Beware of the Angry White Guys!

If you have spent anytime around Barnes & Noble you are most probably aware of the deluge of anti-God books that have come out over the past year. The biggest one of all of them has been Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion." But one of the other books caught my attention. Christopher Hitchens is a regular on news programs who is never afraid to offer up his opinions. Most recently he has come under attack for trashing Mother Teresa in a Newsweek article railing against her 'lack of faith' as if this proves her coming to reason that God does not really exist but then choosing to ignore reason and reality as defined by him. Well, a man who seems to have no shame in thinking he can interpret the mind of Mother Teresa as a weak and delusional old lady kind of intrigued me. So I decided to check out his book that has been included in the "New Atheist" category.

Well, I just recently finished Christopher Hitchens "God Is Not Great". And I must say it was a difficult read. Why, you might ask? For several reasons:

1. Hitchens does a fine job of drudging up the-worst-of-the-worst in religious history painting a very, very dark picture of all religions. Now I am a Christian and I will be the first to admit that the history of the "Christian" church is by no means perfect. In fact, it always seems that when the Bible is mixed with a little taste of power and a smattering of politics it inevitably turns ugly very quickly. But within the stream of Christian history, it is evident that there are many examples of those who use the Christian religion for their own purposes which pervert and distort the true message of Christ. This is NOT true Christianity nor is it the real message of Jesus Christ. But to be fair, the church all throughout history has always been filled with imperfect people. God forbid that anyone would lift me up on a pedestal as a shining example of a happy, shiny Christian. It is only by the grace of God that anything good comes out of my life or out of the stream that we call Christian history.

2. Hitchens is HORRIBLE when it comes to interpreting the meaning of Scripture. For being recognized as one of the most important intellectuals that USA has to offer, he most certainly did not wrestle with the great intellectual minds of the Christian faith but instead took easy shots at the most controversial figures who represent the fringe of Christianity, such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Before you spew your misguided and thoughtless interpretations of Scripture why not at least wrestle with the intellectual minds within the Christian faith and not just the ones who have been dead, gone and buried for decades or the ones today who are hardly any challenge at all. I would love to see a man like Hitchens dialogue with John Stott, Scot McKnight or Ravi Zacharias. I would dare even to say that you would not even last a round with Rick Warren without being touched by the love of God that radiates from him.

3. It is very difficult to read someone who is so full of himself. Intellectualism is Hitchens god and he is drinking deeply from that well. And as a person like this becomes consumed with himself it is easy for him to look very condescendingly down upon the those whom he considers "ignorant". That is one of the major roadblocks that I continually bumped into in reading this book. As much as I wanted to try and understand his line of reasoning, I found it very difficult to get beyond his egoism and condescension.

4. Where is all the anger coming from?!?! Hitchens seems almost violently angry at God, at the Christian faith and at all faiths for that matter. So much so, that even his subtitle declares that "religion poisons everything". Why the temper tantrum? Where is all this repressed rage coming from? There are moments within the book that his anger seems so toxic that, if he had his way, the endorsement of widespread persecution of all those of any faith would tickle his fancy! He almost borders on becoming the very things he hates within his dark portraits of religious history - intolerant, destructive, and oppressive.

5. It seems to me that as we continue to emerge into this post-modern era, the constructs of modernity are crumbling. With this is the enlightenment idea that the field of science is the end-all of true intelligence and intellectualism. But as other 'gods' within society emerge, the common people lose their trust in the modern structure of intelligence and embrace the new gods of a post-modern culture. This alone would cause those who believe strongly in enlightenment thinking to react violently as their ship is sinking fast. With this in mind, it is important to note that all truth is God's truth if we truly believe that He is the creator of all things. So all theological truth AS WELL AS scientific truth and psychological truth ultimately come from the mind of God. It is we who discover what God Himself has already set in motion.

So what it all comes down to is that this book is not great. It is the tirade of an angry man who is full of himself. He looked at the dark underbelly of religion but I would dare him to explore all of the good that is happening as genuine people of faith live out their beliefs. I would dare him to actually dialogue with respected people within faith communities who hold to an opposite view of Hitchens. I would dare him to spend some time in Africa with Compassion International. I would dare him to see the good that is coming out of churches that tend to be the major influences within American Christianity - Saddleback Community Church, Willow Creek Community Church and Mars Hill Bible Church. DO NOT watch "television Christianity" and label us according to the stereotype they feed into. I love the fact that at the beginning of Hitchen's book, he admits to having Christian friends who tell him he is a "seeker"! That lets me know that Hitchens does have people around him who are being an example of Christ's love and having just a little bit of fun goading him on in his scrooge-like attitude towards the religious! If Jesus can turn someone like Paul inside-out then surely it is only a matter of time when Hitchens will become one of the most dynamic and outstanding defenders of the Christian faith!

Shut Your Mouth and Let Them Speak!

