Silencing the Silence

On April 25, thousands of American students will go through their entire school day without speaking. They'll carry a note or wear a sign around their necks which says something like, "I'm keeping silent today in support of all of those Americans who must keep silent about who they are." These students are supporting gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and trans-genderds (yep, that was an awkward pluralization!). This article covers the Day of Silence.
Last year I was doing some work for a public high school's theater department in Tampa, FL on the Day of Silence. While working with the cast, I asked a girl a question and instead of answering, she pointed to her index card and then wrote her answer down for me. I was touched and a little inspired.

Unfortunately, wherever we find thoughtful people working to make a difference, we're bound to find some ignoramuses (ignorami?) looking to screw it up. Which led me here. The article is long and it'll take a while to get to the point, but, near the bottom, you'll finally see that the Concerned Women for America are sponsoring the Day of Silence Walkout--in which they keep their children home from school for the day--and then following it up on April 26 with the Day of Truth in which they encourage young people to walk around spouting biblical truths about homosexuality.

Now, there's something to notice, here. First, they encourage their children not to be around when people with different views make a statment and then they encourage those same children to make their own statements the following day. You see, it's not about fairness and open discussion. Although they feel it's perfectly fine for their kids to state their own points of view, they're too narrow to allow their kids to hear others'. I bring this up because the embedded video makes a point about it being "time for an honest conversation about homosexuality."

I stumbled upon all of this while reading Salvo. Take a moment to look around - if you think you've got the stomach for it.

Streets Paved With Gold

So, imagine you're in TX and you see a motorcade barrelling down the highway. There's a couple police bikes in front and in back and they're flanking some nondescript black SUVs and a white Bentley. They're on their way to the airport where they'll be met by a private Leer Jet which will whisk its owners away from their TX mansion to their $2.5M Central Park apartment. Can you guess who it is?

An oil magnate, maybe.

Or, how about a hedge fund manager.

Maybe a folksy, TX born Hollywood actor.

Nope. It's Creflo Dollar, a "prosperity gospel" preacher on his way to a Sunday service with his NY congregation.

The Rev. Dollar (I know, I don't think anyone misses the irony) along with fellow prosperity evangelists like Kenneth Copeland and faith healer Benny Hinn (of the six, I swear that 4 are from TX and they're all from the American south) are being investigated by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa (R).

It seems that it's odd for 501C not-for-profit organizations to rake in massive profits. And Grassley wants to know what gives. He's been hounding these six for about a year, now. Asking for receipts and such for all manner of luxuries (Kenneth Copeland owns three planes personally - and his organization owns a few more).

What gives, Grassley? So these guys (and one gal) are doing well? It's the American Dream, right? Wrong.

While all religious organizations are allowed to operate as not-for-profits under federal law, these six preachers are each at the head of what is essentially a corporation. They're diversified in the stock market, they own property all over the world, they each function as umbrellas with any number of smaller companies in tow, they own radio, TV, and other media outlets. They're the Disney Companies of the Jesus movement.

From a biblical perspective, it seems to me like these are exactly the guys whom Jesus was talking to when he went rampaging through the temple throwing tables on their sides. He called them, "You den of vipers."

Now, if you ask one of these men about the money, they'll tell you that they have large staffs and overhead. And that they support countless charities throughout the world. But that's not the way Paul did it. He walked from place to place and stayed at the homes of members of the church. And when he was imprisoned, he started what is probably the single most famous letter-writing campaign in western history. Jesus walked everywhere - well, except for that one time he rode a donkey.

Why am I so pissy? Because these are the guys who give Evangelicalism a bad name. Sure, I disagree with pretty much everything that evangelical Christianity represents, but this is different. These are moochers. They prey on the economically disadvantaged. They trick little old ladies to send in their pensions. I definitely think they would end up in Dante's bottom circle with Judas.

Keep watching, though. Things are just heating and we're gonna see some interesting stuff over the next few months as Senator Grassley heats up.

Persecution

I had a discussion the other day with some fellow atheists - or maybe we were agnostics - ah, hell, even we couldn't agree upon the right word. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that during the conversation these atheists (or agnostics) were telling me that they suffer persecution. They went on to remind me that the vast majority of Americans believe in god and that a strong majority are Christians.

My first reaction was one of shock. Not at the numbers. Shock that they would call their public treatment persecution. I remembered my days as an Evangelical Christian and how persecution was something I was acutely aware of. I saw persecution in schools regarding the lack of public prayer. I saw persecution in the media as it was common to see devout Christians depicted as boobs and nincompoops on TV and in movies. I saw persecution in my local and federal governments at courthouses, police stations, etc.

Why did I see that persecution? In public schools it is unconstitutional to hold scheduled prayer meetings or vigils; but it's perfectly acceptable for a student to take a moment to pray privately. (I should also note that, since I went to a private, Christian school, this never applied to me.) TV and movies weren't especially holy, but neither was my life being threatened due to my beliefs by a couple hundred feet of celluloid. The courthouse that wouldn't mount the ten commandments didn't do so in order to protect my rights as well as the rights of the Muslim or Buddhist that appeared after me. Yet, I saw persecution.

And I've figured it out. I saw persecution because Paul told me to do so. So did Jesus. And so did (and this is probably the most important) John on the Island of Patmos. You see, these dudes weren't talking directly to us. They were talking to a small number of Greeks and Jews who were living underground with their brand new faith in order to avoid a stoning or worse. And they were right. As I'm sure you know, things didn't work out well for these guys: Paul was martyred (probably beheaded by Nero), John was crucified upside down, and, well, I think we've got the Jesus thing settled.

For the next couple hundred years, Christians continued to hide for fear of their lives. Famously, Nero would throw Christians into the Colosseum along with a couple of lions to test their mettle. And, although it's been pretty well disproved that Christians actually hid in the labyrinths under the cities, they did have to watch out for the Romans and the Mosaic Jews.

But all that changed with Constantine. Once he came along and brought Jesus to the Romans, the rules changed forever. Christianity began what seems like its inevitable climb to become, for a while, the single largest religion in the world. Today it's the second largest (blame it on Muhammad) with at least 1 billion people professing some sort of Christianity.

So, why do modern christians feel persecuted? Do they fear for their lives? Some, I guess, but so do some Muslims, Tibetans, gays, and blacks. Do they worry for a world populace that's going to hell in a hand basket? Yeah, but that's what they were expecting (I refer you, again, to John's Revelation). What about American Christians and their beef with America's laws? It may be illegal to hold a bible study in a public classroom, but that's exactly what the Puritans - the single most moral and righteously pious sect of Christianity ever to land here - were aiming for when they told Queen Elizabeth to stuff it. Marriage is defined as a holy act in every single state. "Under God" remains in our pledge (don't get me started) and "In God We Trust" still adorns our legal tender. Chaplains start every congressional session with a prayer and our president leads us in prayer on Christmas and Easter.

Do you get it, yet? I'll make it simple. Even though a staggering majority of American Christians have never endured real persecution (death, dismemberment of limbs, separation from family, desecration of God, etc.) they need to feel as if they have. To be Christian is to be separate from this world; to keep the lights on until the Kingdom of Heaven returns; to be in the world but not of it.

All of this brings me to my main question: From what will they be separate if they're able to change all of America's laws to reflect their own, often narrow, morality and values? To put it another way, who's holier: the preacher at one of the hundreds of churches in any American town or the preacher at the one underground Christian church in Saudi Arabia? Get my drift?