What's happening is nothing
less than criminal. So-called Christian news outlets and leaders are promoting
the most biased half-truths and often outright lies. They accuse the mainstream
media of spinning the news and yet they are guilty of it tenfold.
Now with email updates and all
the other mechanisms Christians are further assaulted by direct and tailored contact
often promoting misinformation.
The mainstream media outlets
are pro-Establishment. They always have been. There are nuances to this. You
can talk about the Vietnam and Watergate era, but largely the media is driven
by commercial and corporate interests. Only in the face of overwhelming public
action will they shift their focus, which again demonstrates a commercial
rather than ideological motivation. Their default is to protect the
Establishment regime which is something far bigger than a political
administration. They protect the cultural modus vivendi, the way of life,
values, and all the assumptions that go with it. The main networks have worked
as social caretakers or custodians. Today it's changing. There's greater social
polarity but for all that in the end FOX and NBC are not that different. To get
into issues you have to turn to more independent and international media. As
Christians if we're going to interact with the news, then we better have our
eyes open. Most of us aren't going to have the time or the ability to dissect
things and we're going to have to trust people at some point.
My counsel is...don't. Not even
me. Multiple sources is the best safeguard and that's just as true with
history...the news that has stood the test of time and is old enough to be
interpreted in a more thorough and comprehensive manner. I can't do the work
for you, but I can help. I can help people to think through certain issues, in
some cases understand them better, or at the very least I can point the way,
even if you're just after a small diet of information.
Christians are upset about some
of the things reported in the media, the choice of stories, the choice of human
interest pieces. Again, this is motivated largely by commercial interests which
will always tend to the sensational. I can't even stomach most American news.
It's all entertainment oriented and they focus so much on how people 'feel'
about things. It's sappy and largely a waste of time.
The Christian media is even
worse but also disseminates disinformation. A classic example of this can be
seen with the Christian information and commentary surrounding the Romeike
family from Germany.
Germany outlaws homeschooling
and they fled here and a court granted them asylum. This is all under review
and the Attorney General startled Christians a little while back by suggesting
that Homeschooling isn't a universal right.
Alarm bells went off, a flood
of emails entered my inbox...look out Obama is coming after homeschooling
families. The Nazis outlawed homeschooling. And then in a syllogism worthy of
Glenn Beck....therefore Obama is Hitler.
Now I feel bad for the Romeike
family and I deplore the German government and not a few elements of German
culture that generates this kind of conformity. This is part of their heritage.
It contributed to the Third Reich's ability to take over and now their using
the same mentality to keep it from rising again. The German government is
paranoid regarding both Neo-Nazi groups which have a strong following
especially in the disaffected areas formerly part of East Germany. And they
like most Western European governments are afraid of Islamic subcultures
developing in their midst. They with most modern states believe public
schooling to be an essential component of integration and eventual
assimilation.
As a homeschooler I disagree
with this stated goal though I understand why governments do it and the fear
that pushes most societies to accept it. I dislike the public school system in
this country and have very little respect for it but unlike many homeschoolers
I believe it to be necessary. On the one hand its current collapse has weakened
the hand of the authorities and strengthened the hand of homeschoolers, but on
the other hand the collapse of education is a bad thing for society at large. I
don't think in terms of a Christian society so that allows me to say...let the
pagans have their schools, just leave us alone.
Not an easy balance.
What the Christian media has
failed to report is that Eric Holder's statement does not imply persecution or
a policy shift to go after homeschoolers. Their interpretation is irresponsible
and deeply flawed. For these Christians this is ultimately a theological issue.
It is theology that drives them to politicise the Gospel. Politics is a power
game and has no interest in truth. Let me emphasize that....politics has zero
interest in truth.
What a nice game for Christians
to get involved in.
So why did Holder say that?
If the United States declares
homeschooling to be a universal human right, something worthy of asylum...then
watch out. The floodgates will open. Families from all around the world will
suddenly be 'homeschoolers' fleeing their governments and seeking asylum in the
United States. International courts will have to set up boards of inquiry and
there will be pressures put on organizations like the IMF and World Bank to tie
in homeschooling rights with loans and policy shaping. Such a policy would
create international instability.
In our own country the courts
will be overrun by litigation as every state law is challenged. At present the
issue has been left up to the states. Shifting the argument to the 'universal'
realm brings in the Federal government and if a human rights issue it falls in
the realm of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. It
opens the floodgates.
