Baptist Minister Says America Not a Christian Nation

That ought to be big news, since the Baptists in general have come a long ways since the days when they were all concerned supporters of Separation of Church and State. Now that their particular style of Fundo-Xian bullshit has become mainstream on the Religious Right, they naturally have a completely different view of things.

So why isn't it big news? Because I gave you only half of the story. That headline reads in full "America not a Christian nation based on its current state" (emphasis added).

Here's the complete story from the Springfield MO News-Leader. It's actually a "think-piece" commentary written by Baptist minister (and apparent skinhead -- check out the photo that accompanies the story) Brian Baker of tiny Everton, MO (pop 322). It's not clear how tiny Everton, nestled away in the Ozarks of SE Missouri, has the clout to get its favorite Fundo a seat at the table, but there he is.

So Baker rails on and on about the usual suspects and the same old crap using the same old logical fallacies:

If we were a Christian nation, abortion would not be the law of the land. If we were truly Christian, Roe v. Wade would either have been overturned or more importantly, would never have became law. Because of Roe v. Wade, the curse of God has come upon America. In roughly 40 years, we went from the world's largest creditor nation to the world's largest debtor nation. Deuteronomy 28:12 describes this as when a nation is under the curse of God. If abortion isn't struck down soon as the law of the land, then this nation will experience the judgment of God.
Were we at one point in the past a Christian nation? Not officially, but we were a nation that was overwhelmingly Christian. Over time though, we changed and have become hedonistic, greedy, and arrogant. If America will repent, we can experience the blessings of God once again. 2 Chronicles 7:14 states, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (King James Version)

I just love that false dichotomy between being "Christian" or being "hedonistic, greedy, and arrogant". These guys are pretty funny.

Baker apparently picked up his tone at the "poor poor pitiful me" section of Whineymart, and be sure to check out some of the comments that readers have left. So many of them are buying into the whole "Xians are being persecuted" meme that the wingnuttery loves so much (you know, the "War" on Xmas, a return to the Fairness Doctrine will force religious stations to give equal time to Satan, etc etc).

And that meme is especially dangerous. The more of their blind followers these Fundo Xian churches can get to swallow that Christianity-Under-Attack bullshit, the more likely it will be that the less mentally balanced among them will feel threatened to the point of "fighting back". Never mind that whole namby-pamby long-haired-hippie-type Jesus telling you to turn the other cheek. They don't believe in that crap. No, they will be perfectly willing to martyr themselves for the greater good of the Xian religion -- and these are of course the first people who decry "Islamofascist homicide bombers" (that's a term that a lot of the rightwing tried to get ginned up in place of "suicide bombers" but naturally, since that phrase doesn't even make sense in context, not even Faux News could give that one any traction) when their persecution-complex co-religionists over on "the other side" do it.

What was that supposedly old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times"? I think we're there...