In Reply to: Re: Where is your humor? posted by sawyer on October 16, 2008 at 16:32:40:
Forgot them darned quote marks to make clear my disapproval and reluctant usage of the terms. I should have written: I am always amused by the way the American "right" takes such ownership of Christianity, and see anyone "left" or "left-leaning" as automatically less godly somehow.
But yes, you do have a point, they are part of the general lexicon no matter how much we dislike them. And it is easy to slip up and have our personal lexicons dictated by the media. Too darn easy, I'd say. Especially when the particular demographic is buying into it themselves.
I agree with Mr. Don that the "Christian Right" have been "well defined." But it's not just by the media. The "American right" all too often identify themselves proudly as belonging to the American right. It is some of these outspoken people among them that, if you listen to them too closely you'd think Jesus is a warmongering Republican. Some of them even go as far as saying it outright: Republicans reflect true Christian values. It even happened on these boards before politics was banned. Self-admitted rightwingers were saying outright that anything short of the right or far right was, well, left, wrong and unchristian.
The religion factor has played a significant role in this and previous elections. It has been a selling point of the self-identified Christian right: vote for us to return the nation to wholesome Christian values. The American right have realized that wooing the so-called Christian vote helps them come to power, and they play on suppporting those "Christian right" values.
It's interesting that you see the right as having been most demonized in the media. I see it the "left" as being more demonized.
You asked: "As for Jesus - if we can make Jesus out to be whomever we wish him to be, does that mean that we are all correct about who he is?"
Good question. I have more along the same line:
Can everyone be right? If not, is anyone more right than another? Who is to say they are, and is their opinion not based on their own bias? Etc, etc. Is all spirituality equal? Are some faiths more valid than others? And who gets to decide? Can we adhere to any belief system without self-righteously judging another's as incorrect or not quite as good or plain wrong?
Can contradictory interpretations of God both be right? Is light a wave or a particle? Can it not be both? If not, why is it that if you design tests to prove light can only be one and not the other, you'll still test positive both: light will show to be a wave and not a particle beam, and light will show to be a particle beam and not a wave. Just one of many endearing mysteries of the universe.
My point was that we all see God in our own way and have our own relationship or non-relationship with Jesus. I don't think two people can or ever will each understand or experience God in exactly the same way. That's where I stand in regards to matters of faith.