I'm sure there are those in the
government who would like to see homeschooling eliminated but at this point
there's not a whole lot they can do. The public school system is imploding and
an utter failure. Generally speaking homeschooled children are flourishing and
academically superior to public schooled children.
The issue could be tackled in
terms of religious freedom. That's the angle if someone wants to pursue it, but
that too has failed because there's no consensus in the American Church. The
Southern Baptists, the largest Protestant denomination have tried to put
forward statements encouraging the members to home school. And they fail. Why?
Because thousands upon thousands of SBC members are teachers, principals, and
superintendents in the public school system.
Without consensus there's no
unified ideological basis to argue the position. Homeschoolers are out of the
mainstream and would have more Christians arguing against them than for them.
It would split denominations and congregations, because if a denomination is
going to draw a line in the sand, what happens when members and officers don't
agree? If the Church isn't willing to make it an issue of orthodoxy (which it's
not) then it's hardly a universal right in the civil sphere.
And to declare it a universal
right would cause more problems than it would solve. As usual the issue is a
bit more complicated than the Christian media would like to report. And frankly
the 'spin' critique often amounts to selfish desire. They want the news
reported the way they want it and to only focus on the issues they want.
That's not the spirit of truth
and on practical level it's pretty immature and irresponsible. These are the
leaders of the American Christian community...all too often a cadre of pampered
self-serving and spoiled brats who have attained their position unworthily and
are a sign of judgment from God.
Now on this particular issue
I've rambled a bit beyond the topic, but this is an example of what I'm talking
about. My hope for this project is at some point to not only write the essays I
currently produce, but to generate shorter, more accessible, streamlined versions
dealing with these topics. I want to establish a parallel site or sites that
deal with specific news issues and cover them with some actual informed and Christian
commentary. The audience won't be large, but I think there are some segments of
the Christian community in the United States and outside of it that would be
interested in this. I think podcasts or YouTube videos could be put together.
I guess this issue stirs me
once again to think in terms of a bigger picture, establishing something of a
resistance to the mainstream, the mainstream Christian Church that is. I know
there are people on the Christian Left and people within the Emergent movement
that levy some of these critiques against the mainstream Evangelical community.
But I think all too often their solutions are no solutions. In some cases there
aren't any and I'm not afraid to point that out. In some cases their solutions
only obfuscate and cloud the issues to a greater degree.
I'm not out to make money, but
I do have to make something in order to survive. The only way I can get this to
happen is to promote this site or ultimately sites, bring more people into the
circle. My overhead can be so low in comparison to 99% of the so-called
ministries out there. And that's true even if I bring others on board, which I
would be keen to do.
If you have any interest in
this, if you think these commentaries and analysis are needed then I ask for
your help. That help can even come in just simply trying to steer people here.
I ask for comments. Comment here or email me at protoprotestant@gmail.com
I don't want to change the
essence of what I'm doing but I do want to expand it and make it more
accessible. Are some of these issues simply too tough for people? Is our
society that far gone that people can't grasp ideas, can't follow an argument,
don't know enough history or geography. Is it just too much?
I'm in the process of writing
several pieces dealing with geo-politics, economics and what I can only call
Pilgrim ethics and theology. I want to spend so much time on this stuff but at
present I'm tied up with the most time consuming series of jobs I've ever had.
I am heartbroken over the time it's eating up. I feel like I'm wasting time and
want so badly to turn my energies to this work...which next to my family is the
most important thing to me.
I can try to put these ideas
into book form (thus possibly generating some sales) but it takes time and
crafting to do this. If I had the time I'd do it, and yet I don't think the
books would really sell very well. It would give people something more
accessible but in reality at this point any such books would probably end up
only available in either an e-format for a reader or a self-published (print on
demand) type situation which means...they would be expensive. I doubt people
will want to pay $20 for a cheap paperback of my writings.
Ultimately as I've expressed
before my hope would be that enough people would be on board with what I'm
doing that everyone sending in $20 or $50 a month or something would support me
and this work. Right now the numbers just aren't there. My expenses and
overhead are low, and if I can find the way to do it I could make them even
lower and literally live on less than $1000 a month.
Am I trying to be a freeloader?
Anyone who has visited this site knows how much I produce and when I have more
time (as some months demonstrate) I can produce volumes. Granted a lot of it is
long-winded and verbose. Crafting takes time. Typing at high speed takes time
but I can put stuff out at a fast pace. But even that takes a lot of time and
there are many nights I'm up at 2am or am getting up at 5am. I'm not looking
for money to sit around and be lazy. This is my work and I give myself to it
and happily. I have to live but I'm not trying to 'get ahead'. Frankly I'm
uncomfortable taking money for any of it, but if I'm going to do it, I have to.
