well, i suppose rosie’s already made her mark….
there are an awful lot of people up in arms about her statements… but (now hear me out before you throw stones) i don’t think she’s all that far out there. if you think of radical christianity in the terms of fred phelps and the "god hates fags" gang and god hates america (and the bevy of other sites they have proclaiming what god hates) or along the lines of those that bomb abortion clinics or murder doctors for performing abortions or along the lines of the ku klux klan (k.k.k.), then her comments make perfect sense…. i just don’t think she clarified her definition of "radical christianity" and therefore leads us to a bevy of interpretation.
as i watched the video i was struck by the audience response of applause immediately following rosie’s comparison. it took me a while to think through her statement and make a differentiation between ‘radical christianity’ and ‘traditional’ or ‘moderate christianity’; my mind immediately made a connection between the two instead of separating them (as i’m sure was the case for many of you–hence your anger towards her statement). it makes me wonder if the audience made the same connection in their reponse or immediately separated them as i did after much thought. they certainly erupted quickly and it gives me a great sense of concern hoping upon hope that they made a differentiation between the two. however i fear that they did not, causing me to ponder just how far christianity has fallen into the abyss of irrelevance and futility in the minds of americans today.
Related posts:
- Just a question…
- Christianity Needs a New Face
- DIESAVED
- quote of the day:
- christianity’s new posterchild…
a friend of mine (james) sent me this email he received… an action alert from the american family association. as you read it, notice that they too are not making the differentiation between “normal” christianity and “radical” christianity…
this makes my fear in how the audience responded grow even more:
————————————————–
AFA ActionAlert
September 14, 2006
O’Donnell on ABC: ‘Radical Christians’ no different than murderous radical Muslims
Neither O’Donnell nor ABC has apologized
Dear ______,
ABC’s Rosie O’Donnell told a nationwide audience this week that “radical Christians” are the same as radical Muslims who piloted hijacked jetliners into New York’s Twin Towers, who chop off the heads of individuals and who bomb innocent children in suicide attacks.
O’Donnell made her comments as host of ABC’s “The View.”
“Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state,” O’Donnell said. She had been saying that America was attacked “not by a nation.” She continued: “And as a result of the attack and the killing of 3,000 innocent people, we invaded two countries and killed innocent people.” Even her liberal co-hosts were shocked by her comments.
Co-host Joy Behar protested that Christians are not trying to impose mass murder on America. “This group (radical Muslims) is threatening to kill us.” Replied O’Donnell: “No, but we are bombing innocent people in other countries. True or false?”
O’Donnell was saying there is no difference between the radical Muslims who kill in the name of Allah and Bible-believing Christians who follow the teachings of Jesus. [i would like to add that this was never said by O'Donnell, this is pure conjecture and frankly puts words in her mouth that i'm sure she didn't really mean--i'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt... and no i'm not a rosie fan, in fact i can barely stand her.]
Neither O’Donnell nor ABC apologized for the comments. Had she made similar comments about minorities or homosexuals, there would have been an apology, and she would have probably been fired.
The message from ABC is that bashing Christians is acceptable, even comparing them with murderers who kill in the name of Allah.
Take Action
Tell ABC that O’Donnell’s comments deserve an apology and a reprimand.
1. Send the email to ABC asking for an apology and a reprimand.
2. Forward this to your friends and family, and ask them to send the email to ABC.
If you think our efforts are worthy, would you please support us
with a small gift? Thank you for caring enough to get involved.
Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association
Frankly, there is no excuse for this statement–it was made out of pure ignorance and poorly veiled hatred. Her position is indefensible. It is just as false to claim the analogy works if you compare radical Muslims to the God Hates Fags crowd. As far as I know they haven’t driven their cars into crowded marketplaces and blown them up.
The fact is that Rosie SHOULD be fired, but she won’t. Am I going to send an email to ABC? No. But people have been fired from television for statements a lot less ignorant than this one (remember Rush and McNabb?).
I agree that the statement is ignorant, but it isn’t as ignorant as many people are making it out to be. AFA is obviously using it as a fundraising campaign (note the email above and the ask for donations) and in doing so taking things out of context. I think if you lump all extremist Christianity into a group you still will not have the carnage that extremist Islam has done–however, there is still carnage and although she may not have said it, the ideology is still as dangerous for both take lives (abortion clinic bombings, the KKK, etc.)
should rosie be fired? heck yeah but not because of this statement; rather because she should have never been hired in the first place!
anyways, i go back to my original posting and the final thought of wondering just how far christianity has fallen in the eyes and minds of americans today…
Since Rosie didn’t define “radical christians” we’ll only be left to speculate. She carefully chose her words and knew that they were vague enough to leave her clean.