Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Sully And The C-Word

The c-word is Christianist, a word Andrew Sullivan flings about quite liberally when speaking about conservative Christians. It's a word with really odious connotations, and Sullivan demeans himself by using it so freely.

"Christianist" is a parallel construction to "Islamist," which refers to those Moslems who wage war to establish an Islamic theocracy. Since Sept. 11, it's also been associated with terrorism.

There are certainly a few on the fringes of Christianity who could rightfully be considered Christianist by such a standard, but only a few. They don't represent most conservative or evangelical Christians, who live and advocate entirely peaceful lives.

Sullivan recently put James Dobson on his list
for the awful crime of praying for torrential rain during Obama's outdoor convention event. Dobson's prayer -- which went unanswered, by the way -- is scarcely to be compared with the hateful prayers that emanate from Islamists daily for the destruction of Israel and the United States. It was nothing more than a cheap stunt.

Sullivan put Sarah Palin on his list for inquiring about possibly banning books from the city library. That was disturbing, to be sure, but Palin never actually acted on that idea. And of course, Palin never advocates violence, which Islamists routinely do. And Palin, despite her worrisome flirtation with creationist rhetoric, has not pushed for such an agenda in Alaskan schools.

As an atheist, I don't like the attempts by some conservative Christians to attach the trappings of their faith to government institutions. But I know enough to distinguish between certain conservative Christians (not all by any means) who are overzealous and not heedful of the equal rights of others; and of violent psychopaths who take shelter under the name of religion.

Those Islamist psychopaths, by the way, would gladly dismember Sullivan and his "Christianist" opponents alike. Sullivan, despite his hysterical rantings, is in no such danger from the likes of Dobson or Palin.

It doesn't speak well for Sullivan's grasp of reality that he can't tell the difference.


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