What the hell happened to Christianity? (written by the son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker)

[WilliamPitt]

Bakker, Brown: What the hell happened to Christianity?
POSTED: 10:07 a.m. EST, December 14, 2006

By Jay Bakker and Marc Brown
Special to CNN

Editor's note: Jay Bakker, son of former Praise The Lord leaders Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner, is minister of Revolution Church and subject of a new documentary series, "One Punk Under God," on Sundance Channel. Marc Brown is a Revolution staff member.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- What the hell happened? Where did we go wrong? How was Christianity co-opted by a political party? Why are Christians supporting laws that force others to live by their standards? The answers to these questions are integral to the survival of Christianity.

While the current state of Christianity might seem normal and business-as-usual to some, most see through the judgment and hypocrisy that has permeated the church for so long. People witness this and say to themselves, "Why would I want to be a part of that?" They are turned off by Christians and eventually, to Christianity altogether. We can't even count the number of times someone has given us a weird stare or completely brushed us off when they discover we work for a church.

So when did the focus of Christianity shift from the unconditional love and acceptance preached by Christ to the hate and condemnation spewed forth by certain groups today? Some say it was during the rise of Conservative Christianity in the early 1980s with political action groups like the Moral Majority. Others say it goes way back to the 300s, when Rome's Christian Emperor Constantine initiated a set of laws limiting the rights of Roman non-Christians. Regardless of the origin, one thing is crystal clear: It's not what Jesus stood for.

His parables and lessons were focused on love and forgiveness, a message of "come as you are, not as you should be." The bulk of his time was spent preaching about helping the poor and those who are unable to help themselves. At the very least, Christians should be counted on to lend a helping hand to the poor and others in need.

More: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/13/bakker.brown.commentary/index.html

[stopbush]

1. Better move this into the religion forum.

It was already locked in LBN earlier today. (It certainly wasn't a LBN story).

[WilliamPitt]

2. Well, it isn't LBN

so that makes sense.

[meegbear]

3. Somebody thought it was ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2653076

[BlueJazz]

4. Boy..In this case, the Apple does fall far from the tree.

I like the Dude....and this coming from an Atheist.

[zreosumgame]

5. I am looking forward to seeing that special

[KoKo]

6. I've wondered if Jim and Tammy weren't the most "sincerely religious"

of that bunch. They struck me as opportunists but not like the Fundie Right Wingers that replaced them.

At the time it was thought it was a fight between warring Christian Evangelists that brought them down.

Glad to see that their son "gets it." Maybe what happened to his parents had something to do with that...maybe not...Maybe he just "saw the light" on his own.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

7. I wouldn't expect anything less from a child of Tammy Faye

She is a wonderful person... messed up for sure, but very loving.

[ronnykmarshall]

9. Tammy's great.

Rent "The Eyes of Tammy Faye", she's a wonderful woman.

[murielm99]

10. I love that movie. nt

[AlCzervik]

8. i saw his reality series on Sundance, hate to call it that but for lack of a better

word, anyhow it was interesting.

[DeSwiss]

11. Yeah I was surprised about him too....

You can check out a pretty good article about him at Radar....

http://www.radaronline.com/features/2006/12/bakker.php">Empire of the Son

[Kelly Rupert]

12. What happened to Christianity?

In the West, the correct answer would be the shift of the capital of the Roman empire (and later Ostrogothic kingdom) to Ravenna, and the subsequent creation of the medieval papacy to fill the city's power vacuum.

In the East, the correct answer would be the early ecuminical councils (such as Nicaea), in which heterodox viewpoints were purged.

That is all.

[knitter4democracy]

21. The Western and Eastern churches were one at that point.

The seven ecumenical councils covered both the western and eastern parts of the church, since it was all one at that point. The split didn't happen until 1054.

As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I find most people really have no idea what our theology or practice are. Yes, there have been some bad parts, evil parts, to our history, but there's a lot of good, too.

[jus_the_facts]

13. Because it's a complete CROCK O' SHIT...

...that's why...his parents proved it yet again! :eyes:

[stellanoir]

14. Who'd of thunk it. . .

I often think of how many of my friends and I thought back in the 80's, when Jay's folks, Robertson, and Falwell started garnering national attention, "yikes this has got to be a marginal fringe movement and a total fluke and circus side show."

Now decades later, I sit here in one of the deepest "blue" states with two mega fundi churches in two neighboring towns, wondering. . . how the heck did that happen. . .?

One of them even has a marquee where they post absurd messages like, "Our sundays are better than Dairy Queen's." My kid and I laugh about them all the time.

The message that drove me to contact my folks' Congregational minister (I'm a spiritualist) read, "Christ, he hung in there for you."

I called Rev. "Denial." No joke. . . that's how his name is pronounced though it isn't spelled that way. He looks as though he is out of central casting. That's as funnily ironic as Cardinal Sin from the Phillipines was.

Anyhoo I said to Reverend "Denial", "excuse me. . .is it my imagination or is that quotation in unbelievably poor taste?" He concurred and started semi-bitching about the cluelessness of the fundies. I do like Reverend "Denial."

But seriously, this is even more deliciously ironic. That the fruit of Tammy Faye's loins would actually cut through the BS of the utter hypocrisy and fallacies of the Christian right.

Divine justice at it's quirkiest. :)

Good on 'im.

[Generic Other]

15. Uh the Bible was overwritten by irony?

Or was that mascara?

[Lex]

16. K n' R

:kick:

[longship]

17. It was co-opted by money-hungry idiots like your parents, Jay.

That enabled certain religious lunatics on the right wing political spectrum (e.g., Falwell, Robertson, Dobson, LaHaye, and a few others) to make in-roads into the already corrupt fundementalist organizations. They took over the Republican party from the precinct level up, to the point where the entire Republican party became a surrogate for the same corrupt evangelical craptrap that your parents were so prominent in beginning.

[ftr23532]

18. folks like this...

are at a http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2894588&mesg_id=2894588">pretty big part of what's happened (seriously, check out their notion of who the "poor" are).

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Ha, ha, ha.

Really? What happened to the good old days when Megachurches were a family business?

LOL!

[Cha]

20. Good Question,

Jay Bakker! Sounds like you learned some good lessons along the way.

[lonestarnot]

22. Does this mean they are waking up William Pitt?

[BoneDaddy]

23. Amen

Way to go brotha.

[BlooInBloo]

24. Clutch the pearls! Christians blaming their own religion for its bad name????

All who call themselves "christians" could learn a lesson. Rather than bitching and whining at deserved criticism, address that criticism.

[mod mom]

25. I heard an interview with Bakker (I think on Terri Gross) and he seemed

light years away from his parents. His ministry was aimed at more of a punk rock segment than white suburbanites with dollars to donate.

[Beelzebud]

26. Yes because punk rock and christianity go together so well!

And don't kid yourself. He's targeting white suburbanites with dollars to donate, that happen to like punk rock.