Since the South Park Republican shtick has been losing steam post-election — let’s face it, there’s a limit to how many times one can recycle “be crude, be crass, be conservative” before you run out of material — it’s been interesting to note the growing trend of right-wing pundits proudly wearing their I ♥ Jesus badge with an international no symbol plastered over the heart and on the nose of everyone who dares to disagree with their dour opine of the Divinity. Led by patron un-saint Christopher Hitchens, both Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs and Allahpundit at Hot Air haveas of late bloviated loud and long about their cherished non-beliefs. The Man from Galilee is a goober and a ghost if He ever lived in the first place, all you braindead dinosaur disbelieving Christians want to see me burn, why should I believe in a God Who hates me and wants to see me burn even more than you do, why is He blaming me for being a sinner blah blah blah ad nauseum. Actually, the more they kvetch the clearer it becomes they indeed do believe in at least a God, namely Bacchus the god of wine’s brother Bozochus the god of whine.
Starting at the head of this tossing Christ aside trinity, why exactly is Hitchens so revered in conservative circles? His arguments are seldom anything than invective-laced vitriol drenched with contempt for everyone and everything not part and parcel to his puny militant atheism. The devotion he routinely receives parallels the instant acclaim a pop musician who publicly acknowledges Jesus receives in the Christian marketplace regardless of whether there’s anything actually there. It’s the illusion of credibility inferred by association with celebrity. In Hitchens’ case, it’s the “ooh — we done got us a former liberal who’s an intellectual!” factor. And this validates the truth in what fashion? The truth was already present before Hitchens stumbled by. And how much genuine validation is gleaned from the presence of one so utterly wrong about the reality of God, the reality of Christ crucified and risen?
Johnson is an odd case. A passionate defender of all things Israel, he has a burr on his bicycle seat over those who propose intelligent design spilling over into virulent disdain for believers and what they believe along with in Whom they believe. While he’s perfectly free to play the fool in this regard, he has apparently forgotten Israel’s most enthusiastic supporters are the selfsame evangelical Christians most likely to endorse the intelligent design theorem which rankles him so. Just because you’re not enthralled with your brother in arms’ uniform doesn’t make it wise to send him elsewhere.
As for Allahpundit, despite his never missing a chance to rip on Christ, Christians and Christianity it’s quite apparent he is a loyal lay person routinely attending services at the parish of St. Joe Btfsplk. The man routinely gets slapped upside the head by Eeyore telling him to lighten up with the gloom and doom. Exactly why Michelle Malkin is so enthralled with him to where she has the man as a lead writer on Hot Air escapes me. It can’t be anything he’s doing now, for if you look at his present-day output aside from sniping at believers and the One they believe in he’s nothing more than another third grader art project perpetrator. You know… cut and paste?
It’s not that I have the slightest interest in reading nothing but Christian commentators any more than I want to buy Christian toothpaste modeled after Aquafresh where in lieu of stripes the breath freshener part comes out of the tube shaped like icthuses. That said, is it asking too much (answer: apparently so) for those who aspire to be lead vocalists in the conservative chorus to show respect for the beliefs that are the foundation of many conservatives’ political and world view? Ripping on the reason someone is reading your latest tome isn’t the most prudent path for winning friends and influencing people.
It’s time to let the Christ-haters stew in their own bile. Alone. We don’t need them. We need love, compassion, forgiveness and an actively lived out faith in an active living Savior. We don’t need the Christ-haters. They need Christ even as we need Christ. The difference is we know it. And if we as part of the very fundamentals of life know this which they do not know, how much can we really learn from them? Far better to sit at the feet of Jesus and gain wisdom from His teachings. Far, far better.
