Pat Robertson & Celebrity FitClub Update

This week, people of every stripe and creed joyously pounced on Pat Robertson following his poorly thought out speculation about "taking out" the dictator of Venezuela, which was considered to be an appeal for an assasination attempt. Despite his prompt apology, many people have continued to pinwheel this over and over again. This is to be expected but I'm disappointed that some of the most vehement voicing has come from other self-proclaimed Christians. Unfortunately but predictably, it happened big time on the Sojourners' email list, headed by Jim Wallis (God's Politics: God is not a Republican or a Democrat).

Mr. Wallis in his email this week was rather vocal about Mr. Robertson's comments, and subjected me to a lengthy tirade of his own, which emphasized the hypocrisy and fundamentalist opinions of Robertson. Trouble is, vilified as he may be, Robertson and his 700 Club are surprisingly down to earth and I happen to share its viewpoint way more than the views Mr. Wallis sends me. This amazes me because I have been trying to be liberal for most of my life now, as a means of rebelling against my religious upbringing. Unfortunately, I am unable to interpret the Bible in a manner beyond what might generously be labeled moderate.

I am concerned for the Sojourners. I subscribed to it since I want to be open to 2 viewpoints on everything, and awhile back there were a few articles about being concerned for the "Burger King Moms" and a surprisingly appropriate condemnation of the Superbowl Wardrobe Malfunction". But it's been some time ago. They emphasize the biblical mandate to care for the poor and the widow, and I want to always be concerned about that.

But there is a thin line between being "prophetic" as Mr. Wallis' organization strives to be, and being an accuser. A more proper response might be to ask his newsgroup members to pray for Pat Robertson and the words he uses, rather than to cast doubt, division, and accusation his way. I think a lot of Wallis' views are worth considering, particularly on social concern, but this brand of accusation is dangerous in its own way.

It is a bit easier to don a social justice cause without challenging hot buttons like abortion, defining marraige, and defending Israel's right to the land God gave them. Robertson is not afraid to do this, while Wallis hasn't taken much of a stand, other than statistics about how there are more abortions due to Bush's fiscal policies and their effect on the poor, and a host of articles that emphasize the Palestinian suffering while not defending Israel. Wallis is right that there are many other issues of faith than abortion and defining marraige, but he has not convinced me to demote them to a lower priority. Wallis is commendable for his concern for the poor, which I believe is genuine, but Robertson's ministry gives away far more funds for food and other needs both here and abroad under the "Operation Blessing" umbrella. No one talks about that.

Celebrity Fit Club Update

Nothing much to report here, except that the teams were forced to vote off one player to trade to the other team, and Mr Busey got the shaft from his teammates. Now he is no longer the captain and must obey the leadership of Jackee, whom he has had personality conflicts with in the past. He seemed to handle it in a peaceful manner. Willie Aames has missed another exercise appointment with the trainer but apologized and admitted the trainer was right about insisting that Willie keep his work schedule under control.

Jessica Simpson's Daisy Duke flap

Anyone hear about this? There has been a brief chatter about this "intolerant Christian group" that is bashing Jessica Simpson for her racy Dukes of Hazzard video, "demanding" that she reshoot the video. The story is that Jessica's dad is/was a minister and now is her manager and the mastermind behind her moral decay, which is reminiscent of Brittney and other pop divas.

I am not going to list the group's name here but I immediately suspected something might be up. "Christian groups" gave up trying to reform MTV a long time ago, and "demanding" that a singer re-shoot a video seems like begging for abuse. I tracked it down, you could too but I don't recommend using your time that way. It certainly is "intolerant" and somebody might believe its claims to be "christian", but it was one of the most accusatory websites I have ever stumbled across.

The site is basically the home of all sorts of conspiracy theories and sets up its web presence with a picture of President Bush standing in front of a swastika flag. It is possible that John Connor, the author of the site and its published "manifesto" (19.95 + tax) believes in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and maybe has prayed a prayer of repentance and allowed Jesus to be the boss. But impression that I received from his site is certainly not one of love, joy or peace.

I clicked on his audio feed an heard something akin to a super-villain, laughing about how successful his ploy was, to stir up controversy about the trivial Jessica Simpson thing so people could hear about really important stuff: his 9-11 theories. Apparently he concocted this whole protest singlehandedly to attract traffic to his site. Meanwhile media people are scooping this up, talking about "intolerant christians".

THE PROBLEM

The only reason the media can report so sloppily is that believers have a huge propensity to focus on God's judgment and the expense of His mercy. Many people associate the church with hellfire & damnation rather than unconditional acceptance and grace. People don't bat an eye at sloppy reporting since we are often argumentative and antagonistic. The next thing that has happened is that under the buzzword of "tolerance", there is huge pressure to be politically correct and to twist the Bible around so that it endorses just about anything. Those of us who don't want to either be antagonistic or of this anemic brand of "tolerance" are stuck in the middle trying to figure out what to do. The "tolerants" and the antagonistics seem exempt from this quagmire. It's easier to be a black/white thinker.

WHAT TO DO

What is the appropriate response when people who call themselves "christians" act in this manner?

Pray for them. Pray for John Connor, the webmaster and voice behind this trumped-up false controversy. Don't pray out of anger or fear of other people's reaction, just sincerely pray that God will cause truth to be apparent. Pray that John becomes overcome with God's love. Ask God to use this person's boldness and his writing and technical abilities for redemptive purposes. Also pray for Jessica Simpson and her dad.