The collective moan at Regent College when I attended always centered around how G W Bush and the religious right were bringing Church and State too close together. This 'religious right' wanted theocracy blah, blah, blah. Anyhow, the right kind of Christian is now the Pres of the USA which leads me to ask about this picture. How will Regent respond? I am sure there will be a feigned demure attitude, but deep in the hearts of many there will be a secret joy.
5 comments:
where di I get one??? I want it!
Well, that may be the case with some. But while you certainly would have heard me deploring Bush's "good vs. evil," "city on a hill," "defenders of freedom and truth" rhetoric, I'm no happier with the entanglement of faith and political allegiance on display here.
To be fair though, I doubt that the manufacture of this Bible cover can be linked directly to Obama. It's hardly standard fare in campaign schwag. More likely, it's some enterprising person who sees a niche in the market, eh?
I agree with Eric that it may be the case with some. But I think it's unfair of you, Mac, to paint everyone at Regent with such a broad brush.
What I didn't like about Bush (or Reagan, or anyone else who does it) is, as Eric termed it, the "entanglement of faith and political allegiance." Obama does the same. See my post, "Obama the Bible Scholar," here:
http://ehritzema.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/obama-the-bible-scholar/
Elliot
Eric and Elliot I guess Mac's point isn't that Regent would not disagree with the Obama entanglement of faith and political allegiance it's just that they would shrug their shoulders and say "so what"
the like the politics of the guy he fits their ideal so they turn a blind eye to the rest. But during the Bush years I certainly heard dig after dig after dig from professors and students about Bush and the entanglement of faith and political allegiance. I think the problem is one of perspective and this is the hypocrisy of Regent, so long as it is my faith and my political allegiance which are entangled then its ok, if its not my faith and my political allegiance then its wrong.
On another point both of you say - don't paint everyone at Regent with such a broad brush. Mac's comments are not against people at Regent they are against the institution. Not everyone at Regent holds the same view, but there is a political consensus at Regent. The political consensus is a Democrat Christian consensus a sojourners consensus if you like. So that means people do not speak out against the institutions views even if they hold a contrary view. Regent as an institution holds the view, not necessarily everyone in the institution. I think that is an important distinction. Institutions are “living” organisms as well. They hold views on things which are not the sum of their parts but are the settled consensus of the people in the institution. Regent’s political views are interventionist and left of centre. It is a cold house for people right of centre!!
The problem is actually accurately summed up in the view that we can lightly dismiss this Obama Bible cover because he didn’t do it – its opportunistic entrepreneurs who did it. Well not so fast! Obama, like Bush employs Biblical alliteration and allusion is speeches (I heard Bush resoundly criticised for this by a certain NT prof no longer at Regent! ), but I am sure Regent profs etc will not speak out against this because it fits with their political views. That is the problem, it is actually the problem of left wing politics – hypocrisy. We can criticise all we want, says the left wing, but we are above criticism.
That is why I think Mac’s post is both a fair critic and a fair statement against the institution Regent. Sorry I am rambling on over morning coffee – hope this makes sense!! And I hope you guys are both doing well!
First off, Thanks for reading!!
Eric, I am sure that you have moaned over the religious excess found in the Obama following. And yes, someone wants to make some sales from this. But why would this sell even one more than the 20 purchased for comedic value? To take this risk, someone believes that people want such kich.
Elliot, my point was to use the same language that I received from those at Regent who would place me in the religious right simply because of Bush.
The reason I put this picture up and directed my barbs a Regent has more to do with the absurdity of the bible cover. I never saw a cover like this for Bush. Yet, from the comments I heard while attending Regent, one would think that every Christian who voted Bush had a similar cover with Bush's face because they were not intellectually honest enough to disentangle their faith from politics. I resented that immensely. I kept quiet at Regent because it was dangerous. We righties were bullied into a ghetto.
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