Folks, Time and time again, the charge is leveled by one Brineller against another that the accused would not be so outraged (at least to the point of posting to Brin-L) over some political or religious shenanigans if the result had favored his or her position.
A recent example: Those of us who protested ABC's airing of "Path to 9/11" opponents would not have done so if ABC had proposed airing "Fahrenheit 911"... I find the argument "you only complain when your ox is gored" weak on a couple of fronts. For one, reasonable people don't tend to get bothered about things that they agree with, and people tend to post when they are bothered, not when they are satisfied: we have fire alarms because fire is alarming, but we don't have beer alarms. For another, the underlying accusation is that the poster is not acting on principles: I'm not sure that this is the best way for us to try to share our opinions with one another. Comes now the case of the IRS vs. All Saints Church. On the eve of the 2004 election, a liberal Christian pastor in Pasadena preached (what is reportedly) a highly political anti-war and anti-poverty sermon with the result that the IRS is threatening to take away the church's tax-exempt status. I haven't read the entire sermon, but it is available on the NPR web site for anyone who is interested. WIth everyone playing to type, I would guess that my conservative friends would expect me to either remain silent on this issue, or join the outrage of some that the IRS was attacking the first-amendment rights of this church and its pastor. Or, if the church that was being threatened with action by the IRS had been a right-leaning evangelical church, and the message had been one that clearly supported the President and his war, I might be expected to say "Go get 'em, IRS!" I'm pleased that this case came to my attention on NPR today, because based on my belief in the benefits of the separation of church and state to both church and state, I haven't the slightest outrage about the IRS's actions, despite the fact that this particular sermon sounds like one that I might have cheered. I support the IRS maintaining a bright line to highlight speech that is protected by the church's special position in society from mere politics. It doesn't matter whether the preacher was saying something that I agree with or was holding forth with the kind of dominionist stuff that I would rather just go away: the principle needs to stand, or the bargain between these two highly powerful forces in our lives will go wildly out of balance. Peace, Dave _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
