Thursday, July 02, 2009

"American Patriot Bible"

For years the wingnuts have been selectively parsing the Bible to justify their general hatred and contempt for those who are not just like themselves. Thus, I guess it should be no surprise that an enterprising Christianist, Richard G. Lee, a Southern Baptist pastor from Georgia who served as the Bible's general editor, has decided to take it one step further and come up with a nativist re-written version of the Bible that is slanted with Christianist beliefs and propaganda. And these folks are the same ones who claim the Bible is inerrant? I think not. One can only speculate as to how many people will be brainwashed on the "Christian nation myth" with this book. Here are some highlights from USA Today:
*
Americans looking to combine love of God with love of country this July 4th can quote the new American Patriot's Bible, which says God has influenced America though godly Founding Fathers, presidents and soldiers. "This Bible is designed for the decent, hardworking core of America, the ordinary man or woman who loves this nation and believes it springs from godly roots," says Richard G. Lee, a Southern Baptist pastor from Georgia who served as the Bible's general editor.
*
"Christians have believed all along that this nation sprung from Judeo-Christian ethics. Now they can say, "Oh, now I know where this uniqueness comes from in our nation's history."' . . . Lee is the founding pastor of the 4,000-member First Redeemer Church in Cumming, Ga. A registered Republican who's organizing an Independence Day-themed "Restoring America" conference featuring conservatives David Limbaugh and Oliver North, Lee said he's "disappointed" when politicians "use the word of God for the purpose of vote getting."
*
Evangelical author and pastor Greg Boyd's lengthy critique, posted on Christianity Today's website, calls Lee's Bible "idolatrous," saying, "There's not a single commentary in this Bible that even attempts to shed light on what the biblical text actually means."
*
A sampling of the propaganda can be found here. The egocentric nature of "Christian American Patriots" is amazing - they continue to think God prefers them over all other people on earth.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Oh Man! this is why I identify myself as Anglican as Christian has taken on an entirely different (and very hateful) meaning in the United States.