The toxic and putrid combination of early 21st century hate/demonization politics and the language of outright violence continues to escalate:
Parishioners leaving the Faithful Word Baptist Church in the East Valley Sunday carried not just their Bibles, but guns as well.
Pastor Steven Anderson said he and his congregation have received death threats after a controversial sermon earlier this month.
“Guns are a great deterrent,” said Anderson. “We haven’t had any violence because people know if they come down here swinging a baseball bat, we’re ready to protect ourselves.”
On August 16th, Anderson delivered a sermon titled “Why I Hate Barack Obama.”
In it, Anderson admitted he prays for the president’s death.
It is a position he reiterated Sunday.
“If you want to know how I’d like to see Obama die, I’d like him to die of natural causes,” said Anderson. “I don’t want him to be a martyr, we don’t need another holiday. I’d like to see him die, like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer.”
In emails, I have readers telling me “Well, this is just one nut.” Yes, but our politics increasingly resembles in the degree of demonization and outright hatred a bunch of clear nuts surrounded by a bunch of enabled media nutlets. And the Pastor’s defenders will surely argue: “It all depends on whether a nut is a nut.” But word games don’t negate what is now going, and can be increasingly seen in a large number of news cycles:
Even a jar of Kosher pickles sitting on the shelf at Albertson’s supermarket on University Avenue in San Diego can sense where this escalation of hate/violence/death rhetoric may be heading – and where it is likely to lead.
And lest you think that all Christians or religious people are merely looking the other way — think again because that is not the case. There are some, such as the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody who are aghast. Brody offers some more details about the original sermon and a You Tube…and his reaction. Here’s some more from the sermon:
“I’m going to tell you something. I hate Barack Obama. You say, well, you just mean you don’t like what he stands for. No, I hate the person. Oh, you mean you just don’t like his policies. No, I hate him.”
“I am not going to pray for his good. I am going to pray that he dies and goes to hell.”
“What goes around comes around. You love violence. You hate that which is right. You love to harm others. You love to hurt or kill the unborn or the innocent or the righteous. He is saying, God is going to bring that upon your own head, because whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. ”
“Now, turn back to Psalm 58 and let me ask you this question. Why should Barack Obama melt like a snail? Why should Barack Obama die like the untimely birth of a woman? Why should his children be fatherless and his wife a widow, as we read in this passage? ”
“Well, I will tell you why. Because, since Barack Obama thinks it is OK to use a salty solution, right, to abort the unborn, because that’s how abortions are done, my friend, using salt — and I would like to see Barack Obama melt like a snail tonight.”
“If you think God is in control of this country, you’re insane. A madman is in control of this country.”
There are degrees of this theme with some of the more overtly inflammatory assertions and hopes left out now being broadcast as you read this post.
This post is being written at the Starbucks on The Grapevine, just down the hill, north of LA. I flipped through talk radio stations today as I made my way south from Oakland, CA to Bakersfield to LA (I am about to enter LA…you can see smoke on the horizon here ). I picked up words and phrases such as “Nazis…if you let them do what they’re trying to do…a Socialist..take this away from you…” — its framing the political scene in a your-country-and-your-way-of-life-is-at-stake way.
Brody says he posted Pastor’s entire tirade so people could read it all for themselves. (He also has the You Tube but go to the link for that. We’ll take a pass on posting that since TMV may have trouble washing the smell from our site). Brody then writes:
It should be noted that while there is an argument to be made against President Obama’s policies on abortion and other matters, there just is no place for this type of talk. Not from the pulpit, pews or anywhere else for that matter. For people skeptical of Evangelical Christians, I post this story so you fully understand that you SHOULD NOT lump Steve Anderson into the group of Bible believing Christians. His message is absolutely empty of God’s grace and mercy. God doesn’t want pastors or anybody for that matter to pray for someone’s death. God is looking to give people the free gift of eternal life and have people join him in His kingdom forever.
Indeed: isn’t it time for people of all religions or no religion to say “Enough?” We are not seeing a deescalation of the degree of toxicity in our polity. We’re seeing trending that indicates an escalation, seemingly at breakneck pace, where an even passionate or emotional discussion of hot-button ideas is being replaced by rage, paranoia, unadulterated hatred — and sooner or later someone on one side or other is going to get hurt. Or worse.
And then it will really be time for some heavy duty prayers…
RELATED POST: Be to read Doug Bursch’s “What Would Jesus Heckle” which touches on some of these issues.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.