Infiltrating Christian Thought

Major Mike

Is attending Sunday services with the express purpose of critiquing the sermon a sin? Is it a sin to go to church for the express purpose of rallying a radical base against the very churchgoers who let you attend services in the first place? Is deception and cynicism a sin, or just journalistically unethical?

The Oregonian, failing to consider any of those questions, gladly published today’s Steve Duin column, where Steve trashes the conservative message of the sermon delivered by Mat Staver, Dean of the Liberty University School of Law, at the Rolling Hills Community Church this past weekend.

Does his disingenuous attendance of this service serve local journalism well? Probably, because it cements his place as the squeaky clarinet of the disjointed Portland left.

Duin certainly knew what the message would be…a call to conservative Christian values…morality, biblical obedience, and a call to support conservative causes such as a strong defense, pro-marriage legislation, and social obedience. Duin admits he attended so the he could assess the Restore America campaign that encourages Christians to “vote their values.”

Duin thought maybe he’d hear something like a rebuttal of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity?

He feigns disbelief that compassionate souls could make generous offerings to a gas station attendant, yet not embrace the stilted and intertwined aspects of pedophilia, pornography, and same-sex marriage. And throws in a swipe at our founding fathers for good measure…

Duin writes “… We were a Christian nation, balanced on the pillars of morality and religion. We were securely tied to the principles of our God-fearing founding fathers, the ones who considered blacks fit for slavery, women unfit to vote.”

It is not incongruous, nor inconceivable that Christians have limits to their tolerances…limits outlined to them by the Bible, and limits which they embrace to some degree as individuals. Limits that may not include Duin’s vision of a liberal-utopia, where sexual promiscuity, unbridled illegal immigration, and national pacifism exist in abundance and are encouraged to excess by the venerated ACLU.

He is not astute enough in his critique of our founding fathers to measure their quantum leap from previous forms of government to our current form, imperfections not withstanding. He does not acknowledge the limitations they faced in their historical context. In short, Duin has written another of his specialties… a heavily biased, and overly pandering hit piece for the left.

And while he derides the seeming hypocrisy of the attendees and their beliefs, he attacks them as persecutors of Christians have done for over two thousand years…his has struck at them through their own piety, generosity, and hospitality.

I am sure that after the Romans and the lions, Duin is not much of a threat…he is just a bigger hypocrite.

© Michael McBride 2007