NYT: Even Pat Robertson's Friends Are Wondering...

[kskiska]

EVERY day, two people pay particularly close attention to Pat Robertson's religious news and variety show, "The 700 Club." They have notepads in hand, and the VCR set on "record."

They work in Washington at two of the nation's most ardent enemies of the Christian right: People for the American Way and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. They lay in wait for Mr. Robertson to say something truly jaw-dropping - like his suggestion on Thursday that Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for "dividing God's land," and giving away Gaza to the Palestinians.

Within hours of such comments, the remarks are disseminated by e-mail to journalists around the country, and soon video clips of Mr. Robertson are the subject of news broadcasts and nationwide ridicule.

(snip)

Os Guinness, a prominent Christian writer and social critic, said: " I know hundreds of people who are just terminally frustrated with the idiotic public statements of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and the idea that these people represent us. They don't."

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/weekinreview/08goodstein.html

[Maggie_May]

1. What really irks me

is the media even wasting there air time to these idiots. I would even give these guys the time of day.

[sarcasmo]

6. What makes me so angry is theses so called Christians who are mad at

Pat and Jerry don't speak out more. IMHO it's the same as the Muslims who don't speak out against the Taliban.

[EST]

2. So stop sending money!

[mike_c]

3. what other christians don't seem to understand is that ...

...extremists like Falwell, Dobson, and Robertson DO represent them. They represent them because other christians have not developed alternative voices. The preaching circuit one climbs through to develop a following like Robertson's is much like political talk radio-- one format, all the time, and that format doesn't lend itself to moderation, or to introspection, or to community service, or any of the other hallmarks of "mainstream christianity," whatever that term means nowadays. But in any event, christian friends of mine constantly lament that "the fundys don't represent REAL christianity," and I tell them that unless they develop an alternative with as public a face, the fundy's do indeed represent American christianity to most of the rest of the world.

[Berry Cool]

5. Aw, come on! How are they supposed to compete?

Real Christians don't care about being the kind of media manipulators they would have to be in order to get the kind of "public face" Robertson has. For one thing, they're not usually rich, so they can't use money they don't have to buy up media outlets, build huge broadcasting empires, or create anything else that will serve to make them as well known and famous. And what money they do have, they tend to prefer to use on things like tending to the poor, sick and other people in need. Because they think those are their priorities, rather than calling for the assassination of other countries' leaders or saying that disasters are the result of God's judgment on sinners.

It's just not going to happen. And really, it shouldn't. People should have the common sense to realize that noise and visibility do not equal merit, and stop judging all members of a group by its loudest and most obnoxious self-styled members. It's very easy to smugly write a whole group of people off because you don't like the showiest ones, but is that the right thing to do? Is it any better than judging all Muslims by Al Qaeda?

[mike_c]

7. "People should have the common sense to realize..."

"...that noise and visibility do not equal merit...."

You're fighting human nature there, and destined to lose. That's the basis for all advertising, which permeats human society because we can't NOT equate visibility with merit, at least not without a conscious effort. That's what sells soap so reliably. And most Americans DO likewise fear muslims because of the muslim extremism that is the exact analog of christian extremism. I'm sorry, your argument for what mainstream christians OUGHT to be doing is logically correct, but operationally self-defeating. Ya'll HAVE to deal with the fundamentalist clerics like Robertson and Falwell.

[jwirr]

4. The media and television stations who show potty and jerky

are not going to quit. They are getting paid to let them spread their word.

[depakid]

8. Just a power struggle

The sharks smell blood, and are now circling in the water. These fundies believe just about everything Robertson and Falwell say- except they're prudent enough not to go around saying it.

Stealth works better than an in your face frontal assault.