ioozevalues

News from the Christian/Republican nexus: Marvin Olasky, part of the brain trust currently leading the fight against "immoral liberalism," explains so much about why opposing George W. Bush in this election is not only unAmerican but ungodly: "Being born again, we don't have to justify ourselves. Being saved, we don't have to be saviors. John Kerry, once-born, has no such spiritual support, nor do most of his top admirers in the heavily secularized Democratic Party .... Kerry can't say that [once he was a sinner and made mistakes] because he evidently does not believe that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. He and his handlers portray him as virtually perfect in the past and omniscient in the present. In and of itself, that's also not unusual: it's so hard for a presidential candidate not to get puffed up when laudatory remarks follow him as closely as Secret Service agents. But do we want a president who pretends that he can do no wrong and never has...?"

So much there to work with! "Do we want a president who pretends that he can do no wrong?" coupled with "Being born again, we don't have to justify ourselves" produces a perfect circle of logic. Being "born again," our president has been presenting himself as exactly the kind of president Olasky says we don't need ... one who can do no wrong. When's the last time you heard George W. admit to even the teeniest mistake, in Iraq or elsewhere? But he has admitted that the Hand of God guides him in all he does, and evidently that's beyond question.

And I just love that description of Kerry as "once-born," meaning (O my non-Baptist Brethren) that he's condemned to hell everlasting, where there's weeping & wailing & the gnashing of teeth.

The smugness of Olasky, the bland, prideful intolerance of the ivotevalues Pharisees ... this is the stuff of a false Christianity that my mama told me to turn away from when I was a youngster. But the ayatollahs of the Southern Baptist Convention want to have us all by the throats, and they intend to throttle the disagreement out of us. Because being twice-cooked, they don't have to justify themselves.