of Pixar and Disney? And, if that was the case, who won? Would The Incredibles have been less were it to have been made into a G rated movie?

The Incredibles might be a little much for a three year old, but for everyone else, this is a great movie.