{"id":27987,"date":"2015-05-25T18:16:33","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T22:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=27987"},"modified":"2015-05-25T19:37:22","modified_gmt":"2015-05-25T23:37:22","slug":"walmart-moose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/","title":{"rendered":"Walmart.moose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2022 Randall Balmer periodically creates a stir by defending his thesis that the religious right began in defense of segregation rather than, as its mythology claims, in opposition to abortion<\/a>. Balmer\u2019s claim has upset many people over the years, but none of them has ever gotten so upset that they\u2019ve been able to disprove it. The religious right, Balmer says, didn\u2019t care about abortion in 1973, when Roe v. Wade<\/em> was decided. It didn\u2019t come into being until white evangelicals reacted in horror to another Supreme Court decision \u2014 Bob Jones University v. United States.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another data-point in support of Balmer: The white Christian right is still trying to overturn Bob Jones<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 To me, at least, this is still funny<\/a>. The moose seems to agree:<\/p>\n

\"WalmartMoose\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Matthew Pulver looks at John Hagee\u2019s \u201cblood moons\u201d and the eclipse of reason<\/a>, for Salon.\u00a0<\/em>Pulver gives too much credence to Hagee\u2019s claim that his goofy predictions based on lunar eclipses are in any way derived from biblical texts (they\u2019re really, really not), but he\u2019s clear-eyed about the fact that folks like Hagee and his boosters at the Family Research Council cannot be dismissed as an inconsequential fringe:<\/p>\n

The FRC is not some ramshackle backwoods chapel filled with snake handlers; the well-heeled D.C. lobbying group\u2019s \u201cValues Voter Summit\u201d in late summer will be a who\u2019s who of conservatism, with Rush Limbaugh, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Sean Hannity and a\u00a0<\/span>host of others\u00a0expected to speak at the conference.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, that Values Voter Summit is focused on the 2016 election, in which both FRC and John Hagee say real, true Christians have a sacred duty to support the Republican nominee. That election will occur 14 months after their \u201cblood moon\u201d prophecy says the world will end, but consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Naum at AZspot<\/a> shares Greg Boyd\u2019s fine presentation of the Anabaptist-ish case against Christians participating in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance<\/a>. I would clarify there that I mean the American pledge of allegiance to the American flag, but that\u2019s pretty much a given since America is one of only two nations that practice this ghastly ritual.<\/p>\n

I mostly agree with Boyd,\u00a0and I\u2019d add a big dollop of New Testament Empire criticism to his argument (\u201cWho is like the beast, and who can fight against it?\u201d). But there are also plenty of non-sectarian reasons to dislike this ceremonial idolatry. Like, for example, the way it twists expressions of patriotism into substance-less, performative gestures that therefore ultimately become competitive \u2014 promoting division more than national unity.<\/p>\n

Or, again, the fact that a country requiring its citizens \u2014 particularly its children \u2014 to participate in reciting a mandatory loyalty oath is just about the skin-crawlingly creepiest<\/em> thing imaginable. \u201cLiberty and justice for all\u201d is a beautiful thing. Social coercion requiring us to pledge allegiance to a symbol representing such ideals is several steps backwards from those ideals themselves. And it\u2019s creepy, creepy, creepy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 It\u2019s possible this is just a relatively mundane story about cyber-criminals stealing credit-card information for purely financial reasons<\/a>. It\u2019s also possible that some prominent politicians and\/or members of the clergy have a new reason to be anxious.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Late last week in this BBC4<\/del> Channel 4* report leading up to Ireland\u2019s referendum<\/a>, the interviewer asked Panti Bliss \u2014 the fabulous performer who became a\u00a0formidable, compelling\u00a0spokesperson for the Yes vote \u2014 \u201cPersonally, do you need\u201d the affirmation of humanity and dignity and equal rights that the Yes vote would signify. Panti\u2019s response was heartbreaking, lovely and inspiring:<\/p>\n

Well, clearly I don\u2019t need it. I\u2019m sitting here in front of you looking fabulous<\/em>, so clearly I don\u2019t need<\/em> it. But I want it, and I want it for other people. I want it for people who are younger than me. I am a tough nut. But I am 46 years old and I have grown to be a tough nut. And I would like if young lesbian and gay people, you know, have the choice not to turn into the tough nut that I am. That they could just, you know, that they could just be<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s something about that, I think, that applies to every struggle for greater justice and a better world. It\u2019s not enough just to become a tough nut that The Powers That Be cannot manage to crush. The point is to change things for those who come after us, so that they are free not to have to be tough nuts, but just to be.<\/p>\n

* (Corrected. Thanks, Daniel. Basically, if I see a TV\u00a0interviewer ask meaningful follow-up questions, I just assume it\u2019s the BBC. Unless they don\u2019t have an accent, then I assume it\u2019s The Daily Show<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In praise of “tough nuts.” Plus: the Pledge of Allegiance is idolatrous (and really creepy); “blood moon” lunacy isn’t just a fringe thing; a data point in support of Randall Balmer; and a new reason for (some) politicians and TV preachers to be anxious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWalmart.moose<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In praise of "tough nuts." Plus: the Pledge of Allegiance is idolatrous (and really creepy); "blood moon" lunacy isn't just a fringe thing; a data point in support of Randall Balmer; and a new reason for (some) politicians and TV preachers to be anxious.\" \/>\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\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walmart.moose\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In praise of "tough nuts." Plus: the Pledge of Allegiance is idolatrous (and really creepy); "blood moon" lunacy isn't just a fringe thing; a data point in support of Randall Balmer; and a new reason for (some) politicians and TV preachers to be anxious.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-25T22:16:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-05-25T23:37:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/files\/2015\/05\/WalmartMoose.jpg\" \/>\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\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/\",\"name\":\"Walmart.moose\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-25T22:16:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-05-25T23:37:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"In praise of \\\"tough nuts.\\\" Plus: the Pledge of Allegiance is idolatrous (and really creepy); \\\"blood moon\\\" lunacy isn't just a fringe thing; a data point in support of Randall Balmer; and a new reason for (some) politicians and TV preachers to be anxious.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Walmart.moose\"}]},{\"@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\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\",\"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\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?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\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Walmart.moose","description":"In praise of \"tough nuts.\" Plus: the Pledge of Allegiance is idolatrous (and really creepy); \"blood moon\" lunacy isn't just a fringe thing; a data point in support of Randall Balmer; and a new reason for (some) politicians and TV preachers to be anxious.","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\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Walmart.moose","og_description":"In praise of \"tough nuts.\" Plus: the Pledge of Allegiance is idolatrous (and really creepy); \"blood moon\" lunacy isn't just a fringe thing; a data point in support of Randall Balmer; and a new reason for (some) politicians and TV preachers to be anxious.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2015-05-25T22:16:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-05-25T23:37:22+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/files\/2015\/05\/WalmartMoose.jpg"}],"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\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/","name":"Walmart.moose","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-05-25T22:16:33+00:00","dateModified":"2015-05-25T23:37:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47"},"description":"In praise of \"tough nuts.\" Plus: the Pledge of Allegiance is idolatrous (and really creepy); \"blood moon\" lunacy isn't just a fringe thing; a data point in support of Randall Balmer; and a new reason for (some) politicians and TV preachers to be anxious.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/25\/walmart-moose\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Walmart.moose"}]},{"@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\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47","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\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?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\/fredclark1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27987","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\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}