Minister Greets Franken with Questions About Mockery of Christians

[proud2BlibKansan]

WASHINGTON, July 7 /Christian Newswire/ -- Rev. Rob Schenck was among invited guests at a special reception held in the US Senate Hart Office Building today for newly sworn US Senator Al Franken of Minnesota. Rev. Schenck cheerfully greeted Sen. Franken with a good-natured question about the former comedian's caustic and often insulting jokes about Christians and what they believe.

Rev. Schenck is the president of both the National Clergy Council and it's lay affiliate, Faith and Action, a Christian missionary outreach to elected and appointed officials in Washington, DC.

Earlier in the day a letter from Rev. Schenck to Sen. Franken referencing the former comedian's history of Christian bashing was hand-delivered to his new office. In it, Rev. Schenck gently suggested the Senator begin his tenure with an apology to the millions of Americans who self-identify as Christians.

"Senator, you've really thrown some zingers at Christians over the years. We don't know whether or not to take you seriously," said Rev. Schenck.

"Well, I'm married to a Christian," Sen. Franken responded.

Rev. Schenck is available for further comment. Contact Peggy Nienaber of Faith and Action at 202-546-8329, ext 104.

http://www.earnedmedia.org/faa0707.htm

[aquamarina]

1. Do these people have NOTHING better to do? Jeez, he was a

COMEDIAN - they make jokes.

[wryter2000]

2. I love Al, and I gave him money for his campaign

I have a feeling he's going to need to "clarify" a lot of the things he said as a comedian. Comedian and Senator are two very different roles, although I hope he gets in a few zingers on the Senate floor.

[DeltaLitProf]

15. He did during the campaign

But I suppose any time there is a humor-impaired Republican running against him (aren't most Republicans impaired in this crucial way?) he'll have to do it all over again.

[TokenQueer]

3. THIS is why I love Al Franken.

What we really need is 59 more Democrats just like him.

[Metta]

4. Is Schenk going to apologize for all the evil Christians do in this world?

just wondering.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. no way. he has a pray out of jail free card

which fixes everything, if he confessed his sins to his gawd. Just check out Newt the Grinch on that score.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Uh huh.

Because a joke about Jesus lusting after Barbara Hershey is oh so offensive.

[timeforpeace]

6. Lighten up, he's a comedian for gawd sakes.

[baldguy]

8. The biggest mockery of Christianity is conservatives claiming to believe.

[Catshrink]

11. The Old Testament Christians anyway.

I know they claim to follow Jesus but they don't follow his teachings but a more literalist interpretatiom of the old testament. They are Pharisees who love their rules and control over others -- and Jesus regularly took them to task for their hypocrisy.

[madrchsod]

12. they set him up for crucification because he called them out

today`s pharisees would do the same thing if he came back.

[Vidar]

17. Well said.

[Fumesucker]

18. Not a "more literalist interpretation"..

Rather a more hypocritical interpretation of the OT.

They very much pick and choose the rules they wish to follow from the OT, if not then none of them would ever wear cotton/polyester clothing or eat at Red Lobster.

[Lars39]

9. Rev needs to piss up a rope.

[Renew Deal]

10. We should have the guy that called Peter King about pedophilia to call this guy

:D

[LAGC]

13. I must have missed that, do you have a link? (n/t)

[optimal-tomato]

14. My head just 'sploded...

Why does Liddy Dole get to use Atheism as a political epithet and not apologize? Why does Kay Hagan get to put out an ad that says: "DON'T WORRY, I'M NOT AN ATHEIST!" and not at least add: "not that there's anything wrong with that."? When Barack Obama talks about his religious background, he says his father "was a muslim" and his mother was "spiritual", when both were very clearly atheists, but he can't let himself be associated with atheists in any way.

Atheists are barred in many states' constitution from holding public office (Supreme Court overruled it, of course.) Atheists are essentially barred from public office due to the vast majority of people who say they would never vote for an atheist.

But it's CHRISTIANS that need an apology from someone acting in his capacity as a COMEDIAN?!

Sometimes, I just want to give up on this country, I swear to FSM...

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. I have an FSM decal on my car

The other night I was stopped at a light and a guy pulled up next to me and asked me what it meant. He was still laughing as the light turned and he pulled off. :)

[JI7]

16. why doesn't he apologize to Franken over the guy who went shooting at the Holocaust Museum

[smalll]

19. Sorry, mentioning you married a shiksa hardly suffices to mark oneself as a friend of Christianity.

:shrug:

[Warren DeMontague]

21. ...and?

Dude got an entire sentence more worth of attention from a United States Senator than he deserves.

[Bluenorthwest]

27. Yes it does

And anyway, how does making a joke suffice to mark one as an enemy of his own wife's faith? I can remember some really awful jokes Al has made about himself, but I don't think he believes them to be true, you know? It is called comedy.
And I'm still looking for the law that says a US Senator must be a 'friend' to any faith. Seems the job is all about representing his state, in secular politics.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. Hey Rev- If you can't handle a few "zingers", what the fuck good are you?

Jesus Fucking Christ on a Pogo Stick.

[ColbertWatcher]

26. I believe his full name is ...

... Jesus Tap Dancing Christ on a Cracker.

[KG]

22. those poor oppresed xians. next thing you know, they won't be able to give invocations at

inaugurations! :eyes:

[sendero]

24. It's OK for xtians to claim I'll suffer eternal damnation..

... but how dare I "mock" them. It's laughable.

[Bluenorthwest]

28. Interesting tid bit from the New Testament

Jesus instructed his followers to rejoice when mocked for their faith. And yet they never, ever rejoice. Instead they make demands for false and unearned respect. They demand to be lied to, when they should be doing as they were taught, and celebrating the mockery.

[ColbertWatcher]

25. Schneck is a moran.

Senator Al Franken never did the things Schnekc is accusing him of doing.

Talk about poutrage.