tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158350.post109319652468894051..comments2023-10-23T09:10:21.726-07:00Comments on Darwin's California Cat Presents Last Days of My Career as a College Professor: In a Good Horror Movie Almost Everybody Dies....J.Michael Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15748774253168313345noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158350.post-1093390177838511772004-08-24T16:29:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:29:00.000-07:00Hello Michael!
Re this column you posted, looks ...Hello Michael!<br /><br /> Re this column you posted, looks like last Saturday: I just wanted<br />to put in my two cents and advise you that there are "evangelical<br />Christians" on all sides of the political spectrum. I think the term you<br />wanted to use here was "conservative evangelical Christians." Because there<br />are actually about ten or so folks out there who are not "conservative" yet<br />call themselves "evangelical." Me, I'm not sure if I'm one of them or not.<br /><br /><br />I thank Dr. Jack Rogers, recently retired from San Francisco (Presbyterian)<br />Theological Seminary, for tracing the modern day history of evangelicals<br />and at what point the conservatives so took over that the word<br />"evangelical" began to presume that one was "conservative." (If you're<br />interested, I'll look up the name of the book; I can't remember which one<br />it is.) He takes us back to the late, great days when that Baptist Sunday<br />School teacher from Plains, Georgia, was in the White House. They just<br />looooved Jimmy Carter, a born-again Christian who was teaching a Sunday<br />school class while he was President. They looooved him up until the day he<br />endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment, circa 1978. (and you thought it was<br />about the Iran hostage crisis, huh?) And that's when we found out how many<br />conservatives were out there in the evangelical ranks. They dropped Jimmy<br />Carter like a hot potato and took up with Ronald Reagan, a man who didn't<br />even go to church (I never could figure that one out) but who said the<br />"right" things about conservative issues. Conservative evangelicals are<br />more conservative than evangelical -- take my word for it. To this day I am<br />still proud of Jimmy Carter (and proud to have voted for him, twice) as a<br />man who lives his faith every day and stands up for what he believes in, no<br />matter what's "politically in" these days. In the end he parted company<br />from the Southern Baptist Convention and went with the Cooperative Baptist<br />Fellowship (I think that's what it's called), but he is still an<br />evangelical.<br /><br /><br />By the way, "conservative evangelicals" hate Jack Rogers because he was<br />once "one of them" and then changed his mind about the ordination of<br />practicing homosexuals. He left conservative evangelical Fuller Theological<br />Seminary to go to SFTS, the devil's spawn of liberal theology. (More than<br />you wanted to know, I'm sure.)<br /><br /><br />So...my two cents' worth. I just told my congregation Sunday that I don't<br />believe Jesus endorses candidates for political office -- this after<br />getting a letter from a political candidate asking me to endorse his point<br />of view from the pulpit. No, no, no. Go away. Yes, he was Republican. How<br />did you guess?<br /><br /><br />On the other hand, in New Orleans Democratic politicians speak in<br />African-American churches on a routine basis. I'm not comfortable with that<br />either. So there you go.<br /><br /><br />Sorry to have ranted on so long...<br /><br /><br />KathyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158350.post-1093234396774592992004-08-22T21:13:00.000-07:002004-08-22T21:13:00.000-07:00Rationality and compassion are what stands between...Rationality and compassion are what stands between the faithful and the fanatic. Rationality, in that one can listen and evaluate the world with something deeper than a religious lens. Compassion, so that one can love the sinner, hate the sin. <br /><br />One without the other will not work -- one can rationally know that Jews/Muslims/Christians are not the enemy, but without compassion one might decide to stone them anyway.<br /><br />And without rationality, one may have compassion, but decide it only applies within the narrow confines of one's religion. And you lack the ability to ignore the imperative to destroy that which does not conform to your beliefs.<br /><br />Deep thoughts indded. Like the photo of the cranky old men whittling the afternoon away.<br /><br />Cassandra K & Steve KAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com