canadiancomment

Our opinions and advice to the world. Updated whenever we get around to it.

Anti-Christian Bigotry

Stanley Kurtz has a great piece about anti-Christian bigotry:
Hedges invokes the warnings of his old Harvard professor against “Christian fascists.” Supposedly, Christians carrying crosses and chanting the Pledge of Allegiance are the new Hitlers. The Left is loathe to treat Islamic terrorists as moral reprobates, but when it comes to conservative Christians, Hedges calls on his fellow liberals to renounce their relativist scruples and acknowledge “the power and allure of evil.”

Hedges needn’t worry. For a very long time now, secular liberals have treated conservative Christians as the modern embodiment of evil, the one group you’re allowed to openly hate. Although barely noticed by the rest of us, this poison has been floating through our political system for decades. Traditional Christians are tired of it, and I don’t blame them. That doesn’t justify rhetorical excess from either side. But the fact of the matter is that the Left’s rhetorical attacks on conservative Christians have long been more extreme, more widely disseminated, and more politically effective than whatever the Christians have been hurling back. And now that their long ostracism by the media has finally forced conservative Christians to demand redress, the Left has abandoned all rhetorical restraint.
This is a very good summation of the situation in the United States but it has very close parallels to the situation in Canada as well.

It has come to the point where if anyone states 'a Christian viewpoint' in public that politicians and the media jump all over it and claim that the opinion has no place in the public sphere. How we ever got to the point where only certain people's opinions were suitable for public expression is beyond me.

I've listened to countless people tell me that certain Christian positions on subjects are wrong and that they should have no influence on public policy. When I ask them why the Christian position shouldn't have any influence on public policy they spew out some nonsense about separation of church and state which is a funny position to take considering that no such thing exists in Canada.

Funny times we live in eh? I guess you know the world is twisting itself inside out when those who claim to believe in inclusion and acceptance can unleash so much hatred against one particular group of people.

Update @ 11:12pm

Christopher at The Kallini Brothers discussions this subject as well:
The logical premise to the current Leftist anti-religious crusade in the US is that not only should Christians and Jews not be allowed to hold public office, but that they shouldn’t even be allowed to vote, because morality should not provide the basis for voting decisions, if that morality comes from an organized religion, as opposed to, say, The Communist Manifesto, Gaia worship, or the collected works of Noam Chomsky.
He couldn't be any more right.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you continuing to post on this secularism subject. It’s a topic that the Liberals in Toronto use to great advantage. Here social-liberals, who are otherwise conservative, are still very worried about the CPC’s “Hidden agenda”. SSM and abortions are still very big issues. Because Toronto is a media center there’s more at stake then just Toronto ridings, there’s MSM influence/leverage.

Given Toronto’s large gay community we all have friends and/or relatives that are gay and SSM is getting mixed up with secularism. It’s easier to advocate SSM marriage around secularism then argue for it on it’s own merits. The Liberals, the NDP and the MSM are very clever in their positioning of secularism as a reason not to vote CPC. I find it very difficult to have a sensible conversation about secularism – even with otherwise sensible people. Because as you say Dana they believe “certain Christian positions on subjects are wrong and that they should have no influence on public policy”

Secularism is a red herring. IMO the only way for the CPC to ever win in Toronto is for government to get out of the marriage business entirely – only then would we be perceived to be fair and without fairness on SSM the CPC in Toronto is severly handicapped.

nomdenet

Anonymous said...

I think the reason why most secularists believe it's acceptable to be hateful towards that group of people (Christians) is because they see Christians being hateful towards certain groups like homosexuals. Christians are very intolerant in the name of their religion, which breeds intolerance in their opponents.

Neil McIntyre

Dana said...

I take it you never read the post I referred to?

Anonymous said...

Did the post you referred to say that Christians are wonderfully tolerant of all dissenting views? Because it's tripe, if it said that. No I didn't read it, but I suppose I shall go now and see what it has to say.

Neil McIntyre

Anonymous said...

OK, I just went and read the article I think you were talking about -- Stanley Kurtz's 'Scary Stuff'. It was an interesting read... But I still don't know why you asked whether I'd read the article in response to my post. So let's keep the conversation going, get back to me and I'll keep checking back here. Great blog though, keep it up!

Neil McIntyre

Dana said...

Neil:

The point of my post and Kurtz's article is that in the Western world the idea of a 'intolerant Christian' trying to impose their views of the world on others in nothing but a myth.

Take the issue of homosexuality. Christians disagree with it and have strong beliefs about it. The question is when was the last time a Christian congregation went on a rampage because of this issue? The worst I've ever seen are a few pathetic attempts at protesting against it.

I go to Church every week and not once have I ever heard people walking around saying how much they hate gay people and that they should go out attack gay people or their property. It doesn't happen.

As far as I'm concerned, and Kurtz as well based on the article, anti-Christian groups are much more hateful towards Christians than Christians are towards them.

In regards to homosexuality again Christians are very tolerant of it. Gay culture is all around us and as Christians we have a God given and legal right to disagree with it. The problem is that now Christians are being forced to embrace it in the name of tolerance and anti-Christian groups will stop at nothing to achieve that. Legal, political, or otherwise.

In short it is the anti-Christian folks who are imposing their beliefs on Christians and not the other way around.

Anonymous said...

To add to the mix of what you are saying Dana, my wife and are very right wing on most issues, but happen to be OK with SSM. Mostly because we have friends that are gay. Our Minister is also OK with it although we haven’t had a SSM in the Church. Interestingly, as I understand it – it would be up to the Minister to decide if he wanted to hold a SSM (versus the Presbytery or Head Office of the Church deciding)

On the other hand I have friends who are atheists who are dead set against SSM.

I find it ironic that as soon as I start spouting off right wing views and also mention that I’m religious that Liberal types will automatically assume I’m against SSM. Conversely, my atheist buddy will mention he thinks religion is nuts – and people will assume he’s for SSM.

I’m simply sick and tired of being branded that as a Christian that I hold certain views. Christians are just as capable of drawing their own conclusions as atheists.

But we all know what is really going here – it’s really back to Marx saying, “Religion is the opium of the masses”. The left hates to be forced to compete in the world of ideas and morality and if they can brand the CPC as being scary and having a hidden agenda – then that’s what they’ll do. We’ll just have to fight the left like we always have – one idea at a time. I find it’s the left that’s intolerant not most Christians that I know. Although there are exceptions I’m sure – I just haven’t happened to meet a tolerant leftie.

One of the best lines I’ve heard in awhile is the Chris Kallini post “I’ve seen more evidence that God exists than that Socialism works.”

nomdenet

Anonymous said...

I should add, that while the left is not tolerant of opposing ideas. They are very tolerant of intolerance when it’s life threatening; as in Islamofascists threatening to wipe out the Western world.
Why isn’t the left calling for these Islamist extremists to become secular? Instead the left is siding with them. Why? Because “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Weird.

nomdenet

Dana said...

I agree in that the intentions of the left is baffling in this regards. The left spends so much time demonizing Christians while at the same time embracing other causes that will surely turn against the left in time.

Bozo Galloway and the mayor of London (can't remember his name at the moment) are perfect examples of this bizarre alliance.

In some ways in makes me think that the left in general could care less about their usual talking points and instead, deep down, are intent on supporting any cause that is anti-Christian and/or anti-Western Civilization. I'm aware that this is certainly a gross simplification of things but I've spent a lot of time trying to figure it out and it just doesn't compute.