By Rick Hiebert. All Rights reserved. Used By Permission.
Marci McDonald is getting some video attention as she continues to promote The Armageddon Factor.
A progressive news blog, which covered her recent visit to Alberta, also has a video interview:
While in Alberta, McDonald was also featured in a TV news apenl on her book, which was saved to YouTube in two parts by the Christian activist who was part of the panel.
Part 1
and Part 2
And somehow I don’t think this, which I came across during my YouTube search, is McDonald, unless she is moonlighting as a singing Christian puppet.
[The last is "Little Marcy"--the famous Christian ventriloquist dummy of the 1960s. I have a couple "Little Marcy" LPs 
]
Thanks to McDonald’s book, I don’t default to thinking of “Little Marcy” when I think of Christian “Marcy’s:
Rick, Ms. McDonald has my respect, can we stay credible and stick to facts and content?
I think this book is important, it is a first, it is timely and long overdue.
That Little Marcy link was interesting. I never heard of her until now, but she may have been more popular in evangelical circles than the Methodist family I grew up in. I probably wouldn’t have heard of Veggie Tales if it were happening in the 1960/70s, since the evangelical milieu wasn’t part of my life (or anyone in my extended family’s life) at that point.
Marci McDonald is currently on TVO’s The Agenda. It should repeat at 11 p.m. Eastern and at 5 a.m.
Thanks Skinny Dipper.
Mark, I’ve never heard of Little Marcy either.:^)
No disrespect meant.
(I kind of *hope* that people would be able to keep the two straight…unlike the YouTube search engine.
)
We’ve carefully pointed out the errors (which Random House will address) and there were far fewer than the critics attempted to portray.
I hope we’ve been able to show that with respect and fairness.
I really don’t know Little Marcy, when I have an opportunity I’ll have a look.:^)
The Armageddon Factor has made the best seller lists in The G&M and Macleans.
I like Lloyd Mackey’s tone and attitude he set in his piece at Canadian Christianity: Armageddon author says’ demonizing’ was not her intent.
A very good post. Thank you.
I don’t know if Marci McDonald’s site is going to be putting up videos of TV appearances, or put them on YouTube.
http://marcimcdonald.ca/
Good of Jim Blake of Concerned Christians Canada to put up the videos, his appearance didn’t serve his interests well, but may be a dog whistle to the base as in – ‘I was on TV, send money.’
At least he isn’t Chandler(CCC founder) described by a local paper as “a roaming rottweiler in the far right kennels of Alberta politics.’ p.298
Blake:
“I did not receive a copy of McDonald’s book for review, I was sent an excerpt to review. I have included it for your reference at the bottom of this article. ”
His key talking points I heard were:
- the book comes across as fear mongering, anti american sentiment, foisted against Christians involved in politics
- book should be called Fear Factor
- it’s an attempt to villify, segment Christians out suggesting they shouldn’t be involved in politics
-we (CCC) lobby all three levels of government for Christian and traditional family values
-we (CCC) are not looking to laws not only benefit Christians and he goes on to describe a Calgary municipal campaign
Like he said, he hasn’t read the book.
I wrote about Blake and Art Pawloski (remember the statue at the Calgary zoo) awhile ago. CCC was started by Craig Chandler against C-38.
They got a lot of their funding from the US group Alliance Defense Fund. (Dobson, Kennedy, Wildmon etc)
More of the usual.
The professor, Irving Hexman (University of Calgary) read the book, I didn’t hear him mis-characterize.
Its not about being, per sae, anti – in terms of being christian, male, female, canada, england, or america – its how you yourself express in those places – good or bad and the cause and effect thereof.
Marci is saying ‘watch out’ something is rising that is using a lable to justify itself and if we are not careful we shall only see the label and not whats using it.
Its about a possible sickness that is gathering momentum in the garden …………………… a rotten weed that if it takes root could choke the very life out of us…………… Christians, as do we all at times, fail to see the that they are not above a damn good weeding from time to time instead of continuously feeding us with an ever increasing version of ‘hybrids’ before examing in truth the root stock they came from and are susceptible to………. The Christians move into the political arena has been an orchestrated one, all the signs are there, its just that their signs and so called wonders are trying to hide that fact. We surely want choice – I would not force feed my children nor make them so ‘weak’ as to be unable to resist ‘me’ either with threat or guilt, that would be my way and not the freedom to choose in theirs. The words are, without LOVE I am nothing but a resounding gong…………. Christian denotes something, love is something that transcends the our, me, mine, I – REMEMBER THAT – otherwise we shall end up in just another regime with the name Christian as its lead, head, way…… Jesus should be taking charge of the government and right now there are too many trying to beat him to that post!
Sometimes we hide in and through labels we arm ourselves with for fear of having ‘a nothing ID’ ……… then we end up being the label and only that ID…………. I want to be more than a christian, a this that or the other and to do that I have to lay all of those down in my name and be gifted them in his. I see too much of their name and not much of his right now don’t you!
Hopesome
re: “The Christians move into the political arena has been an orchestrated one.” Would that be like the orchestrated move of organized labour towards the NDP or the orchestrated move of trial lawyers to the Liberals. The only reason anyone would have for objecting to Christians (as individuals not as a church) acting in unity to affect the Canadian political system would be because you’d want to shut them out, to silence them. Why should Christians be prohibited from participating in Canada’s democracy? Just because you disagree with them?
You didn’t read the book, did you Helen?
I read the book and had the surreal experience of reading a description of specific events I attended that are almost, but not entirely unlike, what actually took place.
I found hard facts that were wrong, and ones that no one else has picked up on them. They wouldn’t bother me too much, except when I read that after all the hype by critics, there are only a couple of errors that needed to be corrected. A good fact checker would be able to find dozens I am sure. I will throw one out, Steve Osmond (can’t remember the page reference right now) is not an Edmonton pastor, but is from Calgary.
But what game is she playing when she calls Watchmen, an organization I am very familiar with, “Secretive” on page 131. How do you argue against that?
Their very first Gathering was reported in the BC Christian News or Christianweek (I am unsure, but I remember reading about it). The Crossroads camera crew has been recording their meetings for a decade. They have been on the web for years and anyone can sign up for their email updates. And.. this is the best of all, you can talk to the people leading it. Call them. Ask them questions.
McDonald did not do that and yet she can lead readers to believe that they are some nefarious, extreme right wing, Dispensational, Reconstructionist, organization with ties to the US religious right, and are secretly orchestrating things behind the scenes like an Evangelical twist on Dan Brown.
Dispensational Reconstructionism!