Saturday, May 21, 2005
Evil Christians!
The demonization of Christianity continues apace on the left and in the media. The latest shot comes from a TV drama for pity-fied sakes!
But the most recent episode of NBC's doddering Law & Order series is where I draw the line. The episode tells the story of a racist who committed murder nine years ago but who, in shame and remorse, subsequently found Jesus and was born again. In the nine years since he dedicated himself to Christ, he has led an exemplary life. But his guilt is discovered, and he decides to confess and show true contrition.Thus said Jonah Goldberg in NRO this week. Fortunately, RealClearPolitics carried a piece by Quin Hillyer that shot back
So far, so good, right? I'm sure the writers and producers thought they were being eminently fair to all sides. They even showed Jack McCoy (played by Sam Waterston) stunned beyond words that a born-again Christian could be so sincere. In one scene I swear he made the same face my old basset hound would make when I tried to feed him a grape: total and complete incomprehension. His assistant even confessed she goes to church regularly and knows decent born-agains herself.
But this was all grace on the cheap. The rest of the storyline was festooned with nasty and dishonest ?shots. For example, as McCoy and his assistants work to bring the murderer to justice, the shadowy forces of the Christian right seek to have him absolved of all accountability for his crime because he?d accepted Jesus as his personal savior.
These pundits also ignore how overtly political the national bodies of the "mainline" Protestant churches have become -- always in support of the left. Go to the Web page of the National Council of Churches: You'll find headlines urging support of the Democrats' filibusters against judicial nominees. You'll find support for a more liberal federal budget, and opposition to oil drilling in Alaska.But with stories like this, we do not do ourselves any good.
On the Web pages of the Episcopal, United Methodist and Presbyterian churches, you'll see official statements in support of liberal positions on gun control, economics, abortion and foreign affairs.
The pastor of a Louisiana church and six of its members, including the pastor's wife and a sheriff's deputy, have been arrested in what the police described as a cult-like sex ring that abused children and animals.When I started to read the story I wanted to categorize it as another one of those falicious "recovered memory" nursery prosecutions that happened back in the '80's. But then I read this
The Rev. Louis Lamonica, 45, pastor of Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula, a town of 5,000 about 40 miles northwest of New Orleans, is both the chief suspect and the man who broke the case, which deputies had been investigating since a woman called from Ohio five weeks ago. She said her children had been abused but was reluctant to give specifics, Deputy Reed said.I'd like to think this is the Holy Spirit in action, wonder if any of the Christian attack pundits will acknowledge that?
On Monday afternoon, the authorities said, Mr. Lamonica walked into the Livingston Parish sheriff's office and began to confess. "I don't really know what motivated him," said Detective Supervisor Stan Carpenter in Livingston Parish.
