Things I Think…
1. A few days before the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I rented a post office box so I wouldn’t have to post my physical address here, nor give it to anyone who wanted to send correspondence of any kind. We’ve had threats made in the past and I didn’t want to make it easy for someone to follow through on any of them.
That was the world we were living in already…before the assassination.
Now, with the Trump administration threatening anyone who doesn’t agree with them, writing at all seems to be a fools errand and a risk.
From the Dispatch:
“The other irony is that what Trump and Miller are planning is antithetical to Charlie Kirk’s model of politics. The common note of praise for Kirk in his many obituaries is that, in an era when most activists are siloed off behind screens and fulminating about the inhuman enemy, Charlie met his opponents face to face. He liked debate. To all appearances, he was an old-school liberal to the extent that he believed more speech is better than less speech.
What’s about to be done in his name contradicts that. “In a free society, we must not be afraid to express our views, no matter how strongly some might oppose them. That’s the point of free speech,” Adam Goldstein wrote this weekend of Kirk’s murder. “But it is precisely for that reason why we must not respond to mockery of Kirk’s assassination by canceling everyone who offends us: because that too creates a society where people are afraid to express themselves.”
Indeed, but that’s the kind of society that the president and his henchmen want. If they have a chance to exploit the death of cheerful debater Charlie Kirk to build a country where everyone’s afraid to debate the subject of Charlie Kirk—and Donald Trump by extension—they’ll take it every time. A deep freeze on dissenting speech is the goal of every fascist regime.”
My time on earth is short…I’m not sure I want to spend what’s left fighting church and state…
2. Both sides of the American gulf have learned how to use cancel culture to their benefit…the reason it works so well is because we no longer have any concept of shame in our society…no filters on what we shouldn’t do or say…the keyboard warrior is unaccountable to people or God…or so they think…
3. Any political violence is evil…but as this (now censored) study shows, it’s not just on the political left...as a matter of fact…
4. My contention for all the years I’ve been online is that all my thoughts and actions should align with the teachings of Jesus, including (and maybe especially) my political opinions. While, like all of us, I’m a work in progress, the goal is still real…and thats what what I believe the debates should be centered on…does a policy or a person reflect the teachings of Christ?
5. Stop all the “war” talk unless you really want to take up arms against your neighbor in violation of the biblical warrant…I can’t even imagine something so inane…
6. Remember when we used to debate theology? Remember when we thought it mattered?
7. Might as well just say this and get it over with…politics in general and Charlie Kirk in particular were all that was keeping the traditional wing of Calvary Chapel relevant…how interested do you think they are in toning down anything?
8. As most churches have been in decline, politics and social controversies have kept some full and financially sound…you can’t make that kind of scratch being “ministers of reconciliation”…
9. The fastest way to become irrelevant on social media or any other kind of media is to try to be decent…the prince of the power of the air has used our love of technology to train us to hate each other…and we enjoy the lessons, if not the results…
10. I have always found Jesus’s question to the lame man odd…““Would you like to get well?”” (John 5:6 NLT-SE)
If He asked us if we would like to heal the rifts we have today…how would we answer?
(I posted this on Open Blogging, but it seems to fit here)
I gotta say that I was a bit surprised (and dismayed) by a short video clip that showed up on my Facebook page today. It was of Greg Laurie, scolding pastors who, in his view, didn’t give enough time in their services to honor Charlie Kirk. It just seemed odd for him to stick his nose in the business of how other pastors conduct their services.
Let’s face it, Trump and his enablers don’t want a democracy, they want a dictatorship.
I keep wondering how churches will respond when the government begins to come after us. Examples: if a war is on and Christian pacifists won’t sign up for the draft, or if the preaching of peace from the pulpit ruffles too many feathers. I mean, what is the difference from telling universities what they can teach and how to treat people with different opinions who are peacefully protesting vs. going after people who post contrary opinions to the party line on Facebook/X or, worse yet, trying to get them fired from their jobs? Censorship and the suppression of opposing opinions can work both ways.
Linn, The way the Trump regime would suppress churches expressing views antithetical to MAGA would be by revoking their tax-exempt status, probably by investigating and manufacturing evidence that those churches are consorting with so-called “extremist” groups or antisemitic groups or etc. That’s the model being used against institutions of higher learning: attacking them in the pocketbook to make them comply; I would expect the regime to follow a similar model with churches and other religious institutions.
Pineapple,
do you have a link of Greg Laurie scolding pastors? I haven’t been able to find. Thanks.
https://x.com/i/status/1967918885082181908
Thanks, Michael.
