Many (not all) Christians and conservatives lie to me regularly in their emails and other communications. Many (not all) secularists and liberals tell me the truth and try to avoid manipulating me. Who should I believe? The dishonest Christians? I don’t think so. Emails forwarded to us from Don Wildmon (“The American Family Association”) are a very clear example. Here are some quotes from Wildmon, with my responses.
“Sen. Chuck Hagel appears ready to side with liberal Democrats and vote to continue the filibustering of all but liberal candidates for the Federal judiciary.”
- Bush has gotten Senate approval of 95% of his judicial nominees. 95%!! Clearly Senate Democrats are NOT “filibustering … all but liberal candidates.”
- Thus Wildmon is, for whatever reason, blatantly misleading us. If he knows he’s misleading us, he is a liar, and we know who Jesus would then say is his father – the “father of lies.” If he does not know he is misleading us, then he is still a false prophet, vigorously spreading ignorant lies under the cover of Christianity. We should carefully avoid following his example.
- Senator Hagel would be siding not only with the very few “liberal Democrats”, but with some very conservative Democrats and with some other Republicans.
- I wonder why Don Wildmon is not telling us WHY he is so concerned about this issue. The reasons he gives us are false. WHAT ARE THE REAL REASONS? Does he even know?
“Should Senator Hagel vote with the liberals, he will, in essence, be upholding the ruling of liberal activist Federal Judge Joseph Bataillon who struck down the Nebraska Constitution which prohibited homosexual marriage.”
This is so blatantly false it makes me ill. Spend three minutes with any major Nebraska newspaper and you will know this is a fraud. How can Christians who care about God, love, and truth circulate such stuff? Whatever the answer to that question is, I’m afraid it’s not good.
“Tell him you expect him to vote to end the filibuster, and not side with the Democrat liberals who are blocking the appointment of all but liberal nominees.”
- No, don’t do that.
- Tell him instead that you appreciate a man like him who can show the courage of his convictions even under the most awesome pressures.
- Tell him he is in the last line of defense against these people who are dismantling our Constitution and our system of checks and balances.
- Tell him that this White House has proven repeatedly it cannot be trusted to run the country and the world without strong independent voices to ask hard questions and vigorously hold them accountable.
- Tell him to PLEASE help us hold this White House and Senate leadership accountable to the rest of us, not just to themselves.
- Tell him to “Just say NO” to these dishonest, power-grabbing radical Senators who fully intend to break any rule in order to become a law unto themselves.
- “liberals who are blocking the appointment of all but liberal nominees.” That was false when Wildmon first said it; it’s still false when he repeats it. I guess that’s the nature of habits like lying; once you start down that road it eats up all your perspective and takes over your life.
“Sincerely, Don”
If this is sincerity, then my dictionary has the word defined wrongly. It says, “not feigned or affected; true.” Don, that is not the character of the emails you’ve been sending out.
As for me, it’s getting to the point where if someone calls themselves “Christian” I, as I think Ben Franklin said, keep my hand on my wallet, and look around to see if there are available more reliable descriptions of events.
And that, my Christian brothers and sisters, is a very sad thing.