Bullshit: 1. Rubbish, nonsense
I know most of you don’t have a dog in this fight, but here goes… Evangelicals know well — or should — the writings of Francis Schaeffer on worldview. He was sort of a hippy fundamentalist in that he loved art, music, etc., but had basically fundamentalist views of Christianity (fundamentalist meaning orthodox — birth, death Resurrection, etc. — The Creed). His son — also a Christian — though a lesser light printed a slander (libel rather) of all conservative Christians so hateful and so false as to be labeled Bullshit. I hesitate to link to it lest it spread, but since these things spread anyway I will do my part to combat it. It is so laden with bullshit that a point by point fisking of it would take days and it’s not that deserving of my attention.
Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind series of sixteen novels (so far!) represents everything that is most deranged about religion. If I had to choose companions to take my chances with in a lifeboat, and the choice boiled down to picking Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins, or Christopher Hitchens, I’d pick Hitchens in a heartbeat. At least he wouldn’t try to sink our boat so that Jesus would come back sooner. He might even bring along a case of wine.
The Left Behind novels have sold tens of millions of copies while spawning an “End Times” cult, or rather egging it on. Such products as Left Behind wall paper, screen savers, children’s books, and video games have become part of the ubiquitous American background noise. Less innocuous symptoms include people stocking up on assault rifles and ammunition, adopting “Christ-centered” home school curricula, fearing higher education, embracing rumor as fact, and learning to love hatred for the “other,” as exemplified by a revived anti-immigrant racism, the murder of doctors who do abortions, and even a killing in the Holocaust Museum.
Now I think the Left Behind novels are crap reading and I don’t agree with their end-times theology either, but they are innocuous and they are sort old news. Schaeffer — who I wager supports the Obama agenda — seeks to attack us because I’m not really sure why. This ladies and gentlemen is the Religious Left. What? You’ve never heard of the Religious Left? That’s because the press doesn’t do its job very well.
Notice how he blames the Religious Right for demonizing everyone with which it disagrees by what? That’s right — demonizing everyone with which he disagrees. You folks don’t really know me from Adam, but I have been a Southern Baptist for longer than I’ve been a Christian — nearly 40 years. I won’t claim to have juice, but I know people and I’ve been to some of the universities and know the folks that teach and attend there — it’s not anything like he says. For every Bob Jones University there are 20 that teach the Classics. Want to learn who George Washington was? Go to a Christian school because you might not have to take American History at Harvard. I went to a Southern Baptist university for my undergrad…. I’ll stack my reading list against any Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford, educated person any day. I know there are diploma mills out there and I deplore their existence, but to besmirch an entire group is unfair and typical of the Left (secular and religious). “Murders of abortion doctors”? — try two in the last 15 years. What about the recent assault of pro-life protesters in Flagstaff or the murder of the pro-life protester in Michigan a few weeks ago? Is that a sign that lefties are going off the deep end?
I can only think that Frankie Schaeffer can’t stand to see his President fail and so the only weapon he has is his stock in trade — to proclaim “inside knowledge” of fundamentalists and then turn coat. I don’t know what he calls it — I call it BULLSHIT.
Have I met examples of every bugaboo he talks about? Sure — in 37 years of experience you’ll meet every kind of nut job around. Have any of them had any influence? Not at any institutional level — obviously in their family or circle of friends. That anti-gay hatred he talks of? Read the Bible — homosexuality is an abomination — the act not the people. Welcome to the world where ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God — hardly a controversial doctrine except in the Christless mainline Protestant denominations the Religious Left call home.
The Religious Left is one of the most destructive forces in our country right now. Their religion is a product of their political views, not the other way around. They bend over backwards to coddle the worst elements of our society while viciously attacking Christians they see as “too Christian.” I have confronted people from the religious left many times and the vast majority are political animals using their faith as a smoke screen.
They are the worst people ever.
