TBN has had recent programming changes since there is controversy over the homosexuality and sumptuous lifestyle of its main on-air spokesman and founder and his outing by popular faith healer Benny Hinn.
The program I couldn't get past creeped me out. D. James Kennedy was preaching on Thomas Jefferson and the myths and lies liberals were spreading about him in an effort to destroy the United States.
First, D. James Kennedy, I can't bring myself to type Dr., looks like an alien from Star Trek, an anti-Vulcan. Instead of pointed ear tips on top he has no ear lobes but a pointy stretch of skin below. Just what you want in a leader - an anti-Vulcan. Away with calm logic, I have the authority of hateful lies.
Second, he was using the rhetoric all too common nowadays from the GOP and Christian fundamentalists about the "evil" liberals, the "evil" American Civil Liberties Union, (who by the way defended Rush Limbaugh's right to keep medical records private), the "evil" liberal media establishment, and the "evil" fake historians and educators. All of us educated civil libertarians and liberals out here are evil, evil, evil and going to Hell, Hell, Hell. He even added a dig about the anarchistic godless French.
Third, he distorted and twisted history. He proceeded to try to pull every time Jefferson supported the church and Christianity as an example of what a great Christian leader he was. One who would support what his organization is trying to do which is to "recreate" America as a Christian theocracy.
During all this he glossed over and tried to explain away Jeffersonian positions he didn't approve of. The "wall of separation between Church and State" he said really was the church being protected from the government. There wasn't any such thing as the Jefferson Bible, Jefferson's cutting out of the parts of the Bible he couldn't support - this was only Jefferson creating a moral guidebook based on the Bible. The little problems that Jefferson had with Christianity can be explained away as Jefferson's loss of loved ones and not having access to a minister for theological guidance. As an aside he mentioned Lincoln's "falling in with the wrong crowd" as an explanation for his unorthodox views.
This was a lecture sermon on the myths and distortions of Jefferson that was full of myths and distortions. Jesus, every time I see a sermon lately I feel I need equal time.
Both Lincoln and Jefferson could be called liberal Christians which these crackpot fundamentalists don't understand. They seem to feel they must lie and distort history to explain away their views.
Jefferson in particular did not believe in the rank superstitions which he felt had been inserted into the Bible. He believed Jesus was a great man but did not rise from the dead and all miracles are superstitions added by credulous ignorant people. Abraham Lincoln believed in a God of love and these fundamentalists don't. Jefferson said he would have been a Unitarian if a church had been near him. Lincoln supported Universalism, which says the message of Jesus and the Bible is love and no tyrant would be so cruel as to condemn people to everlasting punishment. These are the mind and heart responses a thinking loving person can apply toward Christianity.
Media Transparency has created an information page on the powerful political power D. James Kennedy now has.
What distinguishes Dr. Kennedy from the more colorful, media-genic, and recognizable religious right figures such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Dr. James Dobson is that "Kennedy has shepherded his flock in a more orderly, and Presbyterian style into the Christian Right."" Part of his crusade is to twist American history to make people believe that the U.S. was founded as a 'Christian nation.' "It is this false, historical revisionism that is central to the ideology of the Christian right -- it's a critical part of their justification to restore an idea that never was."American's United for the Separation of Church and State have obtained a recording of the GOP leaders pledging to strongly push the Religious Right agenda on judicial nominations, church politicking, abortion, marriage, the Terri Schiavo case and other right to life issues.
Between the years 1998 and 2003, Dr. Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and Evangelism Explosion received more than $7.2 million in grants from conservative foundations. The most generous donors, according to Media Transparency, have been the Orville D. and Ruth A. Merillat Foundation and the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, which alone ponied up nearly $6 million earmarked as "unrestricted grant[s]" to the organization's "general fund."
Just another sign that America is being lead by mutants straight to Hell.
The Light of Reason also sees the GOP quoting Stalin to lead us to Hell.
This was a birthday blog - now back to job hunting.
1 comment:
crpc will probably be around for a whie, but it's groth is over, the staff's moral is at an all time low and it's a sad place to go to church! these peolple don't know anything about worship only their religion! a lot of money goes through this place but not many people. the leadership wants you to believe everything is ok so the money dosen't dry up!
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