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May 16, 2005
Question for the BDN
When, exactly, did outright stereotyping become acceptable on your news pages?
There's something about the "Christian right" that's wrong.The writer continues like this for the rest of the column, spouting the usual cliches about how faith should be personal, Bibles were not meant to be thumped, etc.If those sanctimonious folks would just look in their mirrors, they might see double-faces: the one face they paint for others to see and the private face, unadorned by makeup, that carries a constant scowl.
My mother would have called such hypocrites two-faced. And she's no doubt turning over in her grave, as the saying goes, to read all the angry, vengeful, self-righteous attacks from the hard-right Christian crusaders against anyone who disagrees with them over the weighty political and religious issues of the day.
There is one thing she doesn't provide, though.
Examples.
In this entire, angry column, the author doesn't provide a single example of the behavior she so vehemently opposes. Not one. The assumption seems to be that everyone will know exactly what she's talking about. After all, who among us hasn't seen one of those frothing at the mouth religious fanatics?
I've criticized social conservatives and the religious right a number of times on this blog. Given the excesses of people such as Michael Heath and Pat Robertson, there is certainly room for such criticism. But there should never be room on the editorial pages of an honest newspaper for strawman arguments against a foe that the author doesn't even have the intellectual courage to name.
Katherine, I'm glad you love your mother. It's just too bad you had to resort to such hatred to honor her.
Posted by slublog at May 16, 2005 12:21 AM
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Comments
"Hypocrisy" is the favorite charge levelled by non-believers at believers, and the accusation is, unfortunately, true enough on occasion. But you have to believe in something - or, at least, earnestly want to be seen as believing in something that other people do genuinely believe in - before you can even begin to run the risk of committing an act of hypocrisy. This is why some non-believers tend to feel so smug about the issue: they don't really believe in anything anyway, so there are no permanent values or standards which they can easily be accused of betraying.
Posted by: D. Carter at May 16, 2005 10:20 AM