Posted by
Opinionmill Author on Sunday, November 12, 2006 8:33:11 PM
Originally posted at
http://www.opinionmill.comChristine Craft, a Sacramento Area talk radio personality has published a column in the
Sacramento News and Review that describes a “mission impossible” like infiltration into the Promise Keepers event at Arco Arena in October.
Craft worked with her audience to find and disguise a woman (known as D) as a man in order to gain entry into the event and report back to her audience. Her column does a pretty good job describing the “who, what, when, and where”, but she left me wondering “why”.
The obvious answer is that the left tends to dislike Evangelical Christians. But that is more of an observation than an explanation. Since Craft left this part out, we’re left to figure it out for ourselves and I believe that it has much to do with ignorance about Christian leadership and Christian politics.
Ignorance about Leadership:.
Christian fathers and husbands are called to build strong marriages and families through love, protection and biblical values. This is one of the 7 promises of the Promise Keepers. This call to leadership is all too often confused by non-Christians with male domination, control, and abuse.
I would never try to argue that abuse of this idea does not happen. And I’ll agree that sort of abuse is very ugly. But there is a difference between the leadership the Bible calls for and the abusive relationships that Craft suggests is being endorsed by the Promise Keepers.
It was the same type of talk that D heard as a child--a variation of the theme of giving it all up to make a covenant with the divine. She’d heard from her father the religious far right’s view that the man is the head of the household, at least in his own mind. The PK speakers have all sorts of saccharine ways of referring to respecting the wife or girlfriend. The woman is to be placed on a veritable pedestal of honor, except that the man is always to be the final “decider.”
When criticizing the Christian view of the family, all too often people forget that men are called to be the head of the family as Christ is the head of the Church. That is, Christ gave everything, suffered to protect, and in doing so demonstrated the perfect model of self sacrificial leadership and accountability.
The following comes from the Promise Keeper Mission Statement:
…In a world of negotiable values, confused identities, and distorted priorities, men are encountering God's Word, embracing their identities as His sons, and investing in meaningful relationships with God, their families and each other….
What family would not benefit from a father who can make decisions and at the same time be fully accountable for the outcome? What family would not benefit from a husband that does not become compromised in harmful and unhealthy relationships? There is no shortage of broken homes and failed marriages and I believe that an increased level of leadership and accountability coming from husbands and fathers could do wonders to reduce the frequency.
Ignorance about Christian Politics
All too often the groups labeled “Republican” and “Christian” are considered to be one and the same. Because of this, the political dialogue crosses over into the theological dialogue and vise versa. This confuses those that either don’t know where the boundaries are or are suited to ignore the boundaries. I’m not sure which camp the author falls into.
In her column Craft weaves in an observation of reverence to the President by the Promise Keepers.
D figured this group would probably “yup yup” the style of President George W. Bush, who is also a self-described “decider.” Sure enough, when one of the speakers referred to his own visit with Senator Bill Frist and Dubya, the crowd uttered a group “ahh” in reverent tones.
I’m not sure why this paragraph is in the column, other than to paint over the theological objectives of the Promise Keepers and suggesting a new set of political objectives making the group a more palatable object of ridicule.
All to often Evangelical Christians are stereotyped as the lackey of the RNC by the left. This is incorrect. Evangelical Christians are the lackey of Jesus Christ. If the RNC eliminated the Christian alignment of interest from their platform, Evangelicals would not support them. If the DNC aligned to the values of the Christian, they would win the Christian vote. It is as simple as that.
I have listened to Craft’s show and although I rarely agree with her, have found some of her positions to be well thought out. I’m not sure what drove her to take on a Promise Keeper infiltration project, but I must say that I find the fact that it even happened interesting enough to write about. But to really take the project to the next level Craft should explain why she took it on in the first place. This would help complete the picture for those of us who do not see the Promise Keepers in the same light as a hate group.