Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For February 18, 2015

Feb 5

The status of the comment below has been changed from awaiting moderation to published.

To David Robertson and his blogpost reviewing the movie American Sniper. This appeared in the Wee Flea blog.

Just wanted to know if you read the book too. One of the reviews of this movie I read noticed a real difference between how the movie depicted Chris Kyle’s approach to war and killing and that which was written in the book.

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Feb 12

To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost about the changing laws on marriage. His blogpost points to an article by Stella Morabito that reports on the coming doom for the legalization of same-sex marriages. This appeared in the Heidelblog.

Citing instances of and supporting statements for practices all of which have been in existence for much of man's sinful existence as evidence for an "I told you so" from Conservative Christians concerning the results for allowing same-sex marriage  is more an instance of venting than sound reasoning. It certainly appeals to the choir, but it is seen as not having any credibility by those outside the choir. In short,  such is simply an appeal for restoring positions of power to the Conservative Christian consensus over culture and society. And what is really discrediting to the Gospel to many outsiders is our obsession with these messages of doom regarding same-sex marriage, especially by those who pride themselves on their church not taking social stands while saying nothing about the exploitation of people and the environment by our current economic system and about how our government wants to conduct wars with impunity.

In the end, Christians who are obsessed with the changing laws regarding same-sex marriage, whether they admit it or not, are more concerned with Christian privilege in society where Christians have various levels of control over society and its laws and mores than anything else. What scares them is sharing society with unbelievers as equals. Remember if the sin from I Cor 5 was not even heard of among the Gentiles, how is it that many of the extreme sexual practices listed in Stella's article will ever gain enough popular support to become part of the norm in society?

The all-or-nothing thinking, scared-straight approach that says the definition of marriage in society must follow the Christian definition or all variations of marriage will eventually become part of the status quo can only be seen as manipulative. Also, the percentages in Stella's article about nonmonogamous same-sex marriages is disputed by other data.

Should we oppose the practice of same-sex marriage? Of course. But why not depend on evangelism alone to do that? We should note that those Christians from the past who have sought privileged positions to control society stated a pendulum swing so any restrictions we might encounter in preaching the Gospel is part of the same swinging of the pendulum.

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The following blocked comment is the epitome of why this series appears on this blog. It points to the filtering of information performed by some Conservatives.

Feb 16

To Joe Carter and his blogpost on the ISIS slaughter of 21 Egyptian Christians. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.

The story is too sad for words. We should also note that IS represents criminal insanity rather than any religion.

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Feb 17

To R. Scott Clark and his short blogpost quote of a scientist complaining about group think among climate scientists. This appeared in Heidelblog

So without any details, we can say that this person's grievance is legitimate and that science stands on one side while group think warns us about climate change? That kind of reasoning reveals one's predispositions. Where's the objectivity here?

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To Joe Carter and his blogpost on incarceration rates and crime reduction. This appeared in the Acton Blog.


Consider then that America incarcerates more people than any other country. But also consider that the incarceration rate for Blacks is higher than that for Whites. And also consider that that disparity is due to an inequitable enforcement of drug laws. At this point, let's stop. How does Carter's Theft Island fit into our current circumstances where Theft Island was made of some who were genetically predisposed to committing one theft per year while our jails have disproportionate rate of Blacks incarcerated for drug related crimes though Whites use drugs at the same rate?

Let's also look at the fact that life for former prisoners lends itself to recidivism because of the difficulties these people have in obtaining meaningful, livable salary employment in such a tough job market and housing--in other words, the some of the same conditions that might have contributed to the initial crime, conviction, and incarceration. In addition, the same  legal system that has disproportionately incarcerated Blacks and other minorities is still in operation. Then consider people who have committed small crimes who, sometimes either inadvertently or in order to live, continue to commit small crimes and are thus locked away for the rest of their lives.

Finally consider those who have committed fraud or money laundering or some other major financial crime are counted as untouchable by criminal laws because of the economic influence these people have. Where is the insistence that to reduce those crimes, one must convict and incarcerate them?

Just once, I would like a Conservative to write extensively about our justice system by first checking out people's lives rather than just by applying their logical powers of deduction.

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To Joe Carter and his blogpost on unemployment and suicide. This appeared in the Acton Blog.

Too many times when someone says that unemployment is a spiritual problem, they mean it is just the problem of the unemployed person. It is tragic shame that nobody considers whether the number of unemployed here is also a sign of a spiritual problem of either the economic system being used or the people running and benefiting the most from the system.