{"id":2411,"date":"2010-09-06T00:19:24","date_gmt":"2010-09-06T00:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/"},"modified":"2010-09-06T00:19:24","modified_gmt":"2010-09-06T00:19:24","slug":"the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scandal of the Evangelical Mosk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The end of last week brought two depressing online phenomena. The first was the \"mosk\" business on Facebook and the second was my Google news alert for \"evangelical,\" which turned up a few dozen variations of the same story\/column\/post about Glenn Beck.<\/p>\n

If you missed the \"mosk\" thing, it turns out that there's a high correlation between atrocious spelling and atrocious religious bigotry. Searching for \"mosk\" in Youropenbook.org<\/a> turns up an almost endless stream of vile chauvinist posturing against Muslims in general and the Park 51 Center (or \"mosk\") in particular. It's a vast river of hateful ignorance and ignorant hate, proudly displayed as though it were evidence of something virtuous or smart \u2014 something to be proud of.<\/p>\n

Mr. Destructo provides a sampling of these hate-posts from last week<\/a>. Take a look. This is what the hospitality of Sodom looks like.<\/p>\n

That flood of bad spelling, imbecility and evil is an indictment of America's elementary schools, news media and churches. As someone deeply invested in two out of three of those, I feel the need to confess our failure and apologize. And then to throw up.<\/p>\n

Let's just consider one of those failing institutions here: the church. That whole string of Facebook postings is an aggressively hostile assertion of religious hegemony \u2014 specifically of the kind of godandcountry religious hegemony advocated by American evangelical Protestants. I don't know how many of these posters think of themselves as \"Christians,\" but let's be clear: If any of these people attend a Christian church, then that church has failed them. Utterly. That church has failed to teach them the one thing that matters more than anything else.<\/p>\n

Yes, I know, I'm a lefty liberal hippie and so my views are viewed as beyond the bounds of acceptable thought in our evangelical community. But this isn't my<\/em> opinion. The Bible is abundantly, explicitly clear on this point:<\/p>\n

\n

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. \u2026<\/p>\n

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. \u2026 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. \u2026<\/p>\n

If anyone says, \"I love God,\" yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That's it. That's the whole ball game.<\/p>\n

That's what matters. Every other question of doctrine, orthodoxy or orthopraxy is comparatively inconsequential. Those other matters matter, but if you get them all completely wrong and still get this right, you're still called blessed. And if you get all those other things right and get this wrong, then you're still accursed. \"Depart from me, I never knew you,\" etc.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to all those stories about Glenn Beck. Beck has been reaching out to evangelicals to support his call for a moralistic brand of nationalism, and many evangelicals view him as a natural ally who shares their \"conservative\" values.<\/p>\n

But Beck is also viewed as \"controversial\" because he is a Mormon. This controversy, and only this, was the subject of dozens of articles, columns and blog posts clogging my news feed. They all asked one and only one question: Should evangelicals avoid supporting Glenn Beck because he is a Mormon?<\/p>\n

The answer is No. They should not be shunning Beck because he is a Mormon. They should be shunning Glenn Beck because he hates his brother, because he preaches hate, nurtures it, multiplies it and feeds on it.<\/p>\n

He's also a liar and a con-artist running a shameless pump-and-dump scam on overpriced gold coins. Both of those far outrank whatever discomfort some evangelicals might have due to Beck's alleged Mormonism<\/a>, but they fade in importance relative to the imperative to love.<\/p>\n

How is it possible that so many evangelical Christian writers and reporters have taken the time to express their qualms about Beck's Mormonism but have scarcely any reservations about his relentless message of hate? \"Straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel\" was Jesus' term for this sort of thing.<\/p>\n

\n

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. \u2026 If anyone says, \"I love God,\" yet hates his brother, he is a liar.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That's what matters. It's really not all that complicated.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The end of last week brought two depressing online phenomena. The first was the “mosk” business on Facebook and the second was my Google news alert for “evangelical,” which turned up a few dozen variations of the same story\/column\/post about Glenn Beck. If you missed the “mosk” thing, it turns out that there’s a high […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Scandal of the Evangelical Mosk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The end of last week brought two depressing online phenomena. The first was the "mosk" business on Facebook and the second was my Google news\" \/>\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\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Scandal of the Evangelical Mosk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The end of last week brought two depressing online phenomena. The first was the "mosk" business on Facebook and the second was my Google news\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-06T00:19:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/\",\"name\":\"The Scandal of the Evangelical Mosk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-06T00:19:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-06T00:19:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\"},\"description\":\"The end of last week brought two depressing online phenomena. The first was the "mosk" business on Facebook and the second was my Google news\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Scandal of the Evangelical Mosk\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Scandal of the Evangelical Mosk","description":"The end of last week brought two depressing online phenomena. The first was the "mosk" business on Facebook and the second was my Google news","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Scandal of the Evangelical Mosk","og_description":"The end of last week brought two depressing online phenomena. The first was the "mosk" business on Facebook and the second was my Google news","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2010-09-06T00:19:24+00:00","author":"Fred Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Clark","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/","name":"The Scandal of the Evangelical Mosk","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-09-06T00:19:24+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-06T00:19:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e"},"description":"The end of last week brought two depressing online phenomena. The first was the "mosk" business on Facebook and the second was my Google news","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/09\/06\/the-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mosk\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Scandal of the Evangelical Mosk"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/","name":"slacktivist","description":""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e","name":"Fred Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Fred Clark"},"description":"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}