Some people are shocked to learn that there are still Christians who actual believe that Christianity is the True Faith, that all other religions are false, and that we must constantly engage in spiritual warfare.
Of course, this made the news because (GASP!) the GOP VP nominee is a Pentecostal Christian. Pentecostalism focuses on the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is growing tremendously both here and (especially) in places where the Gospel of Christ has been allowed to wane. The intelligentsia do not have much respect for it, as it is based in large part on (GASP!) faith and irrational (and often emotional) experiences. They had a hard enough time with Romney’s Mormonism; Pentecostalism is something else, something gauche. After all, how can we trust someone to treat everyone fairly if they think non-Christians are deluded by the evil one? How can they foster good relations with Muslim nations if they believe that Islam is a false religion? How can we trust someone’s judgement if they are so superstitious as to believe in “speaking in tongues”, faith healing, and demon possession; and that sin is only the visible manifestation of a violent and continual struggle against the forces of darkness? (I also suspect that there is a bit of class snobishness to this, as well – Pentecostals are typically working class “salt of the earth” in a way that even Catholics are not)
This is just my opinion, but it seems as though the intelligentsia does not believe that conservative Christians can walk and chew gum at the same time. They are perfectly willing to accept that Muslims can work around the hatred in the Koran in order to make Islam a “religion of peace”, but they cannot accept that conservative Christians would want to do anything but persecute those who deny the Christ. They claim to be masters of nuance, (falsely) accusing conservatives of creating a manichean world of black and while; while themselves casting all believers and conservatives as idiots and fascists.
Most in the intelligentsia are willing to endure the faith of Senators Obama and Biden. Perhaps this is because Senators Obama and Biden are willing to ignore their respective Church’s teachings on things like abortion and same-sex marriage. This team does not let its faith affect its politics, at least when it conflicts with the Democratic agenda.
Which one is more respectable and “nuanced”, making sin a matter of personal choice and pushing for policies that actually encourage it (and accusing those who disagree of being theocrats or fascists); or calling sin by its name and pushing for policies that criminalize its most dangerous/offensive forms (but still loving all those who disagree)?
Speaking of which, what is it that makes Democrats frame gay/lesbian rights in the mode of African-American civil rights; but refuse to see the denigration of the unborn as worse than the 3/5th rule and the Dred Scott decision? What is it that makes conservatives frame abortion as murder, but not cold-blooded executions (or aggressive preemptive foreign policies, for that matter***).
I trust that all the presidential and VP candidates can chew gum and walk. But I don’t trust where those without strong (and reasonably true) faith – and the willingness to submit to it – are walking. And as a true conservative, I hope that whoever we choose to lead us does not walk anywhere at all very quickly!
-fr a
*** I am not suggesting that a soldier who causes someone’s death in war is guilty of murder; I am simply pointing out that conservatives have their own moral blind spots.