I’m ok with Greg expressing his disappointment, but I do not believe that is necessarily the high road. Greg, how about you concern yourself with what God is telling you to say to your church, and I’ll concern myself with what God wants me to say to mine.
It is certainly a dangerous time for anyone to speak out against the Trump regime and its allies. There’s no denying it: anyone can become a target for state persecution in all its forms. It doesn’t matter how big and influential one might be, that’s goes without saying; but it matters just as little how small and inconsequential one may think oneself as well. It takes courage to speak out now, but it will take more and more as things develop.
From the Holy Post:
Jake and Elwood Blues, aka The Blues Brothers, sang about it. Freddie Mercury sang about it. Our need for “someone to love.” A longing for connection. But it seems there is another human impulse: the impulse to hate.
Our Christian heritage makes us uncomfortable admitting this out loud. Good, Christian people don’t hate our neighbors. We LOVE our neighbors. Or at least we know we’re supposed to. But…I really don’t like THOSE people. They’re different. Threatening. They don’t share my values. Given the chance, I’m fairly certain they would happily do me harm.
So we look for justification to hate, a permission structure to say, “God wants me to love people, but not THEM.” In times of social or political upheaval, the desire to hate is even stronger. We see it on both ends of the political spectrum, though the justifications are different.
Conservatives hate evil. Which sometimes translates into hating those we believe are evil. It’s justified, because those people are evil. We’ve turned them into demons. Manifestations of pure, Satanic evil. And how could I not hate evil?
Liberals hate hate. Which sometimes translates into hating those we believe are spreading hate, or filled with hate. “I hate those who hate.” “I will not tolerate those that are intolerant.”
One group hates those who promote evil. The other hates those who promote hate. We all arrive at the same place – giving ourselves permission to hate those whom God loves.
And so, from the Right: “You are not worthy of my love if you promote evil.” And then we define what is evil, often related to the politics of the moment and prioritized for us by our preferred religious or political leaders.
And from the Left: “You are not worthy of my love if you promote hate.” And then we define what is hateful, often related to the politics of the moment and prioritized for us by this generation’s activist class and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The result is a permission structure. To do what? To take Jesus’ clear teaching and set it aside. If Jesus were here today, we tell ourselves, he would surely understand. He would recognize that we’re in a table-flipping, whip-braiding moment. Not a “turn the other cheek” moment. As Family Research Council president, Tony Perkins, famously replied when asked about the increasingly antagonistic posture of the religious Right: “We only have two cheeks.” We Christians HAVE to be angry and aggressive. We’re all out of cheeks.
Of course, the secular Left and Right feel much less of a cultural or theological obligation to love, so hate is that much easier to justify. Secular Black Lives Matter activists pushed Black pastors to the side of their marches and said, “Your way doesn’t work anymore.” White, college-aged activists are less likely to have any connection whatsoever to the biblical call to love our enemies. “It doesn’t work. It’s time to eat the rich.” The UnitedHealthcare CEO was assassinated? It’s about time.
On the Right, white supremacists and white nationalists use Christianity primarily as a stand-in for cultural identity rather than a way of living with conformity to Christ as the highest goal. Our own president and much of his hand-picked staff embody this distortion. It’s hard not to argue that Charlie Kirk, with his rhetoric against those he considered threats to white America (“violent Blacks,” Muslims, Latin American invaders at the southern border – funded by wealthy Jews), was also a participant.
In our activist far-left and far-right today, the influence of Jesus’ teaching has dropped historically low. Celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk or a healthcare executive on the Left, calling for “Civil War” and stocking up on ammo on the Right for when “it all goes down,” a popular pastor calling for the church to relearn “the virtue of hate”… Jesus’ love for enemies has gone missing in American protest. Martin Luther King has been asked not to lead the march.
The church, and Jesus’ teaching, have been co-opted for much more secular ambitions: safety against our “enemies” through exercise of power. It seems Nietzsche might have killed God after all.
Michael, I think Nietzsche was all too accurate when he asserted that for very many of us Christians, God is a screen on which we project our hate for our enemies, because we are afraid to acknowledge that the hatred is, not God’s, but ours and ours alone.
As for Laurie, I think it’s the thinking of not letting any kind of crisis go to waste. In the world of influencers, the idea is to hop on the latest current event and ride it as long as you can…until the next big thing comes along. Mark Driscoll is making hay with Charlie Kirk’s passing.
