This post is not about people who are taunting Christians or a "Taunting Christians for Dummies" textbook.  This is about Christians who taunt.  Every now and again, there is this suspicion raised about the Christian Right and their tactics.  Most recently, a question was raised in the Comments after a post by TheraP asking whether the Christianity of people was favored by the Ashcroft/Gonzalez Justice Department.  This was followed by a suggestion that the personalities of religious people would favor obedience without questioning.  The Justice Department preferrerd people who would follow orders without hesitation or question.

There is another aspect to these Christians from the Right, and I would like to offer the proposition that there are plenty of Christians on the Left, as well as Christians right smack dab in the middle.  But the Christians on the Right are the ones getting all the press.  They are the ones taking all the press.  So how did they come to such prominence?  By being bullies, is what I would theorize and I hope people will comment as to their impressions.

Taunting Christians are the ones who challenge the faith of another by demanding that person agree to their propositions.  Failure to agree suggests one's faith is not strong enough.  It also implies that their faith is stronger.  It demands people follow their lead, or these poseurs will declare the faith of the other as insincere.  It is a painful, shameful place to be if one gives their propositions any credence.  One has to be a strong person to resist their pressure.  One has to know beyond any doubt that they have faith, and that the challenge is immaterial.  One has to be strong in that moment to defend oneself, or at the least, protect oneself from these attacks on ones morality.  It is a serious dilemna for people who strive to be good and practice a Chirstian life.

We have all seen the e-mails at one time or another, an insidious bit about how, if one fails to share the e-mail, one's faith is weak.  We have all witnessed the extremes of the Pro-Life movement in their crusade to save the unborn, going so far as to blow up a clinic or shoot and kill a doctor who practices abortion.  These people are reactive to the taunts of the Right Christians.

There is the question about whether these taunting Christians are, in fact, Christians, but I can see how proposing the question would make me as they are.  At the same time, I believe that we should answer the challenges so as not to leave these people with the appearance of an upper hand.  The MSM does enough to promote the illusion that these people have an upper hand, but one has to question what makes the media an expert on the issue, and who really are the experts on Christianity anyway?  Does one need to study two thousands years of Christianity to be an expert, or is it all in the Bible?  I could go on for many pages about that question, but rather then do that, I would like to hear how others perceive these taunting Christians, if I have accurately described them, and whatever other comments might arise, because TPM is not at all predictable in what responses and reactions one might receive. 

[Third post for the day.  Sorry, I was away for the weekend and had withdrawals.]

The Right all seems to have two assertions. 

#1 - America is great!  We are #1.  The best!  No one comes close. 

#2 - FDR screwed up everything!!!

Okay, if FDR came to power in 1933, unless the folks making these statement are pushing 90 years old, none of them ever took a single breath on this planet BEFORE FDR screwed up everything.  So, was America #1 BEFORE FDR, or did FDR and his programs make it so?  I'll let the comments answer this question.

The TPM article memorializing Jack Kemp, Republican Vice-Presidential nominee with Bob Dole provided an very interesting historical footnote:

<blockquote>He co-founded the AFL Players Association in 1964 and was elected president of the union for five terms.</blockquote>

It just seems like that needed to be repeated.  This Republican was a founder of the players union, and then spend his political career with a party pledged to destroy unions.  I guess that would make him the perfect Reagan recreation, since Ronald Reagan was a member of the Screen Actors' Guild and benefitted greatly from those ties to organized labor as well. 

If you think this makes no sense, try another definition of Republican then you would give a reasonable person.  As Obama was fond of saying, the Republicans are about the ownerhsip society, and "you're on your own".  Another way to put this is, I got mine, go get "your own"!!!  So even though it seems hypocritical to deny others the benefits that brought you your wealth, for Republicans it makes perfect sense, go get your own!  Jack Kemp founded a union and was its president for no less then five terms, but that's no reason he would support unions once he got into office.  So can one then argue, if unions brought wealth to Reagan and Kemp, why exactly are they a bad idea now?!? 

When I saw the bit on Pete Seegar here on TPM, and how tens of thousands of his fans were cheering the name of Obama, I thought it was time to address the accusation that the neo-liberals are fascists.  Because the Right is so worried we have taken over their corner of the playground, they've taken to calling progressives and liberals fascists.  So, if we are all screaming the President's name, does that make us fascists?

In short, NO!  Fascist like, maybe.  There were those rallies for the fascist dictators where tens of thousands chanted in unison, and, yes, we have to admit it was like that.  We can even, if we really stretch our minds admit it makes people who do not agree with all the cheering an shouting uncomfortable.  So, why is it different?

The first reason I can think of is that no one expects the police or military to be lining the walls and beating their billy clubs to the chanting.  If they were around, it might make this crowd nervous, actually.  Which is not to say we are not supportive of the troops, mind you.  Vietnam was forty years ago.  Most of us have little or no memory of living during that period and most of the rest of us have moved on from the jeering about baby killers and all of that.  However, I would suspect there may be a few Vietnam vets who have not moved on that are in the crowd, and they are welcome, just the same.

A second reason is that this crowd is fickle.  If Obama was to veer to sharply from the agenda we favor, it would turn on him in an instant.  Not saying he's pure liberal, or anything like that, but he's close enough and giving us more then we've seen in many. many years, so we're still in favor, but ... I'm just saying, and you all know it's true.  We do not chant about anything until we know what it all means.  No one is proteting too much taxes during the largest tax cut in American history.  That's for Zom-Bushes and the like.  We know what is happening right up to the moment we had our tickets punched for the concert.

If the Right is nervous, welcome to the world we lived in for the past eight years, except, without the police on our side in any large numbers, you need not fear being arrested because there's a convention near your homes.  And if hundreds of thousands of you gather for a protest, you will not be forgotten from the news cycle within days of the event.  In fact, you've already gotten days of coverage BEFORE your events, for what was pretty much a non-event.  We protest in those kinds of numbers without even trying, without the MSM lifting even a little finger to announce something like that was pending.

Liberal fascists?  Absurd!  If you want to know what a fascist is, read my blog posts from last year.  We have met the fascists and they are you.  Sorry for your loss, but you lost.  It's too bad you're so mad, but you lost.  At this point, this nation knows we need to pull together to get this country back on track and relying on some fantasy private sector to bring it all together for the rest of us is ludicrous on its face.  You're going to need to let that go, at least until we're running on all eight cylinders again. Then, once we're tuned up, you can return to your previous scheduled programming and we can do it all again.  But today, it's all O-BA-MA.  Say it with me now, O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA !!!!!  :-{)>