06.11.09

Why don’t you America-haters just come out and say “waterboarding”?

Posted in Culture, North Korea, Religion & Spirituality at 6:23 pm by Administrator

Last night I was really proud of Mrs. BN for something she observed and remarked on.

The Presbyterian Church in which I grew up – and, in fact, in which Mrs. BN and I got married – is just a few blocks from where I live.  It’s been years since I darkened the door there.  I tried it a few times a few years back, but quickly detected that same odor of leftism that made me leave the Unitarian church a few years earlier.

The congregation’s lurch to the left had begun when I was a kid.  The minister at the time got it very involved in the National Coundil of Churches.  Shortly after I was confirmed at age fourteen my parents quit going and quit supporting it financially.  My dad took the pastor out to lunch, because he thought a respectful explanation of where he was coming from was in order. he told him the final straw was the sending of local money to Angela Davis’s defense fund during the time she was on trial for that courtroom shooting.

I knew that things had gone downhill over the years.  We’ve al seen the stats on declining membership in mainline Protestant denominations.  I wrote my master’s thesis on the subject.  I’ve had ways of keeping up with developments at the local church.  The local “Peace Fellowship” meets there once a month.  A few months back, I became aware that it had declared itself a “progressive Christian community.”

Recently, the church has taken to prominently hanging a banner on its fence by the sidewalk that says, “Torture is a moral issue.”  Every time I pass it, I give it the finger and mutter to myself, “Fine.  Tell it to countries that torture.”

Back to Mrs. BN.  Last night she asked if I’d seen it.  She said she was well aware what it was implying.  She said she found the moral preening involved in its display supremely off-putting.  She wondered if anybody in the congregation had ever watched any jihadist beheading videos.

Many times a day, I look at her and realize I’ve got a real keeper, but there are exceptional moments when it becomes resoundingly clear.

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