ABC, under pressure and threats from the MAGA regime, has just indefinitely suspended the Jimmy Kimmel show because of a joke Kimmel told and comments he made, not about Charlie Kirk, but about the MAGA world’s response to Kirk’s murder. I don’t watch TV, so I’ve never watched this show, but this is just deplorable. This is our government at work, shutting down a comedian’s dissent from the MAGA narrative. It’s just starting in earnest, folks. It’s not going to stop. Censorship via government strong arming.
MAGA government is using Kirk’s death to consolidate its imposition of authoritarian control, and to destroy free speech in this country.; nothing, nothing else could be more disrespectful to any martyr for free speech.
I work for a large tech company. We’re trained to know that if we act publicly by name contrary to company values that we can face disciplinary action.
So I’m seeing more people post or comment about how much time was given to Charlie Kirk in Sunday services. To the extreme of telling people to leave their church. Wow, feels like Covid all over again.
It’s the same old “God told me to tell you to do this”. And “God told me to tell you not to do that”.
That’s also the reason why we have two sets of cheeks. Slap ‘em on the face then give ‘em the boot.
“Silly Jimmy Kimmel. He should have just called for all homeless people to be killed and he’d still have a job.” Mehdi Hasan
“This incident is not just about one late-night host. It is about whether political appointees can strong-arm corporations into silencing dissent by threatening their economic interests. When an FCC chair uses the leverage of broadcast licensing and merger approvals to punish protected speech, every broadcaster, writer, and actor in America should see the danger. If it works once, it will be tried again.”
— Charlie Sykes
Quote is from Adam Kinzinger.
I am liberal – I did not enjoy Charlie Kirk’s political trolling. Many of his favorite saying are old racist tropes. That said, I am 100% against all political violence, and his assassination is a loss for us all.
On the subject of Kimmel, I think he was trying to get fired. What’s the difference in this and Tucker Carlson getting fired from FOx?
Michael,
Thank you for the just and accurate observations concerning the ‘censorship’ topic.
“Both sides of the American gulf have learned how to use cancel culture to their benefit…”
“…the prince of the power of the air has used our love of technology to train us to hate each other…and we enjoy the lessons, if not the results…
Yellow journalism, sensationalistic headlines beckon for attention; “It it BLEEDS, it LEADS!” (As the old newspaper adage goes)
Yes, both sides of the political/ideological spectrum are skilled in shaping public opinion and stirring up angry discontent (claimed as justified ‘righteous indignation’). As one unregistered to vote …I feel far less inclined to choose sides, but rather see the hypocrisy and weaponization of political influence by BOTH parties.
I recall when it was viewed as ‘a commendable public service’ for social media platforms to block, de-platform, downvote or shadow ban content posted by conservatives whom voiced opposing opinions on topics like:
How many genders exist? Should schools assist minors in obtaining gender reassignment surgery? Should parents have the right to opt-out their child from a ‘Drag Show’? Is climate change anthropomorphic? Did Nancy Pelosi really reject Trump’s provision of National Guard troops at the capital before 6 January? Do parents have a right to know if their child is being indoctrinated with an LBGTQ curriculum? If BLM members torch buildings, cars & loot businesses …is that a ‘peaceful protest?’ COVID lab leak origination, MRNA technology hesitancy/skepticism, MERITS of: Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquin, Face masks, Social distancing, Lockdowns …
The Biden administration knowingly coordinated with then FBI/CIA leadership …’to encourage/coerce/bankroll’ Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other platforms …to monitor for any content the administration found ‘contrary’ to the official narrative being presented.
I can’t recall moral outrage being expressed from liberals …UNTIL the buyout of Twitter, and it was made known that equal access by persons from ALL ideologies, would now have a voice.
Unfortunately, the establishment media’s efforts to brand ‘Hunter’s laptop’ as ‘Russian disinformation or ‘right wing conspiracy’ was largely effective. Retractions & corrections by the news media AFTER having been proven false …rarely receive notice (published on a weekend, appearing on back pages)
I could cite many more examples of the ‘righteous censoring’ of conservatives whose freedom of speech was denied, their reputations publicly smeared, their scientific medical research/teaching & hospital ER positions terminated, book deals & paid public appearances cancelled, financial livelihoods ruined.
Regardless of political affiliation …it should be remembered by ALL, that the pendulum usually DOES swing back in the opposite direction. I’m not at all trying to ‘excuse or give cover’ to the Trump administration for what’s taking place …just an effort to remind folks of another ‘flavor’ of coordinated government censorship we may have forgotten about.