the parish: We Do Things Different Down H'yere: "On an SUV at Outback Steakhouse, three bumper stickers on the back window:
God Bless America
Jesus is Alive!
Fight Crime: Shoot Back"
The older I get, the more contradictions I see in American Christianity. Perhaps seeing Christians tolerate/deny/openly defend torture threw me over the edge.
Sigh.
7 comments:
I am not a big fan of those kinds of bumper stickers, or most bumper stickers, in general.
I fail to see how defending yourself (from someone shooting at me, I assume) is somehow not "Christian." If Jesus wants me to get shot, I am converting to Buddhism.
"If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." -- The Dalai Lama, (May 15, 2001, The Seattle Times) speaking at the "Educating Heart Summit" in Portland, Oregon, when asked by a girl how to react when a shooter takes aim at a classmate."
Steve, can I ask why you always over-react whenever I criticize gun people? Its as if I have suggested widespread gun confiscation.
I don't think I have ever said that people don't have the right to defend themselves. But before you convert to Buddhism, maybe take a breath and look again at this bumper sticker. "Fight Crime, Shoot Back" is not the same thing as "oh shit, the only way I can save myself or my family is to do the most serious thing a person can do--take another life." It is flip and joyous about shooting at people.
And by the way, I am looking for that passage where Jesus said to "fight fire with fire" or "lock and load" or "this house secured by Smith & Wesson." I am suggesting, quite simply, that for Christians to talk so glibly about following Christ and then equally take pleasure in the idea of shooting another human being--a human being their theology says was "created in the image of God" is incompatible.
Self defense is one thing. These people are poor representatives of Christianity, the United States, gun owners, and thinking people anywhere. Steve, you are not. So stop defending them.
/rant
It is because I have a hair-trigger. Sorry, couldn't resist.
I wasn't mad when I wrote my post, but just trying to point out an alternative view. I thought the Buddhist reference showed I wasn't being overly serious.
I am not a big-time bumper sticker person. I tend not to take them all that seriously. I don't know if that person would take pleasure in killing someone and I guess I don't get that same vibe.
Why wouldn't these God fearing people defend torture? Doesn't God keep a private torture chamber called Hell?
Steve, perhaps it is me who is reacting. As for bumper stickers, I agree, but they do say something about those who apply them to their car. I have one on mine with the Ghandi quote about and "eye for an eye and soon the entire world is blind." I like to think that is a thoughtful response to the yellow ribbon culture.
I am not saying that these people would take pleasure in killing another person, but I think I am on safe ground when I suggest that many conservative Christians have not thought this stuff through. I also believe that many of them are fans of the mythic West, the John Wayne approach to life and that is one reason they have rallied around the worst President in American history.
PM, hah. Good point.
I have a Green Bay Packers plate cover, a small QDM sticker and Calvin peeing on Hillary Clinton. Just kidding on the last one. I can't stand those.
I don't know anyone with a fight crime bumper sticker, so I don't know if they are just trying to make a big statement or are just trying to be edgy/funny.
Since I am full of gun quotes (I've seen this on a bumper sticker):
"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." -- Mahatma Gandhi (An Autobiography OR The story of my experiments with truth, by M.K. Gandhi, p.238)
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