I found it interesting that apparently the Christian community is upset at comedian Kathy Griffin's remarks about what she said at the Emmy Awards. Below is an article about her comments and the reaction of a Christian theatre company below.

Comedienne Kathy Griffin Scolded by Christian Theater Group
By Ray McDonald Washington24 September 2007
Kathy Griffin A Christian theater group has scolded Kathy Griffin for her off-color remarks Emmy Award acceptance speech.
The Miracle Theater of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee spent $90,440 on a full-page advertisement in the September 17 national edition of USA Today.
Proclaiming "enough is enough," the ad took the comedienne to task for her speech, in which she said that "a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus." She went on to hold up her Emmy, made an off-color remark about Jesus, and proclaimed "this award is my God now!"
Kathy Griffin won her Emmy for her Bravo reality show My Life on the D-List.
The Miracle Theater's ad reads "We at the Miracle Theater consider it an honor to stand for Jesus today. We may never win a national award. We may never be household names. We may never be seen in Hollywood. Although others may choose to use their national platform to slander our God, we are honored as professional entertainers to stand for Christ."
General manager Russ Hollingsworth said group members were offended by jokes about Jesus. "When word reached our cast that a Hollywood celebrity had stood before TV cameras and said such vulgar things about Christ, they were incensed. It's just not OK anymore to mock Christians and Jesus with impunity."
In a statement released through her publicist, the 46-year-old comedienne said she meant the remark not as a slight on Jesus Christ, but as a spoof of celebrities who routinely thank Jesus during awards acceptance speeches. "Am I the only Catholic left with a sense of humor?," she said.
Griffin's speech also drew fire from the Catholic League, an anti-defamation group which called upon the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to "denounce Griffin's obscene and blasphemous comment" at the September 9 ceremony.
The E! Channel chose to edit Griffin's speech when it aired the taped event on September 15.

Now I find it very, very interesting that an entertainer has FINALLY come out honestly about the achievement of her award. I honestly would agree with her statement that Jesus really didn't have a lot to do with her award. What has been more disturbing to me within the entertainment culture are those who put out degrading, misogynistic, crude, racist, egotistical, profane art and then have the audacity to stand before a national audience and proceed to thank God for their award with a sincere tear gleaming in the corner of their eye. So let me be the one Christian that say THANK YOU KATHY GRIFFIN for finally coming out as an intellectually honest entertainer!

Who are we to demand of our very much non-Christian entertainers that they show us any honor?!?! Yes, I know what you are thinking! But they would never say that about the Jews or the Muslims. True. In fact, we as a country seemed to have a little bit of fun (I know I found it delicious) watching Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being schooled by the administration and students of Columbia University. But I would dare them to try the same thing in Iran. Those students would discover the same fate of the apparently non-existent homosexuals in Iran. I concede that this is a true fact: Christianity is an easy target. But there are 2 very valid reasons we are such an easy target: one factual and one Biblical. First of all, I am willing to admit that our "community" has an over abundance of freaks that are like magnets for negative attention. It is like that nerd in Junior High that at times you feel sorry for but every now and then you come to realize that the kid needs to be pounded so he won't be so daw-gone annoying! Or better yet you tease him just a little bit because his over-reaction is pricelessly hysterical. Come on, you know the kid I am talking about. And there are many in the "Christian community" that resemble that twerp.

Now biblically, Am also reminded of a little beatitude that Jesus closed with that went: "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:10-12

Hmmmmm. This is a very interesting approach to insults that we have seem to be forgetting about! Why do we act surprised when the world acts like the world! It is time we take Jesus' advice and rejoice when the world starts to insult us! So bring it on Kathy! Say what you want because it gives us the opportunity to share in the insults and persecution of Christ himself. Thank Jesus that he did not act indignant and flabbergasted when his executioners came calling. He did not take out an add in the Jerusalem Times demanding respect for what he was trying to do. And how do we think we advance the cause of Christ by acting this way? We are to be people who rejoice in insults and persecution. We are to turn the other cheek in the face of persecution. And we are to love our enemies. I really think the kingdom of Christ would expand so much quicker if we actually followed his teaching particularly in the Sermon on the Mount.

So let's PU-LEASE stop acting as if we have rights that the world must respect us! Let Kathy speak! Let Christopher Hitchens say whatever he wants about God not being great and Billy Graham being a fraud. Let those San Franciscans take mock photos of the Last Supper. Let Richard Dawkins rail against us as delusional. It is about time the American church deals with some persecution and allow their faith to be tested through it all! Don't get mad. Rejoice and be glad! You're actually in real good company. Let's just take it on the chin like those before us and hope that our reaction will not reinforce stereotypes but actually break through the hearts of those who are hardened against God. Remember, these people are NOT THE ENEMY! We are called to love them regardless of their attitude towards us. Let their words be more of a reflection of their character than in how silly we look when we react to their comments.