Something I would expect from Ann Coulter or Sean Hannity, but from a Christian Church?
About a month ago, my grandparents forwarded me a classic Obama smear email. It stated he was a muslim, closet-terrorist, wouldn't say the pledge etc... you name it. Incensed by the nonsense, I sent an email back to my grandparents and everyone else on the forwarding list to let them know the accusations were not true and they were basically spreading lies.
Unfortunately, my grandma was offended and said something along the lines of "We used to be able to debate issues and have good conversations, but I guess we can't anymore." I replied and told her I have no problem debating issues with her and would never let her stance influence my feelings towards her, but this situation is different. Stating Obama is a terrorist or a muslim is not a debatable topic. It is a blatant lie. It is fair play to argue and debate that Obama is a "tax and spend liberal," inexperienced, lacks proper judgement, pro-abortion and so on, but those are valid claims to be made. Stating a lie with no evidense to back it up is not a debatable topic.
This brings us to the church in South Carolina. One of the most important principles of the Christian faith is honesty and truth. How is this church missing that message? How far has the Christian church fallen in the U.S. to place defamatory statements on their outdoor church sign, and to actually defend the act when called out on it?! This is not the message of the Gospels.
Andrew Sullivan compares this ruthless attitude against Obama to McCarthyism.
To say that someone who self-describes as a Christian is actually an
atheist or a Muslim is a form of McCarthyism, but because it rests on no facts
at all, and mere suspicion, and indeed denial of what the candidate himself says
in an area only the candidate can truly know, its something slightly
different. McCarthy at least himself believed that his targets might have
been Communists..."Obama, Osama, hmmm, are they brothers?" They are just
asking. They are not saying. Like Stephanopoulos and Gibson, Rove or
Clinton, they have no evidence for their accusations; they just don't know for
sure.
Yet, supposedly I was in the wrong for notifying everyone their behavior fell below the level of civil discourse. What a shame.
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