Nov 30 2010

Jacob Freeze Exposes Phony Christians at Wall Street Journal

Brian Clegg has posted a review of Martin Bojowald’s new book about loop quantum gravity at the Wall Street Journal, but Mr. Clegg might have just as well spared himself the trouble of writing an intelligent summary of a very difficult book for Rupert Murdoch’s ultra-right-wing rag, because almost all the readers’ comments came from dim-witted creationists whose only interest in anything about science is denouncing Charles Darwin.

You cannot prove by any means that the central concept of one living God is untrue. Stop trying.

But why did reader Charles Sullins post this touching declaration on a thread about loop quantum gravity? God only knows, and it quickly got worse, as the pseudo-Christian spokesperson Keith Beveridge initiated a general attack on “secular Darwinism.”

By definition a world view should be balanced, practical, not too simple, not too complex, and match up fairly well with the world at large. Secular Darwinism fails on many of these accounts, most notably in my opinion in its self referential claim to truth in the face of its fundamental claim that there really is no truth, just molecules in motion.

And then it was God this and God that, for more than 100 comments on an article about loop quantum gravity!

But since you can read any number of articles and comments on those articles about almost any other subject except science in the WSJ without ever encountering the word “God” in any of them, I decided to ask Rupert Murdoch’s pseudo-Christian readership a couple of salient questions.

 

Isn’t it bizarre that SCIENCE is the ONLY SUBJECT about which so many readers of the Wall Street Journal constantly invoke their (very selective) CHRISTIAN faith?

But when it comes down to anything that might cost them a penny, like extending UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS for their desperate neighbors, then all that ANTI-DARWIN PSEUDO-CHRISTIANITY flies out the window, and their new song is…

LET ‘EM STARVE!

Every word of the Bible is LITERALLY TRUE, they claim, when it’s “God created the Earth in seven days.”

But when it’s “LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF!” then that’s probably just a METAPHOR, and anybody who wants to apply that principle letter by letter is nothing but a STINKING COMMIE!

So if you think Christianity is all about CREATIONISM, there are very good Christians all over the Republican Party and the Wall Street Journal.

But if you happen to believe (as I do) that Christianity is all about PEACE AND CHARITY, then all you can find IN EITHER MAJOR PARTY is ridiculously blatant HYPOCRISY.

“We murder Afghan civilians and destroy whole villages every day, WE GOOD CHRISTIANS, and for every murder we have a very good excuse that excuses everything!”

“They hit us first!”

Do they really believe that Jesus preached the morals of some snot-nosed playground bully?

“O GENERATION OF VIPERS, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

And pseudo-Christian spokesperson Kevin Beveridge replied…

What do you base all this on? Do you know any Christians? The behavior you describe doesn’t hold true for ANY Christian I have ever met in my life, and I know hundreds. The evangelical Christian doctrine is as far from your post as it can be. Read Grudem’s Systematic Theology to learn what most American Christians believe and how they try to live.

But I couldn’t care less what these phony Christians claim to believe, while they cheer for greed and violence every day.

So I rephrased my original questions for Mr. Beveridge.    

Did I miss your sustained criticism of George W. Bush’s WAR OF CHOICE in Iraq?

Did I miss all your denunciations of GREED in these pages?

Maybe you could supply a few links, and prove you’re not just another PHONY CHRISTIAN who cares more about creationism than peace and charity.

Or did you think the Sermon on the Mount was all about THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES?

“BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, for they will be called children of God.”

Did you ever cite that text to condemn the CHICKEN-HAWK George W. Bush?

Show me your comments in these pages urging peace and charity with the same vehemence that you support creationism!

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

“LOVE YOUR ENEMIES!”

But that’s just a metaphor, I suppose, and the LITERAL TRUTH only appears in the Book of Genesis, instead of the New Testament.

“He that is greatest among you shall be your servant, And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”

And so far neither Mr. Beveridge or any of the other dim-witted fanatics on that thread have provided an iota of evidence that their bogus “Christianity” applies to anything except Charles Darwin, and I’m beginning to lose my childlike faith that they ever will.

3 comments

  1. Keith Beveridge continued…

    Jacob,

    There are three basic beliefs in Christianity:

    1) Creation. An intelligent omnipotent mind created the universe with mankind being his crowining achievement, created in His Image.

    2) Man chose to separate himself from God, The Fall, which essentially was a corruption of perfection by sin, defined as partaking in that which is not God’s goodness.

    3) God, through His everlasting grace, provided a perfect sacrifice to redeem mankind.

    Item 2 is the reason for all the badness you cite in your postings. Human beings are not intrinsically good. In fact we are intrinsically bad, meaning set apart from God. We see this everyday in our own lives and in the lives of others. It is a central tenet of human life on earth. Most post-modern philosophies and world views tend to ignore this very real and practical aspect/phenomenon of reality. It is part of the reason why I cannot hold to a naturalistic view of life. I can’t bring myself to have faith that the evil in the world is just a random result of molecules in motion. Something else is going on.

    And I replied…

    Thanks for replying so reasonably, Keith, but I can’t quite recognize your very ontological definition of Christianity, and rely instead on Jesus’ own synopsis, from Mark 12:28-31.

    “And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?”

    “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments [is], Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:”

    “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment”

    “And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

    I don’t even pretend to guess anyone’s relation to God, but as for the second item on this very short list, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” I think it’s very likely to manifest itself more or less all the time, and obviously.

    So when I see self-proclaimed Christians disputing so vehemently about the story of creation from Genesis, and in exactly the same forum almost none of them manifest any concern whatsoever for their neighbors, then I have to conclude that their “faith” is merely the façade of a reactionary political and social agenda.

  2. Keith continued…

    In America, our Judeo-Christian (mostly Christian) ethic of charity and love has been the key to our successful society. Criticizing some people for their weakness doesn’t seem to the the way to promote the concept.

    …

    You seem to grasp the importance, so one must ask why you don’t try to follow the doctrine.

    I challenge you to show me any other large cohesive group of people who are as peaceful and loving as Christians who regularly read the Bible, worship their God, and try the best they can to follow Jesus’ teaching of loving thy neighbor.

    And I replied…

    ” Criticizing some people for their weakness doesn’t seem to the the way to promote the concept.”

    But as a promoter of Christianity, I think it’s fair to say that St. Paul has few rivals, and in Romans 16:17-18 he wrote (or Timothy wrote for him)…

    “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.”

    “For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”

    So expelling HYPOCRITES from your congregation has at least the authority of St. Paul on its side!

    And it’s really beside the point for you to cite SINCERE CHRISTIANS who “try the best they can to follow Jesus’ teaching of loving thy neighbor,” when what I am criticizing here is exactly the opposite: PHONY CHRISTIANS who constantly dispute the origin of species, and yet PASS OVER WAR AND GREED IN SILENCE!

    So let me remind you how my critical comments began here, with the observation that so many commenters invoke Christianity to oppose Darwin, but none or almost none of them ever mention Jesus Christ when the Wall Street Journal bangs the drums of WAR, or panders to the GREED of its readers.

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