Author: Dave Burchett

Sorry about the late post today. I had to email Pat Robertson to revoke his speaking privileges.

So far…so good.

Perhaps I need to copy Mayor Ray Nagin on that no speak, no headlines directive. Yesterday the controversial Mayor of New Orleans had to issue an apology for his remarks on Martin Luther King Day. “I apologize to any resident in this city that may have been offended,” the mayor said. “That was not my intention.” Nagin seemed a bit surprised at the uproar over his comments that New Orleans would remain “chocolate” (predominately African-American) as the city rebuilds from Hurricane Katrina. Explaining his remarks today, Nagin said, “Unfortunately, everything I say today is scrutinized to the nth degree.”

I don’t understand how Mr.Nagin or Mr.Robertson or any celebrity can be surprised about their remarks being scrutinized. While I have been more than a little dismayed at some of Pat Robertson’s shoot from the hip comments I do respect that he takes ownership, apologizes, and seeks forgiveness. But I am hoping and praying that Robertson dials down the rhetoric a bit. He seems to have strayed from trying to communicate biblical truth onto the thin ice of interpreting God’s actions and intent. I believe that Pat Robertson means well. But I would remind him (and myself in the process) of the following truth.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
       neither are your ways my ways,”
       declares the LORD.

  “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
       so are my ways higher than your ways
       and my thoughts than your thoughts.

  As the rain and the snow
       come down from heaven,
       and do not return to it
       without watering the earth
       and making it bud and flourish,
       so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

  so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
       It will not return to me empty,
       but will accomplish what I desire
       and achieve the purpose for which I sent it  (Isaiah 55 NIV)

If I could figure out God then He would be a small God indeed. He is not. So I will be content to dwell on the last part of that passage and attempt to proclaim the Word of God to a hurting world, knowing that it will achieve His purpose.

I also respect Mayor Nagin for immediately stepping up to the plate and seeking forgiveness. It was my contention from day one that such an action from Joel and Victoria Osteen would have tempered the backlash considerably. Mr.Nagin also judged  the intent of the Almighty (see yesterday’s post) and he confessed that was inappropriate. I was mostly saddened by the fact that the comment came on a day when the desire to remain “chocolate” or “vanilla” is most unseemly. Martin Luther King’s famous dream was filling the airwaves even as Nagin made his comments.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

If I may add my dream to the famous words of Dr.King. I have a dream that the body of Christ will someday become the hospital for racial healing. That Sunday mornings will not have “chocolate” houses of worship and “vanilla” houses of worship. I have a dream that we will come to truly understand the words of the Apostle John.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

There won’t be a “chocolate” and “vanilla” section in heaven so we might as well start making the body of Christ a “swirl.” It would be good for us and great for America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Associated Press reported that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin believes that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that “God is mad at America” and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting. “Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it’s destroyed and put stress on this country,” Nagin, who is black, said at a ceremony for Martin Luther King Day.

I had addressed this question in an earlier blog but I decided to repost it with a bit of polishing since Mr. Nagin has reopened the topic. So here we go…

Is God judging New Orleans for it’s rather obvious bent toward debauchery? Should we cancel all travel plans to San Francisco and Las Vegas just in case they are next? Some Christians seem to think so. A group called Repent America appears fairly confident that God spoke when Katrina ravaged New Orleans.

“Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city,” stated Repent America director Michael Marcavage in a statement. “From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence,’ New Orleans was a city that opened its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same.”

Rev. Bill Shanks, pastor of a New Orleans church, has warned people that unless Christians in New Orleans took a strong stand against such things as local abortion clinics, the yearly Mardi Gras celebrations, and the annual event known as “Southern Decadence” — an annual six-day “gay pride” event scheduled to be hosted by the city — God’s judgement would be felt.

“New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion — it’s free of all of those things now,” Shanks says. “God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there — and now we’re going to start over again.”

The New Orleans pastor is adamant. Christians, he says, need to confront sin. “It’s time for us to stand up against wickedness so that God won’t have to deal with that wickedness,” he says.

Messrs.’s Nagin and Marcavage and Shanks all seem pretty sure about the wrath of God falling on the Big Easy.

I have a definite and authoritative biblical position on this issue.

I don’t know.

