How many scandals will it take for right-wing Christians to rediscover humility?

[Ian David]

Mark Souder, You Broke My Heart
How many scandals will it take for right-wing Christians to rediscover humility?


WASHINGTON—A fall from grace of the sort experienced recently by Indiana's Mark Souder typically brings smiles to the faces of liberals weary of moralistic religious types who preach one thing and do another.

But I took no pleasure in Souder's resignation from Congress last week after it was revealed that the conservative evangelical Republican had an affair with a part-time staff member. I always thought he was the real deal, both serious and thoughtful in his approach to religious and political questions. I disagreed with him on many things, but not on everything.

I wrote about Souder for the first time in 1998 because he and Rep. Chaka Fattah, a liberal Democrat from Philadelphia, had pushed through legislation to help students from high-poverty schools go to college. I liked their forging a left-right alliance in a good cause at a moment when the nation was torn by the battle over Bill Clinton's impeachment. Souder said at the time: "Christ is concerned about the needy and the hungry and the powerless and the hurting." Good for him, I thought.

<snip>

Enough with pretending that personal virtue is connected with political creeds. Enough with condemning your adversaries, sometimes viciously, and then insisting upon understanding after the failures of someone on your own side become known to the world. And enough with claiming that support for gay rights and gay marriage is synonymous with opposition to family values and sexual responsibility.

More (from Conservative publication The New Republic):
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/75114/mark-souder-you-broke-my-heart

Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/peoplefor

[Kutjara]

1. Fundies don't do humility.

It's hard to be humble when you believe you're God's own special sunbeam.

[fl_dem]

10. LMAO!!!

"Gods own special sunbeam!" :rofl:

[Aleric]

14. +1

They have nearly infinite hubris. There is no hope of humility there.

[mzteris]

15. “You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image

when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” Anne Lamott

[Stuart G]

2. One more ....always... nt

[zipplewrath]

3. Right wing "faith" is arrogant

Truth is, the faith of the political right wing is arrogant. There is no "humility" to be "rediscovered". They "know the truth". They can put on the mask of humility, but underneath it is a kind of arrogance that is based in a perception of "self perfection". They attribute that perfection to the God they worship, but they adorn themselves with it by extension.

[arbusto_baboso]

4. Let's rephrase the question. When will Christians realize Jesus ain't coming back?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

[Warpy]

8. He promised to return before his own generation had passed away

and if being 2000 years late won't convince them it's a one way trip for everybody, don't expect another few years to do it.

[arbusto_baboso]

11. Precisely my point.

They are so deep into the self-delusion that JC his own self could come back and tell them they're all wrong, and they'd react exactly the way their type did the first time; they'd kill him for saying it.

[Ian David]

20. But since The Highlander is still alive.... n/t

[DURHAM D]

5. "Right wing Christians" - are not actually christians.

Therefore this is not a legitimate question.

[SpiralHawk]

7. Bingo

they are just wearing sheeple's clothing...

[dmallind]

9. Ah the good old No True Scotsman Fallacy does its ugly distancing dance yet again. NT

[DURHAM D]

16. I have no clue as to what you are trying to say. nt

[dmallind]

18. Then look it up. It's a well known phneomenon with countless references NT

[DURHAM D]

22. I know what it means.

Its not applicable.

Why don't you figure out what a true or real christian is?

You are a bully.

[dmallind]

24. Why don't you tell us what a real Christian is? Without it being a NTS that is

Because anything that says it's based on behavior or social activism or awareness is by definition a No True Scotsman. Christians can't claim special pleading that they alone are defined as people who are nice or positive regardless of what the nasty and negative people who also claim to be Christians do.

What makes your definition of what a real Christian is more truthful than Pat Robertson's or Eric Rudoplph's for that matter?

If holding Christians to the same standard as any other group is bullying in your eyes I don't think the problem is with those who want those standards applied, but rather with those who seek to avoid it.

[fl_dem]

12. "religious right" is an oxymoron! n/t

[Manifestor_of_Light]

25. Sorry, do not invoke the No True Scotsman fallacy.l

Christians are self-identified, period.

That includes good Catholic boy Adolf Hitler.

[Kerrytravelers]

6. Rediscover?

The ilk like Souder has never known humility.

I may not be a religious person, but someone who does good works for others I can respect. They already have humility. The GOP fundies? No. There is no humility. There is no praying in a closet. They put up huge billboards declaring their superiority.

[Donnachaidh]

13. Scandal is Fundie Porn -- they don't want it to stop.

It gives them a chance to *repent* and become good christians all over again. Geez -- it's a fundie rollercoaster fer krissakes!

[spooky3]

17. We should note that EJ Dionne wrote the piece from which you quoted.

[Ian David]

21. E. J. Dionne From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

E. J. Dionne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eugene Joseph "E.J." Dionne, Jr. (pronounced /diːˈɒn/; born April 23, 1952) is an American journalist and political commentator, and a long-time op-ed columnist for The Washington Post. He is also a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, a University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at Georgetown Public Policy Institute, a Senior Research Fellow at Saint Anselm College, and an NPR Commentator.

A frequent critic of the Bush Administration, Dionne writes from a liberal viewpoint. His published works include the influential 1991 bestseller Why Americans Hate Politics, which argued that several decades of political polarization was alienating a silent centrist majority, as well as They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate the Next Political Era (1996), Stand up Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and Politics of Revenge (2004), and Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right (2008).

Dionne is a columnist for Commonweal, a liberal Catholic publication.

Before becoming a columnist for the Post in 1993, he worked as a reporter for that paper as well as The New York Times.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._J._Dionne

[spooky3]

26. Yes, my point is that he was not credited in the OP and he should get the credit.

on edit: though his byline appears in the linked article, not everyone will click on the link.

The piece also appeared in the WaPo this AM.

[n2doc]

19. never

They don't call it "That old time religion" for nothing. Been going on since the first caveman told his "flock" -" Big sky god told me to (you know what) all the women here to spread his word around"

[Dark]

23. Have you ever heard of "The Family"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_%28Christian_political_organization%29

[damntexdem]

27. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

The scandals don't faze RW religious crazies because they are holy, thus untouched by any sins that they, or their heroes, commit.