I tried to read the whole thing, but it was nuts. I got to the stuff about Revelation. I guess he doesn’t believe that no matter what human intervention took place, God was the one who put the Bible together.
I didn’t realize Christ centered homeschooling was part of a cult movement. We have chosen Classical, but we do talk about how Christianity impacts history, science, and literature, either for good or bad. My friends who do use more Christ centered curriculum, while I think some of them take it a bit far(the pumpkin carving gospel, really?), don’t seem to be fringe types with guns hidden in their basements to kill abortion drs with.
I spent some time reading about the guy who did the Holocaust museum shooting, nothing in any report about him being an evangelical, or even a Christian. So how come it’s our fault he did that?
The Left Behind series isn’t good literature, but it’s certainly nothing like anti-Semitic.
Sounds like someone has daddy issues.
I’ve never met Franky Schaeffer, but I’ve known a couple people who did. His story, as I understand it, goes something like this.
He was the youngest child in his family, and his father’s only son. That would have made him likely to be spoiled in the first place, but on top of that he got polio, and they were afraid they’d lose him for a while (he survived, but walks with a limp). It seems to have resembled a biblical model his father should have heeded, “Eli never asked his sons, ‘Why have you done thus?’” Franky pretty much ruled the roost, and expected his own way in everything.
As he grew up, he became fascinated with liturgical and high church forms of Christianity, which offended the Presbyterianism of his parents. As an adult wrote a novel called Portofino, about a sensitive boy being raised by evangelical missionaries in Europe, which portrayed his family in a very unflattering light (he claims to be amazed that they were offended by it, since it was just a work of fiction!). Eventually he converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, but I think I’ve read recently that he’s more or less abandoned Christianity altogether (I could be wrong about that. His Wikipedia page says nothing of it).
He appears to be a narcissist, forever trying to get outside his father’s shadow. And if he can’t excel his father as a warrior for conservatism, he’s just as happy to try to excel him as a liberal.
Unfortunately, Frankie Schaeffer is someone I have to count as one my co-religionists, as I converted to Eastern Orthodoxy nine years ago. He is a disgrace. Frankie is a smarmy little firebrand who runs around torching everything around and giggling as it all burns to the ground. I’m not particularly surprised to see him embraced by radical leftists like Rachel Maddow, as that ideological bent attracts small-minded, self-loathing individuals who only want to spit on their parent’s memory.
Floyd,
I can’t speak for Southern Baptist Universities but I’ll stack the curriculum at my oldest son’s Jesuit High School next to any High School and most Universities in this country. He knows more about non-Christian religions than 99.99999% of kids graduating from secular or public schools and, except for Theology class, it’s almost all Classics.
The Apostles often referred to Christ as “rabbi” which translates to “teacher.”
Just re-read this. Don’t think I was clear.
I’m agreeing with Floyd that some Christian educational institutions do secular better than most secular institutions.
I read a few of Schaefer’s books in the 70’s. They were nothing like this last one.
G-MAN — this is Francis’ son Frank (or Frankie) — Francis died in the 1980s.
My internet connection is painfully slow today but will try to read more later on the topic at hand. I’m not familiar with Schaeffer or his writings. I’ve heard of them, of course. Based on what Floyd posted it seems typical of the attacks I see on Christians locally on a newspaper’s online forums. It’s not that they are just happy with their non-belief or differing views, they take great delight in depicting every person of faith as a cliche: all pro-life people hate women and could care less about the babies once born and all those who defend traditional marriage hate gays and want them to die. Anyone who has a strong set of values is seen as intolerant and unforgiving.
I think Blackhawk really has a point in describing this as more of a political movement.
When my brother-bot and I were at school at (undisclosed location) Francis Schaeffer’s films were part of the humanities curriculum. We endured “How Should We Then Live” for hours and hours. Even then, we knew of Frankie, and that he was bad news.
I’m surprised that it took so long for the left to find him.