When Jesus was asked about some tragedies that had occurred He did not establish blame…

About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. Jesus responded, “Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you too will die. And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you too will die.”   Luke 13:1–5  The Message

If Jesus had a chance to establish blame and did not do it then I am going to be extremely careful about deciding whether God judged New Orleans or South Texas or Florida.

I would agree totally with Rev. Shanks that Christians need to confront sin. But I would suggest that we need to gently confront sin from other Christians as well. We should never be surprised when sinners sin! Jesus wasn’t. He reserved His condemnation for the religious. Would God be more inclined to take out New Orleans because of it’s hedonism or would He be more likely to judge my city of Dallas for it’s materialism and greed and lack of caring for the disadvantaged? How can I know? Perhaps a Holy God is more upset in how we have squandered great wealth than in how some behave in New Orleans. Is neglecting the widows and the poor less egregious to God than Mardi Gras? I am not smart enough to know. But Scripture seems pretty clear we should be taking care of those in need both physically and spiritually.

There was another time when Jesus could have let us know how judgement is dispensed here on earth.

Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”  Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.   John 9:1–3  The Message

I would suggest it is time we stop looking for someone to blame. I am not going to try to figure out if God is judging New Orleans or Florida. According to Scripture God sends rain on the red states and the blue states. Okay…that is a bit of a paraphrase from Matthew 5 but you get the point. Instead we should look for what God can do. What God can do is use the tragedy of natural disasters to show His love through His people. We are His hands and feet on this planet. If we are the body that is what we should be doing. What I can do is ask the question what can I do? We are too often asking the wrong question when we look to find blame. God can decide who deserves to be judged without my help or yours or Mayor Nagins.

 

 

Three oddly related news stories captivated me last week. While driving from Dallas to scenic Stillwater, Oklahoma I digested news reports about Roger Keith Coleman, William Harrison, and Samuel Alito. Only the last name may immediately register with you. My radio journey began with the Alito story.

I listened to Judge Samuel Alito being grilled about his views on abortion. Senator Dick Durbin incredibly and misleadingly said,  “I’m concerned that many people will leave this hearing with a question as to whether or not you could be the deciding vote that would eliminate the legality of abortion, that would make it illegal in this country.” Durbin knows that overruling Roe would return the decision to states, not make abortion illegal in this country. His comments were misleading at best, outright deceptive at worst. When they began to play clips of Senator Ted Kennedy lecturing Alito on his poor choices earlier in life (does he have a mirror in his house?) I became concerned about my blood pressure so I changed the station.

The next station was talking about the case of Roger Keith Coleman. Coleman was found guilty of the 1981 rape and murder of his sister-in-law and was executed by the state of Virginia in 1992. Doubt about Coleman’s guilt had caused the state to order DNA testing to see if the state had executed an innocent man. The reaction from the anti-death penalty crowd was swift.

“I think it would be the final straw for a lot of people who are on the fence on the death penalty,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.

CNN.com reported on January 12th that, “a finding of innocence would have been explosive news and almost certainly would have had a powerful effect on the public’s attitude toward capital punishment. Death penalty opponents have argued for years that the risk of a grave and irreversible mistake by the criminal justice system is too great to allow capital punishment.”

Having had enough of that I changed again (by the way, DNA testing did prove that Coleman was guilty)

Radio talk show host Laura Ingraham was discussing a “Nighltline” interview with the self proclaimed abortionist from Arkansas, Dr.William Harrison. Harrison, now 70 years old, says he has performed at least 10,000 abortions — and possibly double that amount.

“I consider the mother’s life to be much more important than that little blob of tissue, and that’s all it is at that time,” he said. The doctor had conceded that this little blob has a beating heart by the 29th day and by 40 days a brain that’s directing the functions of all the major organs. The doctor still made it clear that he is totally comfortable with killing this “notion” of life.

Elsewhere during the interview Harrison unbelievably (and obviously intentionally) stated that he believes the women whose fetuses he aborts are themselves “born again,” because young women who thought their lives were ruined by an unwanted pregnancy have regained control of their lives. “When you end what the woman considers a disastrous pregnancy, she has literally been given her life back,” he proudly stated.

Thanking the good Lord for iPods I turned the news reports off but I could not turn off my mind. I shared the deep concern about the possibility of ending the life of an innocent person with capital punishment. Later that evening I did some research on the perception of Christians who are pro-life and also support capital punishment. This article posted at beliefnet.com was typical.

