Guinness on the Religious Right Playing the Victim Card
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From Os Guinness's book, The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It (pp. 93-94, emphasis added):
As one who believes that the call of Jesus is to a path of suffering that shuts the door to every form of victim-playing, I am angered by organizers fo the Religious Right who play the victim card and appeal openly to Christian resentment. . . .
Do they not know that those who portray themselves as victims come to perceive themselves as victims and then to paralyze themselves as victims? . . .
But whether "victimization" then or a "war on Christians" now, such tactics of the Religious Right are foolish, ineffective, and downright anti-Christian. The problem is not that these people are theocrats, but that they are sub-Christian. They do not violate the separation of church and state so much as they violate Christian integrity. Factually, it is dead wrong for Christians to portray themselves as a minority, let alone as persecuted. Christians are as close to a majority community as any group in America; what their fellow Christians are facing today in China, North Korea, Burma, and Sudan is real persecution.
Psychologically, victim-playing is dangerous because it represents what Nietzsche called "the politics of the tarantula," a base appeal to resentment. But worst of all, it is spiritually hypocritical, for nothing so contradicts their claim to represent "Christian values" as their refusal to follow the teaching and example of Jesus of Nazareth by playing the victim card and finding an excuse not to love their enemies. Shame, shame, shame on such people; and woe, woe, woe to such tactics.
posted by JT at Sunday, February 24, 2008
11 Comments:
"Shame, shame, shame on such people; and woe, woe, woe to such tactics."
And an hearty amen to that beautiful phrase. I love it. And I agree completely with his thinking here.
Amen Guinness. I agree completely.
Amen! I have argued the same for many years.
I'd have to read the whole book to understand his full rationale, but my initial reaction to the last two Os Guinness posts has not been that positive. His critiques just don't seem that fair. Maybe he offers concrete examples in his book that support his claims?
Also, where would his conclusions and strategies lead exactly? Does he offer a concrete model on how he envisions the future to be after Christians get trampled all over by the secularists of our day? Is the Christian Right really playing the Victim Card? Aren't most of them just fighting for an equal voice in the public square?
It is hard to figure out from this excerpt the precise nature of Guiness' complaint. However, in John 15:18 and Matthew 5:11-12 Jesus includes hatred, insults and slander as included in persecution. Therefore, it is a mistake to define "real persecution" in merely physical terms.
Bill & Paul,
While it may be true that the Christian right is fighting for a voice and that persecution can't be only defined in physical terms, the fact remains that we were promised persecution. So when it comes we dare not complain or whine about it, but thank God for it, after all, it's from his hand that it comes at all.
Persecution and insult purifies the church, be glad for it.
Expecting persecution and faithfully enduring it with the thought that God has ordained it is one thing, living passively under unjust treatment is something entirely different.
Rightly speaking out about how the voice of Christians are being unfairly pushed out of the public square (what I see most of the Christian Right doing) shouldn't be simply dismissed as "whining and complaining."
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Paul,
One phrase from Christ that I think summarizes well the posture we should have as Christians in the public realm is, "Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’” (Matt. 9:13, Matt. 12:7).
I think, and I know I'm generalizing here (but one must), the religious right often demands some form of justice to be upheld when interacting with the world. However, the Pharisees demanded the same thing, and they were the religious right of the day. That is why Jesus responded to them the way in which he did. They needed to understand mercy, not justice.
Christians should not expect "fairness" in any public realm. We can beg for reason and logic, but should never EXPECT it. We should be far quicker to show mercy when we are treated unfairly, and in doing so set ourselves apart from the world.
Hoping to promote thoughts.
"Factually, it is dead wrong for Christians to portray themselves as a minority, let alone as persecuted."
Factually, few find the narrow gate that leads to life, and persecution includes being reviled and being falsely spoken against with all kinds of evil. Still, when persecuted like the prophets before us, we are to rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is our reward in heaven. So, while the portrayal as a persecuted minority is factually accurate, it is usually not seen as the light that should so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
Some in the Church get all fired up when the government says, "Take that statue of the Ten Commandments out of there". And they protest, and give money to lawyers to fight it, and so on.
And this isn't 100% wrong, but I wonder if you asked most of these who get hot about this, what the Ten Commandments are, if they would be able to receit them?
The Church is very, very political today, and very Bible shallow. It should be the other way around. Bible deep, and politically envolved, but trusting in God's Word, which is His truth.
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