[Vision2020] Was that the flier?
Sunil Ramalingam
sunilramalingam@hotmail.com
Mon, 01 Dec 2003 10:34:26 -0800
<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>
<P>On November 19, Bill London attached a flyer to his post. Can anyone verify if that was indeed the flyer that led to the original article in the Daily News? If it was, what were the inaccuracies it allegedly contained?</P>
<P>Sunil<BR><BR></P></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: Rob Keenan <BENJAMIN_BARKER@HOTMAIL.COM>
<DIV></DIV>>To: <VISION2020@MOSCOW.COM>
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: [Vision2020] Christ Church ad
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 09:35:10 -0800
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Egad. I opened up today's copy of The Daily Evergreen and found this ad
<DIV></DIV>>placed by Christ Church titled "It's Not About Slavery. It's About Silencing
<DIV></DIV>>Dissent."
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Pardon me while I slip into my galoshes so I can wade through this [term
<DIV></DIV>>censored]. Among other things, in a section entitled "The Charade of
<DIV></DIV>>Diversity," Christ Church claims "the real issues" are these:
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>- why secularism can only fake tolerance, diversity, and inclusion,
<DIV></DIV>>- why secularism undermines rationality and knowledge,
<DIV></DIV>>- why secularism guts beauty, play, the arts, and laughter,
<DIV></DIV>>- why secularism inherently encourages racism and violence,
<DIV></DIV>>- why secularism has to hate the ancient Christian message.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>So Christianity has a long, unbroken string of practicing tolerance,
<DIV></DIV>>diversity, and inclusion, eh? Tolerance like the Salem witch trials of 1692?
<DIV></DIV>>Or like the Crusades? Or the Inquisition? Or the Holocaust? Or "Christian
<DIV></DIV>>identity" groups? Or *gasp* enslaving African blacks in the ante-bellum
<DIV></DIV>>South?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>And rationality and knowledge -- wow. It's certainly rational to accept two
<DIV></DIV>>contradictory creation stories as absolute fact rather than a moral allegory
<DIV></DIV>>about a good and benevolent creator figure. And contradicting scientific
<DIV></DIV>>evidence while clinging to words written some 4,000 years ago really speaks
<DIV></DIV>>to the practice of gaining new knowledge.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Yeah, the Church has a clear market on beauty, play, the arts and laughter,
<DIV></DIV>>too. Why, the whole ceremony of the Mass and the foundation of modern
<DIV></DIV>>Christian worship services is pretty theatrical -- never mind that the
<DIV></DIV>>ceremonies were culled from ancient pagan rites, cannibalism and all. And
<DIV></DIV>>laughter? Well, I laughed pretty hard when I read this ad. Score one for
<DIV></DIV>>you, Christ Church!
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Let's ignore for a moment that the most vile and heinous acts and
<DIV></DIV>>organizations of racial bigotry were founded in Christian dogma (the
<DIV></DIV>>Crusades, the Ku Klux Klan, American slavery, the World Church of the
<DIV></DIV>>Creator, the Nazi party) and think on the REAL message: that those of us who
<DIV></DIV>>view racism and violence as a secular problem are obviously suspect. We
<DIV></DIV>>should definitely hearken back to the peaceful, violence-free days depicted
<DIV></DIV>>in the Bible, when adulterers were stoned to death by angry mobs and a young
<DIV></DIV>>man practicing civil disobedience was beaten and put to death in perhaps the
<DIV></DIV>>most brutal and painful way ever known to man. And remember: "Whosoever
<DIV></DIV>>looks at another woman with lust in his heart has already committed
<DIV></DIV>>adultery" -- so we'd better start picking out nice, baseball-sized rocks to
<DIV></DIV>>have at the ready.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>And secular programs simply do not exist that drive home the ancient
<DIV></DIV>>Christian message of loving one's neighbor as oneself or forgiving your
<DIV></DIV>>enemy or feeding the hungry, nursing the sick and clothing the naked. We
<DIV></DIV>>don't have public education, secular homeless shelters, public food banks,
<DIV></DIV>>clothing drives on government property or any of the other things Jesus
<DIV></DIV>>asked us to do.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>True, I have drifted rather heavily into sarcasm here. But I look to the
<DIV></DIV>>closing paragraph of the Christ Church ad: "Always be suspicious of
<DIV></DIV>>Darwinists bearing such dogmatic absolutes. It's oxymoronic. It's
<DIV></DIV>>hypocritical." Change "Darwinist" to "fundamentalist Christian" and we are
<DIV></DIV>>in full agreement.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>I may just be a poor Catholic boy from the city, but I know how to recognize
<DIV></DIV>>horse manure when I smell it.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>ROB
<DIV></DIV>>
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