“If Christian anti-abortion activists were consistent and truly “pro-life,” they’d demand an end to the soulless assembly line that shuttles the poor–innocent and guilty alike–to death row. It’s easy to fight for a cuddly baby you’ll never actually see, but what about a corn-rowed, gold-toothed homeboy, or a skinhead with Confederate flag tattoos? You can scream “murderer!” at a women entering an abortion clinic, get filmed for the nightly news, and still get to the office on time. It takes years and real sacrifice to keep “the meek” from getting the chair. Some Christian pity and compassion for these hard cases who may be guilty of lots of things but not of what they were convicted of would go a long way in convincing others to take seriously the beliefs that Christian activists claim to espouse.”  (Debra Dickerson. Beliefnet February 28, 2000).

I will confess that I have struggled deeply with the issue of the state taking lives.  However, I believe that the comparison of totally innocent babies and possibly innocent criminal defendants is truly comparing apples and oranges. But the question of consistency is important.

Writer James Wood wrote, “for the truth is that, when the state kills, it is not some murderous abstraction but actual human beings doing the killing. People design the chair or manufacture the chemicals, judges sentence, pro-life governors refuse appeals, and people press the switch. When the event is over, the hangman goes home to his bed.  (James Wood New Republic Feb 21, 2000)

I would suggest that if I am inconsistent as a pro-life advocate then I can certainly reverse that argument to pro-choice supporters. If the concern is for innocent life on death row not to be ended then how can a baby who has done no wrong be killed? The only comfortable way is to call them a blob of tissue and convince yourself of that abstraction. I would also assert that abortion is likewise not some murderous abstraction but human beings ending the life of a baby.. And at the end of the day the doctor goes home to bed.

So many advocates argue that people like California gang founder Tookie Williams had too much to offer and should not have been executed. I am incredulous that the inconsistency of this argument goes unchallenged. We have no idea what the millions of aborted babies had to offer. I remember a political cartoon with a person on their knees crying out for God to send someone to find a cure for AIDS, cancer, and heart disease. The voice from heaven answers, “I did…but you aborted them.” Perhaps some feel that is a trite argument but we truly do not know what we have wrought in the name of our personal rights.

One of the strategies of anti-death penalty websites is to use Scripture gleaned from Christian sites to support their position. One common passage comes from Proverbs.

Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die. Don’t try to avoid responsibility by saying you didn’t know about it. For God knows all hearts, and he sees you. He keeps watch over your soul, and he knows you knew! And he will judge all people according to what they have done. (Proverbs 24 NLT)

I believe this passage addresses the children of God who don’t have a voice. It really is up to us as the body of Christ to be their voice. I agree that too many people on death row have not had a fair voice. God invites us in this passage and throughout the Bible to represent those around our neighborhood and around the world who do not have a voice. That could be the man or woman on death row. Or the victims of genocide in Sudan. Perhaps children suffering with AIDS in Africa. And for the unborn in America who are killed too often merely for convenience.

To those who are pro-choice I am prepared to make the following deal. I am willing to be consistent and truly “pro-life” in my views. I will accept that the death penalty should go away to make sure no innocent will die. Will you concede that abortion should stop for you to be consistent as well?

 

 

 

If you ever need a time for extended reflection I recommend the drive from Stillwater, Oklahoma to Dallas. I finished that trek yesterday and I had much time to listen to music and think. The group “Casting Crowns” has recently been resonating with me. Let me take that a step farther. Their lyrics have been kicking my butt all over the field.

One song in particular stuck in my mind, heart, and soul during that long drive. The song is called “Stained Glass Masquerade” and the title says it all. This song speaks powerfully to the all too human desire to be phony at church so that the others (who are also acting phony) will not think less of us. To have an impact in this culture we have to be genuine, real, authentic. Young men and women have a phony detector that is tuned to pick up the smallest deceit. I am tired of the phoniness. I am tired of the masks we wear. Just reading the lyrics will not give you the total power of this song but it will give you a taste. 

Is there anyone that fails
Is there anyone that falls
Am I the only one in church today feelin’ so small

Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they’ll soon discover
That I don’t belong

So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the part again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them

Chorus

Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone who’s been there
Are there any hands to raise
Am I the only one who’s traded
In the altar for a stage

The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart

But would it set me free
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be

Would your arms be open
Or would you walk away
Would the love of Jesus
Be enough to make you stay

Wow. Thank you to “Casting Crowns” for writing and performing such an honest and transparent song. The message strikes straight to my heart. The body of Christ (the church) must be real to work as it was designed. It is up to you and to me to drop the stained glass masquerades and have the courage to be transparent. Our mission is pretty simple. The Apostle John outlined a strategy that could spark a revival in this land.

• Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Carly Simon sang “We Haven’t Got Time for the Pain” in 1974. Thirty-one-years later we haven’t got time for the pain of trying to be happy plastic people under shiny plastic steeples. I am committed to dropping the stained glass masquerades. Any one interested in jumping on board?

 

Here is one of my core principles. You never want to have USA Today lead a story about you with the word “embattled”. For example, in todays issue the paper reports that “embattled author James Frey defended his best selling memoirs on Larry King’s CNN talk show Wednesday.” Embattled and having to talk to Larry King? How much can one man endure? 

Frey is the author of the mega bestselling book “A Million Little Pieces”. As I type these words the book is the number one seller on Amazon.com. The Barnes and Noble website review called Frey,  “Prodigiously talented, poetic, unflinchingly honest, and relentlessly present. A lot to live up to? Not if you’re James Frey, whose memoir Pat Conroy calls “the War and Peace of addiction.” As Frey will unapologetically assert, he’s an Alcoholic and a Drug Dealer and a Criminal.” (caps his).

But a problem has arisen with that little “unflinchingly honest” phrase in the B&N review. It appears that Frey has been a bit less than honest with some of his recollections. It seems that the investigative website thesmokinggun.com has published an extensive expose accusing the author of embellishing or even inventing much of his criminal past.

Frey defended his work by noting that only 18 pages of the 432–page memoir were in dispute. He incredibly declared that was “an appropriate ratio for a memoir.” The author also defended the ‘essential truths’ of his work. This is a fascinating story of the cycle of celebrity. We exalt them and then seek to destroy them. But Frey could have learned a few valuable lessons that would have kept him out of the media frying pan. Aristotle wisely noted that, “The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.” I am sure Mr.Frey could identify with the timeless wisdom of that quote. Bill Copeland wryly observed that “when you stretch the truth, watch out for the snapback!”

The problem with the revelations about some of  Frey’s book is the pall that it casts over all of it. An unknown writer said to “beware of the half truth.  You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.” Unfortunately Mr.Frey has called all of his recollections into question because he misrepresented some of them. Some of his descriptions are indeed powerful. But did they really happen as he describes?

The point of this rambling is not to throw James Frey under a speeding self-righteous bus. The application of this story for me is much more personal. I have an obligation as a follower of Christ to be accurate and truthful in all of my writing and speaking. I don’t believe there is an “appropriate ratio” of inaccuracy. That doesn’t mean that there will never be mistakes but they should be dealt with quickly and called by their name.  I totally agree with Mark Twain who said if you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.

And isn’t that a peaceful place to be? No franctic cover ups or wondering what you told him or her. Stretching the truth a bit to embellish a resume or a story is so easy. Who will find out? Chances are that someone will. Stupid Google!!!

But that is not the best reason to always be truthful. King Solomon wrote in Proverbs some timeless wisdom that applies to James Frey but it also lands squarely on me.

We humans keep brainstorming options and plans,

    but GOD’s purpose prevails.  

   It’s only human to want to make a buck,

    but it’s better to be poor than a liar.  

      Fear-of-GOD is life itself,

   a full life, and serene–no nasty surprises    (Proverbs 19  The Message)

Jesus said this to His disciples who had claimed to believe in Him.

“If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.”  (John 8 – The Message)

I am not in the mood to pick up stones to hurl at James Frey. Steven Soderbergh chillingly noted that “Lying is like alcoholism. You are always recovering.” I am in the same boat as a follower of Christ. Through the grace of the Lord Jesus I am always recovering. “Hi, my name is Dave and I am a sinner.” Keeping that truth in mind will keep many of the ‘nasty surprises’ at bay.

Rumination… a noun.

1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud.    (courtesy of www.dictionary.com)

I am going with pondering and meditation as my preferred meaning as I review some responses to previous posts. By far the greatest volume of readers and responses to this fledging blog was in response to the Victoria Osteen incident prior to Christmas. Some took me to task for my call for Mrs.Osteen to humbly repent and seek forgiveness of those affected.

