"Christian" Radio Rant

Flipping through the radio dial the last few days, I’m struck by a common theme I’ve heard several times on the so-called “Christian” radio stations here in Atlanta. The day of the London bombings, Jay Sekulow used his nationally-syndicated “Christian” radio program to respond to the tragedy in London by – are you ready for this? – attacking the ACLU. How dare they warn us about the dangers of the Patriot Act! Don’t they know we need the Patriot Act to respond to terrorist bombings like the one in London? We’re at war! We can’t be bothered by “quaint” notions like the Geneva Convention, or that annoying Bill of Rights! So what if we give up our freedoms, or watch our civil liberties (and our basic human rights) slowly erode? So what if our “culture of life” government has institutionalized torture and other un-Christian behavior? It’s time to rally around our President, mindlessly and without question! Anyone who dares raise such questions as the ACLU is raising is (the worst insult of all) unpatriotic!

And this morning, D. James Kennedy cancelled his scheduled sermon on his nationally-syndicated program, “Truths That Transform,” to air an interview with “constitutional law expert” Phyllis Schlafly, during which they attacked “the ACLU and other atheist organizations” -- portraying the ACLU as the enemy of all things decent.

Has Christian radio run out of Scripture passages on which to teach?

Did they not get the message from Christianity Today's recent editorial that begins, "George W. Bush is not Lord"?

I'll repeat what I wrote here last month:

The most truly-patriotic thing we can do in this environment is to support two organizations that are standing up for human rights and civil liberties: Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union.

To that list I'll add Sojourners and the work Jim Wallis is doing to remind evangelical Christians that God is not a Republican or a Democrat.

Darrell
www.WildFaith.com