NPR Brings In Democrat Author to Trash Jerry Falwell For Ruining Christianity
NPR aired yet another attack on the Christian right on Thursday's Tell Me More. Michel Martin interviewed Democrat activist and author Michael Sean Winters about his new book "God's Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized the Religious Right." The headline for this interview on NPR.org was "Party Of Reagan? No, Party Of Falwell, Writer Says."
Martin drew out the harshest criticisms of Jerry Falwell, that he turned moderate Republicans into "Judas figures" and forced less conservative Christians to abandon Christianity altogether because they didn't want to be associated with Falwell's "fundamentalist cast of mind." At NPR, left-wing secular fundamentalists are never questioned as coarseners of American politics, but conservative Christians are accused:
MICHEL MARTIN: I think fair-minded people would praise his accomplishments in terms of, you know, creating a viable conservative base for the Republican Party, energizing of voting block, encouraging more people to be engaged in the civic life of their country. But you also note, at the end of the day you think Falwell's efforts were ultimately bad for politics and bad for religion. And that's a pretty harsh assessment. I'd like to ask why you arrived there.
MICHAEL SEAN WINTERS: I think it was bad for politics because he still brought that fundamentalist cast of mind with him. Twenty, 30 years ago, if those of us in the progressive community were arguing to raise the minimum wage, we had on the opposite side the National Association of Manufacturers, and they were opposed to raising the minimum wage because it meant more money out of their pockets. It was simply about interest. Today, it's about ideology that really has coarsened the debate and may compromise less likely. The reason...
MARTIN: Make compromise undesirable, or make compromise almost a dirty word, some would argue.
WINTERS: Oh, absolutely. And so if you are a moderate Republican now, you're not just a, you know, you're a Judas figure.
MARTIN: You say that the fastest growing religion in the U.S. is the religion of none. And you argue that the public image that he created and promoted has contributed a great deal to the growing numbers of people in this country who don't want anything to do with organized religion. Again, that's a very damning assessment. Why do you arrive there?
WINTERS: Well, I think - you know, when you conflate religion which has, you know, deals with the ultimate life questions into this kind of, you know, handy political card of how you should vote. When people that have questions about the politics and decide they don't like your politics, they're going to throw the political baby out with the baptismal water. You know, you need to have some mediating philosophies and mediating institutions between religion and politics, to make sure that they're kept separate.
The whole purpose of the Moral Majority was to conflate those in ways, and again, because of this fundamentalist mindset, often in very simplistic ways. And so when people said, you know, well, I just don't want to have anything to do with his politics, they almost felt they then had to abandon Christianity, because this is what Christianity had become in their mind. And I think he's very much responsible for that.
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Comments
"You know, you need to have
Submitted by tcm14 on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 9:14pm.
"You know, you need to have some mediating philosophies and mediating institutions between religion and politics, to make sure that they're kept separate."
They only feel this way when it is conservatism and religion mixing. When it is liberalism and religion mixing (e.g., Jeremiah Wright), then you can have at it! Jesus Christ was a big government radical!
What's really disingenuous is their hand wringing that extreme conservatism is driving people from religion. These secular leftists WANT people driven from religion, it is one of their goals.
This too
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 6:58am.
Also, you will never see the left criticize a black Southern Baptist figure.
I think they claim to be Christians, too.
Don't really need to bring in
Submitted by balboa on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 9:24pm.
Don't really need to bring in a democrat to trash Falwell, do you?
Apparently so... any other stupid questions?
Submitted by gmaniac1 on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 10:25am.
*nm
LOL!
Submitted by Rukus on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 8:08pm.
Let's see what the answer is...
While I don't know if it's
Submitted by Shreve on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 9:59pm.
While I don't know if it's Falwell's doing but there is that perception in politics.
That perception that if you're religious, which for many means Christian, you're an automatic Republican.
If you're non-religious, you're seen as a Democrat voting heathen.
Liberals have no problem
Submitted by misterbee241 on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 3:32pm.
with any religion except Christianity. They're not non religious or anti religion, they are anti-God.
The biggest problem with
Submitted by redfish on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 10:10pm.
The biggest problem with Falwell -- as far as I'm concerned --- was that liberally-biased TV news broadcasts would unfailingly invite him on to represent the socially conservative point of view, when there were always people around who could give far more articulate, intelligent answers than he could.
That's not Falwell's fault, though.
A democrat speaking on Christianity is like the devil telling
Submitted by gmaniac1 on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 10:21pm.
us how to worship God. The democrats need to stick to what they're good at which is omitting the Islam part of the Islamic terrorism and pledging allegiance to their human deity Barack Obama.
Yes because only
Submitted by balboa on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 11:04pm.
Yes because only conservatives are religious...
Post number 117
Submitted by cocodrie on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 11:11pm.
Post number 117 from the Stupid Post for Every Day Calendar.
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you
You're welcome, Coco.
Submitted by balboa on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 11:39pm.
You're welcome, Coco.
