In response to Associate Pastor and ORU graduate Dan Cross' recent article in Urban Tulsa Weekly, refuting my essay titled Coffee: For Believers Only, I have decided to defend my previous stance and elaborate further in the following essay.
Rationality is the only case worth reviewing.
By: Derek Dyson
One could look to Webster's Dictionary to define intolerance, but as any freshman composition student could tell you, it's much better to cite a source that is less automatic and regurgitated if you really want to make a point. Instead, one could simply use the past 2000 years of Christianity to make a valid point of what intolerance really looks like in our culture. Case in point; Christians my not like homosexuals because their literal interpretation of some ancient book tells them that god doesn't like gays, but when they actively take steps to infringe on the rights of homosexuals, there comes a point where a human beings unalienable rights must trump ancient mythological beliefs. In short, rationality and human rights should always outweigh the intolerance of fanatical religious doctrine. In the 21st century, the Evangelical community is attacking gays, attempting to deny them the very same rights given to all other loving couples of this nation. In the 20th century the Southern Baptists were heading the Ku Klux Klan and the courts that they were tried in, stifling the equal rights of African Americans. For centuries the Christian community has actively infringed on the rights of women, as well as the lives of anyone straying from their belief system, all while citing divine text as their motive. Historically, from the Crusades, through the Inquisition and extending to our lives today as American citizens, the Christian authorities have attempted to push their particular belief system onto others at any cost. Although it is not done at the stake or by the sword as it once was, the Christians of today actively persecute others in a way that is just as devastating, through legislature and lobby groups.
Just by looking at the current administrations "faith based initiatives", their stance against stem cell research as well as their attempts to teach the Creation Myth in the Science classrooms of our public schools, one could easily see how the Christian community is adversely affecting the lives of all Americans. The evangelical community is actively infringing on the rights of American citizens and they are doing so through political avenues, effectively bringing theology and mythology into the realm of real world politics.
Although I fully understand that "all" Christians are not evangelical zealots attempting to pass legislature in Congress, I also understand that a vast majority of Christians are sitting in the same pew's as these zealots every Sunday and not saying a word about their radical beliefs or intolerance towards other human beings. They sit next to these zealots and hand over 10% of their income to the exact same cause. Whether this money goes to build a new wing on the church or goes to fund the initiatives set forth by some fanatical lobby group, both the zealots and the moderates are feeding the same beast. All Christians are, and must be lumped together in the same category unless they start to speak out against their fellow believers who are actively damaging society. If they sit back and watch intolerance in their religion and refuse to speak out against it, they deserve to be labeled as what they are, apathetic religious fanatics.
Mr. Cross says that I was wrong to claim that Oral Roberts' City of Faith and his $500 million dollar empire that surrounds it were built on a scam because some of that money may have allowed fellow Christians to help others in their community.So, I guess we are to overlook the fact that this money came from a traveling sideshow run by a charlatan, who peddled his tricks and slight of hand techniques in the name of god and supernatural faith healing just to make a buck. We must overlook the fact that this man was robbing people of their money and in more than one instance their lives, affording himself millions of dollars in personal wealth in the process. We must overlook this fact, because he gave a portion of this money to well meaning Christians who then used the funding to help in the community.
If Oral Roberts can be let off of the hook for swindling millions of dollars out of the pockets of American Citizens, maybe we should let others off of the hook because of their contributions to society as well. Take Pablo Escobar for instance. He exploited the pockets of week minded and vulnerable Americans by trafficking drugs from Columbia to the United States for nearly a decade. He too provided a desired service to the public and to his credit was also renowned for giving money back to his community, often building soccer stadiums, hospitals and parks for his fellow citizens. I guess in the eyes of Mr. Cross, the ends outweigh the means. As long as you're helping other people in the process, it doesn't matter where you get your inspiration or funding.
Mr. Cross also says that Academia attempts to place itself above the Christian community as being intellectually superior. I would have to agree with him on this subject and this is why. Academia prides itself on reason and intellectual development through the arts and sciences. The Christian community has continuously fought against science and self expression outside that of religion for nearly its entire existence. Many would say that this is why the Intellectual community has distanced itself from the Christian community. Personally, I would argue that this is rightfully so considering that by and large, Christian Science books don't contain science, the history books aren't historically accurate and the music is manufactured, drab and inartistic. This would easily explain why such a split could occur between true intellectuals and artists and their Christian contemporaries. It also explains why few reputable publishers put out overtly Christian literature and why no record label that prides itself on artistic value would promote any artist that would hedge their bets on appealing to the "Christian music scene".
In recent times, Christian theology has not been able to compete in academia or the intellectual community in general because it's rife with substandard literature and art. To combat this, Christian organizations have made their own book publishers and record labels, allowing complete control of their confined market, where they peddle their products in church bookstores, summer camps and numerous private schools founded solely on the stance that public schools will eventually lead their children into hedonism and/or unbelief. Now is this censorship, or is it free market economics?
Deliberately shielding information from someone is obviously censorship whether Mr. Cross wants to admit it or not. This is because it secludes important works of art and literature from a large percentage of the public and as I have said before, "censorship leads to ignorance". As for the Economic side of this question, they have their market and the right to supply it with a demanded product. Although I feel that this product is inferior, I can only hope that a truly free market will eventually prevail and they will lose their market share. If not, I will enjoy the fact that millions of Evangelical Christians and their indoctrinated children will have systematically disqualified themselves from the world job market when it comes to the fields of science and technology. Schools like Rhema and ORU may supply the field of Ministry with adequate graduates, but they are not exactly sending out award winning physicists, geneticists or molecular biologist to tackle the truly important questions of this world.
Evangelical Christians may be allowed to pull the wool over their own children's eyes by sending them to private schools and censoring what they read, but that doesn't change the fact that they repeatedly attempt to use political avenues to pull the same wool over the eyes of each and every child in our public school system. Actions such as these sent us into the Dark Ages centuries ago; let's not allow religious dogma to condemn our children to the same fate as it once did in this truly dark period in the history of the human race.
Also, following Mr. Cross' lead, I will cite a court case as to give my point of view some sort of unfounded validity. Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al., Case No. 04cv2688. (District Court says Intelligent design can stay where it belongs, in ancient books of mythology).Chalk one up for rational thought in the American public!