Jordon Cooper has a great rant.
It’s basically about how evangelicals are perceived.
I have to be frank. I don’t take the heat Jordon does. I’m not a reverend - so that saves me some flack. The heat I get comes from some US god-bloggers. I may disagree politically with someone in Canada, but I have not been put down for my beliefs, nor have I been scorned or castigaged for being an evangelical.
The heat has come from a few in the US. That having been said, back to this rant.
Published 3 years, 1 month agoPractically when I read the word evangelical in a context that is less then flattering, I can hardly blame them. Yesterday the media was a buzz about how the White House is trying to shore up the evangelical base (sans Stanley Hauerwas who recently said that Bush’s soul was in Hell) and I have bashed evangelicals on this blog for their infatuation with political power and their connection to the White House or the Prime Minister’s Office (several pastors in Saskatoon hosted Stockwell Day in his bid to be leader of the Canadian Alliance), the exact same kind of power that Jesus repeatedly rejected. If possible, let’s occasionally try to remember that the term evangelical is used by us that may be conservative theologically but stronly (sic) oppose the version of Christianity that is sold by Pat Robertson and disagree with those that hold to a militaristic view of God.
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Hauerwas saying Bush’s soul in hell. That is repulsive. Also, God not militaristic? How about when God told the Israelites to take on the ite’s? God is the Lamb of God but isn’t He also the Lion of Judah?
You’ll have to ask Jordon about the Haueurwaus comment. I don’t find it repulsive - I think we’re finding it out of context. He used present tense? Why?
DH: I know you may not have known some of the players Jordon used in his post - I’d like to ask you this.
a) How do you think evangelicals or Christians are perceived in Canada?
b) How do you think American Christians and evangelicals are perceived in Canada?
Hauerwas recently made the comments in Regina. I don’t have audio but I did take some notes and he was talking about how the War in Iraq did not meet the just war theory and therefore wasn’t even a war. His comments were in the context of making a strong case for Christian non-violence.
Jordon, while I think we can agree to disagree with this “issue” but for Hauerwas to say “I see Bush’s soul in hell” is way overboard. What is wrong to defend people who want to live in freedom? Defending people who are being attacked by an evil dictator does meet the just war criteria. Can’t we agree to disagree rather than question someone who does other actions that show a genuine conversion experience? We could take every person and take one view and say all are not Christian. I think what you have to do is take the entire persons life and views from the moment of their conversion experience forward to “look at the fruit”. This “he is for the war in Iraq so he is in hell” is the “judging” that Christ warns against.
Also, no one commented on God taking on the ite’s by way of the Israelites.
DH, I would have liked to have heard a response on that point myself. However, I won’t hold my breath.
Re. “Stanley Hauerwas who recently said that Bush’s soul was in Hell”:
You know, if someone else — say Robertson or Falwell — had said something similar about, for example, Bill Clinton or John Kerry, there would have been much yelping and screeching about what an unChristian remark that was and such. And I would agree — heck, I don’t even *like* Robertson or Falwell. But Hauerwas gets away with such remarks with no criticism from a certain subset of Christians. How telling.
You’ll have to address Jordon and what he heard on that one Susan.
I don’t know who Hauerwas is.
I guess I need to look him up.:^)
I’m still trying to figure out why this Hauerwas comment is supposedly in the present tense.
Who would yelp and scream?
Okay, I looked him up.
Time Magazine Theologian of the Year 2001 or something to that effect.
A Dr with a religious degree who was Methodist and is now Anglican or Espiscopal and works at Duke U. and writes about ethics.
I’m not making light of your disgust, I take it because he is an American ethicist you find his remark about the US president’s soul being in hell offensive.
Can anyone explain the present tense of the remark?
Bene,
I’m sorry about the tone of my previous comment. People like Hauerwas really do disgust me. I remember that he once prayed for God to smite America…I even mentioned it in this ancient blog post of mine: http://lilacrose.nu/archives/2002/06/blogwatching.php
Like I said then, Hauerwas and Falwell are just flip sides of the same sorry coin.
As far as who would yelp and screech…a lot of the same people who think Hauerwas is tha bomb.
Nothing at all to be sorry about Susan, I’d have never looked him up if you hadn’t said something.:^)
I doubt speaking in Canada he’d get much attention in US media.
Now I understand your Robertson/Falwell reference.