{"id":626,"date":"2018-06-11T15:53:28","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T22:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?p=626"},"modified":"2018-06-11T15:53:28","modified_gmt":"2018-06-11T22:53:28","slug":"christians-we-are-still-upset-over-the-wrong-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/11\/christians-we-are-still-upset-over-the-wrong-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians: We Are Still Upset Over the Wrong Things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

When this post<\/a> was published on Patheos last June, it clearly hit some nerves.\u00a0 The reason I wrote that post was because I wondered if what upsets us, makes us angry, was possibly a truer and more accurate gauge of who we are, than what we might formally articulate if asked.\u00a0 We don\u2019t all laugh at the same things or find the same things funny and it is the same with things that upset or make us angry.\u00a0 Is this where our mask\u2019s slip, and our true thoughts and feelings are made evident?<\/p>\n

I was stuck again recently with the dissonance so evident in our current political, religious, and cultural moment.\u00a0 What we seem fine with and what we get upset over.\u00a0 Probably the best examples have to do with the ongoing love affair, or better, marriage of convenience between evangelicals and Trump.<\/p>\n

Here is a man who bragged about grabbing women by their (cough)\u2026and has been heard to call women \u201cpigs\u201d the \u201cc\u201d word and other shameful comments.\u00a0 He\u2019s called other countries derogatory names and his supporters seem to admire this idea he isn\u2019t, \u201cpolitically correct.\u201d\u00a0 Putting aside the fact that being against \u201cpolitical correctness\u201d (whatever that even means), doesn\u2019t give anyone the right to be an ignorant jerk, normally these types of remarks would generate outrage on the part of evangelicals.<\/p>\n

However, we recently were made aware of a comedian (Samantha Bee), who used a crude term to describe Ivanka Trump.\u00a0 Amazingly, we now have the same people crying foul and upset at Bee\u2019s remarks, who were silent or supportive when it was Trump, or his supporters, being crude.\u00a0 Remember, Trump invited Ted Nugent to the White House (who used the \u201cc\u201d word to describe Hillary) and some of Trump\u2019s supporters wore shirts to his campaign rallies that used the \u201cc\u201d word to describe her as well.<\/p>\n

Bee is a comedian\/entertainer (for context to the Bee story see\u00a0here<\/a>).\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t present herself as a civic leader or role model.\u00a0 She isn\u2019t an elected leader.\u00a0 She has no power as to law and policy.\u00a0 Trump on the other hand, does.\u00a0 Thus, if we are upset by the words of a comedian (or an actor<\/a>) rather than the actions and words of the President of the United States<\/em> or candidate for high office, we are upset over the wrong things<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t about crude or foul language.\u00a0 This is about who uses it.\u00a0 It\u2019s not about principle; it\u2019s about power.\u00a0 We don\u2019t mind when our guy\/gal does it\u2014just the if the other<\/em> guy\/gal does.\u00a0 For instance, we were told that Trump\u2019s comments were \u201clocker room\u201d or \u201ckitchen table\u201d talk.\u00a0 Those defenses prompted this (coarse terms warning)\u00a0response<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

If that response offends or upsets those who remained silent or defensive of the President\u2019s comments, why the offense now?\u00a0 How is language the issue, when both sides use it?\u00a0 We would all, I hope, like for our political discourse to contain less outrage, anger, and personal attacks\u2014less crudity and coarse language.\u00a0 Regardless, if we are upset over the language used here but not the hypocrisy on display, we are upset over the wrong things<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This prompts similar observations:<\/p>\n

If we get upset over the use of a crude term but not over the official government policy of separating immigrant children from their parents,\u00a0we are upset over the wrong things<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If we get upset over an NFL player kneeling during the National Anthem, the timing and manner of protest, but not over what is being protested, the treatment and killing of unarmed Black men, we are upset over the wrong things<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If we get upset over how the next school or church shooting event might be, \u201cexploited,\u201d by those we disagree with as to gun laws, or our supposed gun rights, but not over the loss of life or the grieving families, we are upset over the wrong things<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If we get upset over a Civil War monument being torn down, monuments that many see as celebrating treason and slavery, if the destruction of stone is more upsetting to us than the destruction of the lives those monuments bear witness to, we are upset over the wrong things<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If we get upset when the so-called Main Stream Media makes a mistake or gets a fact wrong (even after they admit it and correct it) but are willing to completely overlook when Fox News traffics in conspiracy theories and pure propaganda, we are upset over the wrong things<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Like with my prior essay, I know the quick response might be: \u201cWhy can\u2019t we be upset at both?\u201d\u00a0 Well, we could.\u00a0 But, again, such misses the point entirely\u2014even makes the point.\u00a0 These are not dichotomies.\u00a0 Again, it is a matter of scale.<\/p>\n

To be upset over the one, but not the other, is to reveal a deep moral cluelessness\u2014a poverty of ethical sensibility.\u00a0 Imagine King David responding to Nathan\u2019s story (2 Samuel) with: \u201cI see your point.\u00a0 He could have at least invited the poor man to dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shocking thing is that if Nathan had been a modern-day evangelical, he would have agreed with King David and went inside to have dinner with him\u2014a dinner probably consisting of some other poor man\u2019s lamb.<\/p>\n

That is where we are in America, right now: still upset over the wrong things and it is very revealing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When this post was published on Patheos last June, it clearly hit some nerves.\u00a0 The reason I wrote that post was because I wondered if what upsets us, makes us angry, was possibly a truer and more accurate gauge of who we are, than what we might formally articulate if asked.\u00a0 We don\u2019t all laugh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[83,140,143,281,344,485],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-culture","tag-ethics","tag-evangelicalism","tag-morality","tag-political","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nChristians: We Are Still Upset Over the Wrong Things<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When this post was published on Patheos last June, it clearly hit some nerves.\u00a0 The reason I wrote that post was because I wondered if what upsets us,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/11\/christians-we-are-still-upset-over-the-wrong-things\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christians: We Are Still Upset Over the Wrong Things\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When this post was published on Patheos last June, it clearly hit some nerves.\u00a0 The reason I wrote that post was because I wondered if what upsets us,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/11\/christians-we-are-still-upset-over-the-wrong-things\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Divergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-11T22:53:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@darrelllackey1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/11\/christians-we-are-still-upset-over-the-wrong-things\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/11\/christians-we-are-still-upset-over-the-wrong-things\/\",\"name\":\"Christians: We Are Still Upset Over the Wrong Things\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-11T22:53:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-11T22:53:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\"},\"description\":\"When this post was published on Patheos last June, it clearly hit some nerves.\u00a0 The reason I wrote that post was because I wondered if what upsets us,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/11\/christians-we-are-still-upset-over-the-wrong-things\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/11\/christians-we-are-still-upset-over-the-wrong-things\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/11\/christians-we-are-still-upset-over-the-wrong-things\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christians: We Are Still Upset Over the Wrong Things\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\",\"name\":\"Divergence\",\"description\":\"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - 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