Coming from the king of one line generalizations and
Submitted by gmaniac1 on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 10:23am.
nonsense... no, thank you balboa for reaffirming why I have little faith in the uneducated that are allowed to vote.
Well, ya' gotta have faith.
Submitted by balboa on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 10:48am.
Well, ya' gotta have faith.
Faith in what Bal?
Submitted by Rukus on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 8:20pm.
You know, I don't give your stuff a shit, usually, being liberal and all, I'm usually ok with you etc. But what do you mean "...gotta have faith." ? What do you mean? We, conservatives, have faith in God and small gov't. We also believe in God... you got a problem with that? Maybe I'm misunderstanding your usual snark, but, maybe not. Give us more than your usual snark buddy, we at least deserve that. Take care buddy... Ruk
Im a conservative
Submitted by misterbee241 on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 3:28pm.
and I'm not religious. I do however have a relationship. Do you know the difference?
To me
Submitted by panzerakc on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 11:35pm.
"they almost felt they then had to abandon Christianity, because this is what Christianity had become in their mind."
If one leaves Christianity because of the actions of a famous Christian, the one leaving must not have had much Christianity to start with.
Too funnt bal, can't wait to
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 11:37pm.
Too funnt bal, can't wait to see you groveling before your islamic masters and volunteering to clean the toilets in the mosque. It's only a matter of time. Your islamic overlords won't be as tolerant as the jew next door.
The first thing I want Romney to do in January 2012 is...
Submitted by jawebster1 on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 4:49am.
to get rid of Obamacare. The second and third thing I want him to do is to defund NPR and Planned Parenthood!
Would Michael Sean Winters
Submitted by oldfart on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 6:04am.
make the same comments about Louis Farrakhan for the Iman of the Grand Mosque in Mecca?
Well, that depends....
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 7:05am.
You know, you need to have some mediating philosophies and mediating institutions between religion and politics, to make sure that they're kept separate.
Unless Barack Obama wants to quote Scripture as a lever to raise your taxes.
He said, for example, that his own call for fairness in the tax code — a central tenet of his State of the Union address and his 2012 campaign — is both economically sound and consistent with the teachings of Jesus.
I don't recall NPR have a case of the vapors over THAT conflation of religion and politics!
It would be pretty easy to
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 7:08am.
It would be pretty easy to write a book titled: "Satan's Left Hand: How Wesley Cook (aka Mumia Abu Jamal) Made Satan a Democrat and unBaptized the Religious Left"
Really.
Look who rallies 'round the cop-killer.
Leftist 'elites' from Hollywood, NY, DC, etc.
All the same people who support the Democrats and Obama.
They all attend the same fund raisers.
How special.
Fundamentalist cast of mind
Submitted by cocodrie on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 7:27am.
That means Rev Falwell is telling us God doesn't want us to
Follow Allah and behead people
Disrespect our parents or our children
Lie or cheat
Murder or steal
Fornicate with men or women
Plot to steal or fornicate
Rev Falwell and God don't want us to have any fun
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you
Oh no!
Submitted by almostacowboy on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 8:19am.
Christianity is ruined? He better appear on MSDNC so 21 more people will hear the news.
Religious Right
Submitted by CoG on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 10:39am.
The basic fallacy with the entire conversation is the idea that Falwell, or any other prominent religioius conservative "created" a movement. What he, and all leaders do, is give voice to an idea, or an attitude that already exists. When I heard him for the 1st time, I didn't say "What a novel idea." I said, "Someone feels the way I do."
God bless.
For a long time
Submitted by misterbee241 on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 3:23pm.
I didn't have a good opinion of Dr Falwell. Then it occurred to me my impression was shaped by the liberal media. This was before Internet news when all we had was the mainstream media. I know now that Falwell was not what they said he was.
So some people who's faith was second-hand
Submitted by Quasi-socialist on Sat, 04/28/2012 - 12:43am.
Fell away. Let me get this straight. Falwell was wrong about Christianity and drove people who might have a more Christian attitude away from Christianity--however they didn't know where Falwell was wrong.
So we lost some people who could have been marginally attached to Christianity? Wow nothing in there about an abiding Spirit or truth at all--so what would have those people have been believing in? That Jesus wanted social programs?
I think that's the opportunity that was lost.
Chrisitanity
Submitted by Jerry Frey on Sun, 04/29/2012 - 7:52am.
Christianity is the way it is, however, there is nothing in the New Testament that declares a person is judged according to their particular doctrine/dogma. Jesus and Paul strived to inculcate a new morality, love your neighbor, turn the other cheek, become selfless instead of selfish.
For decisive facts about Christianity they don't tell you, pls visit:
http://napoleonlive.info/see-the-evidence/judas-the-galilean-and-his-unt...
I don't need to read your spam
Submitted by cocodrie on Sun, 04/29/2012 - 8:31am.
I don't need to read your spam to know that you have no real understanding of the bible nor do you respect the real purpose of newsbusters. Your post reveals the twisted logic of your beliefs and your disrespect of christianity and newsbusters.
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you