Vincent Bridges

Like the mysterious and unending “war on terror,” the idea of a culture war has become one of those touchstones of reality in early 21st century America. Try googling the words and you get roughly half a million hits. Here’s some of my favorites:

The Catholic publishing company Fidelity Press has a magazine devoted to the Culture Wars, whose masthead announces “No social progress outside the moral order.” Run by an Ultramontanist named E. Michael Jones, it offers a comfortingly Hitlerite view of Catholicism that is actually close to the heart of the new Pope, Benedict XVI. Some examples of his rants:

“How Contraceptives Cause Drive-by Shootings. E. Michael Jones explains in a step by step narrative how the sexual revolution, conceived by foundations, taken over by the federal government, ratified by the courts, and implemented in the name of “freedom,” destroyed our cities. Freedom of this sort, to paraphrase a song, is just another word for political control. The Cultural Revolution had a secret weapon, one that was so successful, it’s been used ever since. This talk puts the connection between morals and politics into an easy to follow irrefutable argument.”

“Why the Homosexual is Our Ideal Citizen. President Clinton once told homosexual supporters he thought promotion of their lifestyle should be made mandatory in public schools. He and vice-president Gore praised Hollywood for promoting homosexuality. Why? There aren’t enough homosexual citizens to affect the voting balance. This is an attempt to turn the homosexual into the ideal citizen and a role model for us and our children. Do you know why we are all supposed to act like homosexuals even if we aren’t? This talk is crucial to those who want to understand the political meaning of homosexuality and how it is being used against the overwhelming majority of this country’s citizens.”

At Probe Ministries, Sue and Ray Bohlin are taking a high-minded perspective, with compassion for those struggling with all forms of sexual deviancy and a staunchly anti-political stance, well, sort of anyway:

“Even if abortion ended tomorrow, if every homosexual became heterosexual, and if drugs and pornography were things of the past, people without Christ would still be lost in their sins.” The main “sin” being the lack of belief in Ray and Sue’s very narrow view of religious truth.

Another article on their website, by Rick Rood, former director of publications at Probe, has this to say about Xian attitudes toward other religions:

“The only remaining option is the attitude of Christian exclusivism (sic) –the view that biblical Christianity is true, and that other religious systems are false. This is more than implied in numerous biblical statements, such as in Acts 4:12: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”

“What should our attitude be toward followers of other religions? It is important for us to distinguish our attitude toward non-Christian religions from our attitude toward followers of those religions. Though we are to reject the religion, we are not to reject them by mistakenly perceiving them to be “the enemy.” The biblical injunction is to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves no matter what their religion. Rather than viewing them as “the enemy,” we should see them as “the victims” of the enemy who are in need of the same grace that has freed us from spiritual slavery–in need of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The view from the extreme right, as shown by the above selections, is that the culture war will go on until everyone, in the country and then by God???s will the entire planet, will be regimented into good, literal interpretation fundamentalists.

What did Bush say? “If you’re not with us?”

He was just being a good Xian, after all…