The Evangelist Avengers

Was perusing blogs idly one day when I came upon this entry and the following excerpt:

“In your re-election,” the Rev. Bob Jones wrote to Bush on November 3, “God has graciously granted America--though she doesn’t deserve it--a reprieve from the agenda of paganism…. Don’t equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ.”

A former major league pitcher turned radio evangelist named Frank Pastore wrote in an LA Times op-ed, “In the weeks and months to come, we will hear the voices of well-meaning people beseeching the victor to compromise with the vanquished. This would be a mistake. Conservatives must not compromise with the left.”

The utter horror those passages evoke is powerful. To be accused of 'despising Christ' because I do not hold 'conservative' or 'Republican' views is bewildering. The liberals I am closest to all hold Jesus Christ in high esteem, as a teacher of wisdom and a person with noteworthy mercy and compassion. We all find his example of kindness worth respect and emulation. (For that matter, all of us at one time followed the doctrines of the Church before becoming disallusioned with their faith and ultimately separating from the Church.)

And the idea that compromise of any kind is a mistake is equally terrifying. What will compromise mean now to people like that-- listening to the ideas and opinions of others? Valuing input from someone who doesn't follow the same political or religious credo? Treating those 'others' equally?