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January 19, 2005

Evangelism & Politics

Somewhere in the history of Britain that I never really studied is the story of the Roundheads. If I remember correctly, they eventually got their butts kicked out of the country. As they landed over here, they were called Puritans, derisively.

The central tenet of Puritanism was God's supreme authority over human affairs, particularly in the church, and especially as expressed in the Bible. They believed, for example, that the worship of the church ought to be strictly regulated by what is clearly commanded in Scripture. Where their opponents defended many worship practices based on tradition alone, the Puritans considered these practices to be idolatry, regardless of their antiquity or how widespread they were among Christians. Thus, Puritan reforms were typified by a minimum of ritual and decoration, and an unambiguous emphasis on preaching.

I think what we're just about due for is a spate of relgious intolerance, but my guess is that's it is going to come in the form of Christian on Christian violence.

I wonder at what point Christian prosletyzing is going to get on somebody's nerves and someone smart in government is going to try to get the Constitution out of it. This deft move will get a couple sects battling each other in a circle. When you get down to it, Baptists don't really like Methodists. And there's plenty of emnity to go around.

The questions of Christian sectarianisms are likely to be the subject after the blog after this. The blog after this is going to be my China blogging, and then we'll turn loose Lucifer Jones. Until then, I am rubbing my hands with glee at those opportunists soon to be busted by the IRS and 'fellow' Christians. This is not how the thousand points of light were supposed to go down, and the marginal benefit Republican strategists have gotten in broad electoral politics is going to blow up socially over the next 4 years.

Here's what you can do. Ask Christians who their Bishop is.

Suspicions Confirmed:

  • Blogcritics

    • Posted by mbowen at January 19, 2005 02:25 PM

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    Comments

    I think 4 years is a little optimistic. 6-10, I'd say.

    But it's not going to be pretty, and it most likely will take down some good things with it, so don't be TOO gleeful.

    Re: Bishops? Yeah, that's good.

    Ten Hail Mary's to ya, for that one.

    Posted by: Anonymous at January 19, 2005 10:16 PM

    Oh, one thing I've been meaning to say (I *really* need to resurrect my blog) --

    People need to remember their History.

    Everything is part of a great pendulum swing, and current events don't equal the End of Times.

    Great Enlightenment, anyone?

    It all goes around and comes around, and I daresay the pendulum swing serves a corrective measure (*I'd* be hard put to defend current culture).

    If we'd all take a deep breath, we might actually LEARN from the pendulum swing, instead of clinging to the rope in half-assed opinion mode.

    (The last paragraph is *not* a comment on these blog posts. I'm knew to this blog and have no idea if I agree or disagree with its positions. My stated opinion is regarding the dog-on-bone discourse that is not only prevalent today, but characterizes our opinion-making throughout history.)

    Posted by: Anonymous at January 19, 2005 10:25 PM