Q: What's the difference between a Christian fundamentalist and a Christian evangelical?
A: Evangelicals try not to belch at the dinner table.
It seems one Richard Cizik, a long-time staff member of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), has been forced to resign his position as the organization's vice-president after giving a radio interview in which he stated support for gay civil unions and vague, squishy thoughts which a gullible person might, with enormous effort, construe as just a tiny bit of openness to the almost infinitely remote possibility of gay marriage. In reaction to the stink the interview stirred up, Mr. Cizik (news accounts call him "Reverend" without mentioning of what church he is a reverend) desperately but unsuccessfully tried to recant and to apologize to all fundies/evangelicals offended by his remarks. Despite this grovelling, Mr. Cizik was shown the door and invited to walk through it on his way to the unemployment office. There's nothing more inspiring than Christian charity, now is there?
You may recall that Mr. Cizik made fundies/evangelicals apoplectic when in 2002 he suggested that people of their ilk should concern themselves with environmental issues like global warming since they, too, live on planet earth. The fundies/evangelicals would have none of it (possibly because, not wanting to live on planet earth, they expect the Rapture to occur any moment, at which time they will float up to the stratosphere where Jesus, gathering all his little sunbeams, will whisk them off to heaven while the rest of us die hideous deaths during the Tribulation here on earth). Ever since, these angry people have been out to get Mr. Cizik, and now they've got him.
It's not that I have any sympathy for Mr. Cizik. So he supports gay civil unions? Oh yeah, I ask, since when? He publicly supported Proposition 8, which makes him an abettor of that criminal act which stole the civil rights of gays and lesbians. Mr. Cizik might have recalled that stealing violates one of the Ten Commandments. It seems he needs a Bible refresher course and a bit of remedial training in morality. Now jobless, he'll have plenty of free time for study. Let's hope he makes the most of it. And, perhaps, I do him an injustice. Maybe he really is trying to think for himself late in life; maybe his slight openness to gay people is sincere; maybe he wants more from his faith than the dogma and right-wing politics he has been peddling for the last 20 years at NAE. Maybe. Then again, maybe pigs can fly.
Read it here
A: Evangelicals try not to belch at the dinner table.
It seems one Richard Cizik, a long-time staff member of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), has been forced to resign his position as the organization's vice-president after giving a radio interview in which he stated support for gay civil unions and vague, squishy thoughts which a gullible person might, with enormous effort, construe as just a tiny bit of openness to the almost infinitely remote possibility of gay marriage. In reaction to the stink the interview stirred up, Mr. Cizik (news accounts call him "Reverend" without mentioning of what church he is a reverend) desperately but unsuccessfully tried to recant and to apologize to all fundies/evangelicals offended by his remarks. Despite this grovelling, Mr. Cizik was shown the door and invited to walk through it on his way to the unemployment office. There's nothing more inspiring than Christian charity, now is there?
You may recall that Mr. Cizik made fundies/evangelicals apoplectic when in 2002 he suggested that people of their ilk should concern themselves with environmental issues like global warming since they, too, live on planet earth. The fundies/evangelicals would have none of it (possibly because, not wanting to live on planet earth, they expect the Rapture to occur any moment, at which time they will float up to the stratosphere where Jesus, gathering all his little sunbeams, will whisk them off to heaven while the rest of us die hideous deaths during the Tribulation here on earth). Ever since, these angry people have been out to get Mr. Cizik, and now they've got him.
It's not that I have any sympathy for Mr. Cizik. So he supports gay civil unions? Oh yeah, I ask, since when? He publicly supported Proposition 8, which makes him an abettor of that criminal act which stole the civil rights of gays and lesbians. Mr. Cizik might have recalled that stealing violates one of the Ten Commandments. It seems he needs a Bible refresher course and a bit of remedial training in morality. Now jobless, he'll have plenty of free time for study. Let's hope he makes the most of it. And, perhaps, I do him an injustice. Maybe he really is trying to think for himself late in life; maybe his slight openness to gay people is sincere; maybe he wants more from his faith than the dogma and right-wing politics he has been peddling for the last 20 years at NAE. Maybe. Then again, maybe pigs can fly.
Read it here
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