That Tiny Closet

Posted on October 24, 2004 in Campaign 2004 Journalists & Pundits Morals & Ethics

To be a Christian — pardon me, to be a Fundamentalist Christian in these times — means to avoid being a Christian by indulging in the sin of lying. Most notable about these is the blasphemy that declares that George W. Bush is the equal — if not the reincarnation — of Christ. Two words suffice to dismiss this lie: False prophet. Another major prevarication is that which holds that the Bible is the unerring word of God despite ample evidence from the historical record that what we know today as the black leatherette book is a compilation of spiritual writings and that parts of it (most notably the Pentateuch) were rewritten and inserted in the mouths of the dead as time passed. This is related to the Creationist Lie which holds that the earth is not very old, that it was created in seven days just as the writer of the first of two creation accounts in the Bible said it was. Joseph Campbell said that the conflict between Evolutionists and Creationists is not a conflict between Science and Religion, but a conflict between the Science of today and the Science of 2000 BC. I disagree: it is a conflict between those who are willing to hold every utterance they make to truth-testing and those who don’t.

But this isn’t about Creationism: it’s about the nasty, unChristian political campaign being waged by an unbridled, lunatic Republican Party and Big Media. Big Media says that it can protect us from lies better than the Government can. It bases this claim on the sacred cow of market forces. Big Media cannot but help respond to consumers, goes the doctrine. It must deliver what they want to see and hear. Yet over the past twenty years, it has repeatedly delivered what the suppliers — not the demanders want to hear.

Consumers want talk about the issues, not discussions of whether John Kerry looks French or who has the more glamorous stars behind him. To see what consumers want, one need only watch the Town Hall meetings that have formed part of the debates since 1992, a feature which Bill Clinton insisted upon. Compare them to the flimsy panders of journalists to their bosses and you will see a very wide gap indeed between the reality of the market and what Big Media delivers as a product.

The argument that follows this observation is that Big Media must do what is good for Business. This refutes its first claim that it lives to serve the consumers. So it has lied to us. So what is good for Business? Let’s remember that this isn’t what is good for All Business: in the last four years, many small businesses and some big businesses have gone under thanks to sharks such as Sinclair Broadcasting. This is the penultimate step in a trend of powerless Government and omnipotent Capitalism. It is the death of Free Enterprise. So, we have exposed another calumny: Big Media says that it acts on behalf of Business with a capital B, but it really stands only for the business of a very slender sliver of the money-loving population. It’s not there for the small businessman: it’s there for Richard Scaife and Jack Welch.

So what is good for business? Destroying anyone who will champion the rights of the small businessmen and the consumers. Which is where the worst lies of all creep in: that Fundamentalism is Christianity. I’ve pointed out time and time again in this blog how Fundamentalists skip over the parts of the Bible which countermand their marching orders: Jeremiah, Isaiah, the minor prophets, the section where Paul writes that “this isn’t God speaking but only my opinion”, and the words of Jesus himself. Few Fundamentalists can quote the Beatitudes. Fewer still can cite what Jeremiah said about the tragedy of arming the nation at the price of neglecting the lives of the destitute. Their religion is bought and paid for by capitalists: freeloaders of faith who either cannot or will not invest in their churches just go along with whatever Preacher says.

It’s a tragedy because I’ve seen many good Christians give up on Christianity. It’s not a bad religion when you stick to the words of Jesus and are prepared to think for yourself as you seek out the essence of those teachers, ever prepared to test contemporary beliefs against what he actually said to his disciples. But capitalism turns off the microphone whenever a true Christian rises to speak to the injustices he or she sees in the corporate system. This is a cruel lie and it kills the resolve of those who do belief and encourages others to follow the wolves who savor the blood of the sheep.

This leads me to explain the polls we see: Big Media cannot afford to admit that George W. Bush is not loved. So they play statistical games with us, hoping to discourage us about politics as they have about religion. If you never enter a church again in your life, oh True Christian, do go to the polls on Election Day. You can pray anywhere, but only by voting can you participate in Democracy. Government is not God: it cannot hear your everywhere. Only in that tiny closet called the voting booth.