What I'm trying to do isn't
unprecedented. There are others who 'get by' this way. Some have faded, having
lost their support or moved on due to financial needs or changing
circumstances. I'm not looking to build up some kind of business or big
'ministry'.
I'm looking to reach people on
the Evangelical fringe, people from perhaps the Church of Christ and maybe
others from more Anabaptist persuasions.
Please send me emails with
opinions, suggestions, proposals, or whatever. I am restless. I feel like I'm
wasting time. I could work through official channels and maybe five or six
years from now end up teaching at a school or writing for some kind of
journal... and place a different kind of shackles on my time and freedom.
Anyone who has any ideas about websites I should try to contact, foundations or
organizations that might be interested in my work, anything like that, I would
appreciate it. Do I need to get the site on Facebook? Is it worth the headache?
If this all falls apart, I will
probably look seriously at returning to school and pursuing the necessary
certifications in order to teach or write in an official capacity. But if
that's the case, that would effectively end this website. I won't have the time
available to me while shuttling between school and work.
At present based on the
statistics available to me, there's a pretty good stream of new traffic to the
site but I think only a small number stick with it. Either it wasn't what they
were looking for or they are offended by what they read. Since I write about a
lot of different things, Google and other search engines will pick up on articles
I write. Someone might go looking for something on the Byzantine Empire, find
my site and it's not what they were looking for. We've all done that.
Aside from getting 'linked'
somewhere, I don't know what to do other than get out on the web and spend some
time going to sites, leaving comments, jumping into discussions and then people
(when interested) will make their way back here.
I groan under the weight of
this burden. I am at something of a turning point. I either need to re-tool my
life and engage myself to a greater degree in my work, expand the nature and
most likely the size of my business and with it my time obligations, or I need
to extricate myself from this work and give myself fully to this
writing/teaching task. Trying to do both is wiping me out.
One of the points I hope to
make in some upcoming articles is that in order to survive in so many fields of
work you have to literally sell yourself to it. You have to eat, breathe and
sleep the job. I believe this is wrong and an unacceptable way for a Christian
to live.
There are some people who don't
have to do this. For some they punch a clock but now have to go to another job
in order to make ends meet and even then they don't really. I know numerous
people who basically work two low wage part-time jobs but as a result end up
working seven days a week. That's wrong, not just socially...but ethically.
Theologically. And I'm not talking about Sabbath keeping or anything like that.
There are some who make enough
that they can afford not to excel and can to some degree leave their work at
work. They are blessed.
Others (like me) due to my
circumstances have a very limited range of employment options wherein I can
make enough to support my family. I'm in one of them but even in a small town,
if you're going to follow the law which most of your competitors are not, you
have to live your job.
So I either have to do it and
jump in and fully engage and engross myself in the work or I need to find
something else. In the case of what I do, if I don't obsess, if I don't think
about my work in the shower, in the middle of the night, virtually all the time,
I will make mistakes and I can't afford to do that. Literally. I could easily
spend a couple of hours every night reading up on something, researching an
issue or working on some aspect of the project. I went into business for myself
in order to be free, but that doesn't feel like freedom.
One way or another I must
change. I either need to pick up the tempo and retool what I'm doing here to
generate more interest and traffic and sorry to say it...revenue. Or...I need
to back off, engage myself in my work which practically speaking means there
won't be much happening here. That's been the reality for the past several
months.
In aggravation and to alleviate
some stress I've literally taken a couple of days of work. At this point if I
get fired, I really don't care. People will work you to death if you let them.
And if that means I can't function in their world...then good riddance. I'm not
trying to be the top guy. You literally cannot unless you're dishonest. And
even if you're technically conforming to the law, you're violating Christian
ethics. It's not an option and I hope to discuss that in these other posts.
I'm just trying to get by and I
can do it but it's miserable, enslaving and often pushing the boundaries of
ethics. I'll talk more about that in the upcoming pieces. But for someone
uneducated as I am I don't have a lot of options for work that allows me to
make more than a low wage which I cannot live on with a wife and four children.
Something has to give. While I
'feel' it to be waste, it may be that I have to apply myself 110% to the
construction work I'm involved in. I would rather give 125% to helping people
to understand the Kingdom as it relates to the world. In the end I guess like
everyone else, I'll do what I have to do.
Thanks for taking the time to
read this.
protoprotestant@gmail.com