Sullivan Channels ... Al Sharpton?

Andrew Sullivan's anti-religious conversion from conservative to Left Wing loon appears complete. How else to explain his basically pimping Al Sharpton's notion that Mormon's are somehow less than christianists, to use Sullivan's own vernacular. And his using Bush, a President who has done more than any other to reach out to Muslims in America, as his foil, only serves to confirm how weak his reasoning has become.

Bush has done nothing to cause anyone to argue that he somehow believes there is but one true Christian God worthy of a place under the very general construction we conveniently define as God in our history and on our currency, if no longer in our public schools. But that's not good enough for Sullivan and whatever persecution complex that drove him round the bend. He won't rest until he runs down any notion of Christian-ism in America, a religion even the most atheistically inclined conservative in America would simply let be in peace.

Secularism and anti-Christian-ism are not even close to being the same thing. Sullivan has come off any fundamental conservative mooring that respects all religions in a secular society. Were America truly the new Rome, one must wonder just how many Sullivan would want crucified to satisfy his incredibly obvious fear and loathing of the Christian faith.

The logical conclusion of the religiously based party that Rove and Bush have built is that strictly sectarian issues can and indeed should be salient factors in political debates.

... Richard John Neuhaus, a long-time believer in the fusion of religion and politics. He deserves praise for sticking to his guns and arguing that someone's religious faith can be a legitimate factor in American politics:

The question is not whether, as president, Mr. Romney would take orders from Salt Lake City. I doubt whether many people think he would. The questions are: Would a Mormon as president of the United States give greater credibility and prestige to Mormonism? The answer is almost certainly yes. Would it therefore help advance the missionary goals of what many view as a false religion? The answer is almost certainly yes. Is it legitimate for those Americans to take these questions into account in voting for a presidential nominee or candidate? The answer is certainly yes.

Comments

[seekeronos]

Sullivan is about as anti-christian as Falwell was pro- "Christian" in his rhetoric.

[Purple Mushroom]

Wait, I'm confused. What did the quotes around the word 'Christian' imply there? I totally lost you, Seeker.

[Chris]

Don't agree with what Sully wrote today? Tune in tomorrow, he'll do an about-face.

[seekeronos]

"What did the quotes around the word 'Christian' imply there?"
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Well, to be blunt... Falwell represented a certain subset of believers. He was on target for a few things, but in my opinion, he did more to draw the unsaved and unchurched away from the Cross of Christ than to simply present the message of salvation.

Toward the end of his career, he seemed to me to be more about politics than soul-winning and teaching Christians how to follow Christ's example of selfless service to the King (Jesus).

To that end, I say that he stands on a _form_ of Christianity, and not much of the substance (again, I am looking at what he did in the tail end of his career, as that was the part I was alive through to see and hear his words & actions).

The reason for the "scare quotes" (or in this case, the "not-quite-sincere" quotes) has more to do with the fact that most people see Falwell as one of the big men of Protestant Christianity in America, and take his words as representative of those of the entire fundamentalist or evangelical community.

[Jamie]

This country is not ready for a Mormon president. If Romney got the nomination, get ready for a detailed expose of Mormonism in all of its Masonic weirdness. There are pluralities on the right and the left that will NEVER vote for a Mormon for president, albeit for different reasons.