Reader Kevin wrote the following…

I will pray that you never make any mistakes around your house or the wall mart , so you don’t have to feel like her .
Pls lets just pray for that family that is touching not just the neiborhood but the world.

• It is because the Osteens have such a wide audience that I believed they needed to immediately respond. I can assure you Kevin that I will make mistakes and my prayer is that someone around me will have the courage to confront me and challenge me to respond in a way that reflects Jesus in my life. My point was never that we don’t make mistakes. Of course we do. My point is that Christians have a higher standard in how we respond. So if I make a mistake around the house I have a godly wife and three sons (when they visit) who are very committed to pointing that out. If you see me make a mistake at the old Wal Mart or anywhere else you have my permission to let me know. When I started writing Christian books and blogs I raised the bar on my life. So when I do make a mistake I must repent and repair. Period.

Mary Jane shouted this at me…

NO ONE IS PERFECT.

• I don’t recall ever saying that. See above or any of my posts about the incident.

The most personally meaningful weblog I have written centered around the amazing grace demonstrated by friends going through the trials of life and death. On Wednesday January 4th I wrote about my Nominations for Persons of the Year.

Sue wrote about being in the room when Trisha’s too short life ended…

We were privileged to be part of Trisha’s “Bon Voyage party” in her hospital room, and Mike redefines the concept of “radiant faith.” Even in the face of soul-crushing grief.
Jesus is so very real!

• I will tell you that I would have thought comments like that were ridiculous before I came into a relationship with Christ. Now I have experienced and witnessed first hand the kind of faith that Sue described in her post.

The next day (January 5th) I wrote about what really matters in this life in a post called the “Good Stuff”.

Mark wrote…

“I am getting slightly better at not allowing the irritants of life to rob me of the good stuff.”

Regretfully far too true, particularly where the church is concerned. I must say church has been the worst experience of my life (so not that bad a life then!) whereas my family have been the best. But I’ve let the irritants distract me and spoil me.

• My heart aches when I hear comments like that about being wounded by the church and other Christians. How far have we strayed from the teachings of Jesus that we have thousands and thousands of people who would echo Mark’s said comments? Perhaps some are self inflicted or even false perceptions but as my granddaddy used to say, “when there is that much smoke there has to be a fire somewhere.” I was joking the other day that I am starting a minsitry with the acronyn CTC. That stands for Cut the Crap! I think that the events of last week (the homegoing of my friend Trisha) brings home again that my days are uncertain. I want to finish strong for the Lord. And I don’t mind you holding me accountable to that goal. I will finish with the last couple of paragraphs from the “Good Stuff.”

I am getting better at discerning and treasuring the good stuff. I am getting slightly better at not allowing the irritants of life to rob me of the good stuff. Every day is a treasure. Every day that you can look into the eyes of those you love is a gift. Jesus knew what the good stuff was all about. He wasn’t a cosmic killjoy trying to keep us from pleasure. Jesus taught us what mattered.

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?   Luke 9  NIV

Loving your family. Having friends who will be there when things are rough. Knowing that you and those you love have a relationship with the living God. That’s the good stuff. Don’t let the world tell you otherwise.

 

 

Recently Salon Online Magazine (April 28, 2005) ran an interview with atheist and evolutionary activist Richard Dawkins. At least the writer of the piece, Gordy Slack, made his slant clear early on.

• Given his outspoken defense of Darwin, and natural selection as the force of life, Dawkins has assumed a new role: the religious right’s Public Enemy No. 1. Yet Dawkins doesn’t shy from controversy, nor does he suffer fools gladly. He recently met a minister who was on the opposite side of a British political debate. When the minister put out his hand, Dawkins kept his hands at his side and said, “You, sir, are an ignorant bigot.”

What a charming response from Mr.Dawkins! I would never think of denying common courtesies to those who would disagree with me or even call me an ignorant bigot. I was taken aback by Slack’s apparent assertion that the minister was, in fact, a fool. I was surprised that he proclaimed Richard Dawkins as Public Enemy Number 1 of the religious right. I guess I am not on that mailing list. I continue to be amazed that the level of discourse has reached such an ugly level.

Dawkins is concluding a two part series on British television called “The Root of all Evil?.” The program is Dawkin’s polemic about the destructive role of religion in modern history. In part two, “The Virus of Faith,” he attacks the teaching of religion to children, calling it child abuse. “Innocent children are being saddled with demonstrable falsehoods,” he says. “It’s time to question the abuse of childhood innocence with superstitious ideas of hellfire and damnation. Isn’t it weird the way we automatically label a tiny child with its parents’ religion?”

