I mentioned a while back that I had been reading some of the Mississippi Baptist Record, the official paper of the state's Southern Baptist Convention. The 8/14/03 issue had an article with a common Christian Right argument by editor William Perkins, Jr., that caught my attention.
In that issue, Perkins polemicizes against public schools as places where students are denied "the opportunity to study the Bible but requires them to read Karl Marx."
A lot of Christian Right rhetoric relies on fuzzy thinking. In this case, I will note that in growing up going to public high school in Mississippi, the only time I recall being required to read Karl Marx was during a required six-week segment on the evils of Communism. And while Bible classes are not taught in public schools, courts have routinely upheld the right of students to have religious clubs and Bible study groups on school property.
It's hard to tell whether Perkins is more concerned to promote religion in the public schools or to scare Mississippi Baptists into sending their kids to church schools.
He writes that, in America, "We've almost returned to the point where Christians have to meet in in catacombs and exchange secret symbols for safety."
This is so over the top that the only comment it deserves is that it's callous and obnoxious toward the Christians in places like China or Saudi Arabia where Christians really are persecuted and discriminated against because of their Christian faith.
Perkins goes on to echo the notorious comment of Jerry Falwell after the 9/11 attacks by referencing Mark 9:42 ("Jesus' admonition to anyone who leads a child astray") and reading that Scripture to mean: "For a host of reasons, its' not going to be pretty when God rains down his judgment on America." Does the editor of the Mississippi Baptist Record hate America?
It occurs to me that if one can believe that Christians in America are being persecuted like in ancient Rome, then it becomes much easier to believe a Christian Right partisan like George W. Bush when he claims that Iraq is brimming with "weapons of mass destruction." Loss of reality-checking abilities can have many consequences.
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