Saturday, November 09, 2019
Smartest religion headline of the week
Mark Tooley at Juicy Ecumenicism does the opposite of previous item. He instantly dismisses the standard shared lie and gets down to asking a more realistic question.
Nope! All classical with only a few old favorite hymns. Next to Aimee was a broadcast schedule for a more upscale church, with exactly the same combination of classical and old faves.
= = = = = END REPRINT.
2. So the change in influence didn't arise from a change in media coverage. Mainstream media didn't change its disdain for religion in 1980, and Bakker and Swaggart weren't doing anything new. Why did the change happen?
Evangelicals gained influence in DC politics for exactly one reason. Israel. When evangelical leaders focused on defending the modern nation of Israel for "theological" reasons, politicians stopped Unpersoning them and started counting their votes.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff has written the umpteenth claim that declining churches and Christian influence in America owe to conservative “religious blowhards” who “have entangled faith with bigotry, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia.” And “for some young people, Christianity is associated less with love than with hate.” Every branch of Christianity, and every religion, has its share of blowhards and hypocrites. Conservative Christian blowhards get more attention because they have political influence and peeve liberal cultural elites. But do they deserve exclusive credit for overall Christian decline?Good work. Tooley goes back a few decades and notes that the "liberal" mainline churches used to be the sole representation of Christianity in media. In the '80s televangelists like the Bakkers created their own media universe, which was always Unpersoned by the satanic mainstream. He misses a couple of important points. 1. The independent media universe began exactly when radio began. For instance, Aimee Semple McPherson had a huge radio station, competing with the mainstream and equalling the mainstream in cultural level. = = = = = START REPRINT: I found this schedule for Aimee Semple McPherson's radio service in 1924. Based on mainstream bigotry I was expecting to see hillbilly music...
Nope! All classical with only a few old favorite hymns. Next to Aimee was a broadcast schedule for a more upscale church, with exactly the same combination of classical and old faves.
= = = = = END REPRINT.
2. So the change in influence didn't arise from a change in media coverage. Mainstream media didn't change its disdain for religion in 1980, and Bakker and Swaggart weren't doing anything new. Why did the change happen?
Evangelicals gained influence in DC politics for exactly one reason. Israel. When evangelical leaders focused on defending the modern nation of Israel for "theological" reasons, politicians stopped Unpersoning them and started counting their votes.
Labels: Constants and Variables, Shared Lie
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