Well at least Dawkins isn’t pulling any punches. His vitriolic style does not lends itself to discussion. But if I could sit down with Mr.Dawkins I would have to let him know that hellfire and damnation was not the focal point of their upbringing. I would tell him that we did not force our sons into our faith but we did attempt to model what we believed. But he compares that to a virus that gets into the operating system of a computer and it cannot be stopped. Dawkins continued in the Salon interview.

“Similarly, the child brain is preprogrammed by natural selection to obey and believe what parents and other adults tell it. In general, it’s a good thing that child brains should be susceptible to being taught what to do and what to believe by adults. But this necessarily carries the down side that bad ideas, useless ideas, waste of time ideas like rain dances and other religious customs, will also be passed down the generations. The child brain is very susceptible to this kind of infection. And it also spreads sideways by cross infection when a charismatic preacher goes around infecting new minds that were previously uninfected.”

Dawkins is the self proclaimed arbiter of what is a good and bad idea, what is useless, and what is a waste of time. Rain dances and other religious customs? I feel like the cave man character (an analogy that I suspect Dawkin’s would love) on the insurance commercials…

(sniff)…”That is soooo condescending….” 

 Reading the interview made me think of Job’s response to his “friends”. 

Job answered:

    “I’m sure you speak for all the experts,

    and when you die there’ll be no one left to tell us how to live.

    But don’t forget that I also have a brain…”  (Job 12, The Message)

Admittedly, by Dawkin’s evaluation, my brain is teeny-weeny. But it is large enough to discern arrogance and the same bigotry that Dawkin’s accused the minister of harboring. On the question of evolution Dawkins admits that, “Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.”  (The Blind Watchmaker, W. W. Norton, 1986)

Okay, help out “bitty brain” here. If there is the appearance of design what is the problem with exploring that? Dawkin’s is convinced that he is right. But there are a number of very bright men and women who would argue with many of his assertions. For example, check out the Probe Ministry article about Dawkin’s book “A River Out of Eden” (A Darwinian View of Life – Probe Ministries).

So where does Dawkin’s think the opposition to evolution is coming from?

Continuing the Salon interview he answered, “It comes, I’m sorry to say, from religion. And from bad religion. You won’t find any opposition to the idea of evolution among sophisticated, educated theologians. It comes from an exceedingly retarded, primitive version of religion, which unfortunately is at present undergoing an epidemic in the United States. Not in Europe, not in Britain, but in the United States.”

Ouch! Retarded? Primitive? I hope he has gotten his refund from Dale Carnegie. He continued…. 

“My American friends tell me that you are slipping towards a theocratic Dark Age. Which is very disagreeable for the very large number of educated, intelligent and right-thinking people in America. Unfortunately, at present, it’s slightly outnumbered by the ignorant, uneducated people who voted Bush in. But the broad direction of history is toward enlightenment, and so I think that what America is going through at the moment will prove to be a temporary reverse.”

I once thought that the broad direction of history would be toward enlightenment. But that seems to me to be, if I may quote Mr.Dawkins,  “saddling oneself with demonstrable falsehoods.”

Madeline Bunting, a columnist for the Guardian, wrote: “There’s an aggrieved frustration that [atheist humanists] have been short-changed by history – we were supposed to be all atheist rationalists by now. Secularization was supposed to be an inextricable part of progress. Even more grating, what secularization there has been is accompanied by the growth of weird irrationalities from crystals to ley lines. As G.K. Chesterton pointed out, the problem when people don’t believe in God is not that they believe nothing, it is that they believe anything.”

Or as the prophet wrote in Judges.

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21, NASB)

People like Richard Dawkins used to either intimidate or infuriate me. Now they just make me sad. His anger and contempt for me and what I believe is unfortunate. We could probably agree on some of his points about religion. I suspect that Jesus would agree with him on a few of those points as well. Part of what got Jesus crossways with the authorities was condemning a religion that had become hypocritical and proud. Jesus taught about a relationship with God. I am not ashamed to proclaim that relationship with Jesus. I am afraid, Mr.Dawkins, that I have succumbed to the virus. But don’t worry about a cure for me. I am feeling just fine.