Armband religion is practiced by people who wear “faith” on their sleeve, for the world to see, and not in their hearts.
The Washington Post quotes Republican pundit Kathleen Parker about this prostitution of religion earlier this week:
Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth — as long as we’re setting ourselves free — is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among the party intelligentsia, one would hear precisely that….
Which is to say, the GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows. In the process, the party has alienated its non-base constituents, including other people of faith (those who prefer a more private approach to worship), as well as secularists and conservative-leaning Democrats who otherwise might be tempted to cross the aisle….
Parker observes:
Suffice it to say, the Republican Party is largely comprised of white, married Christians. Anyone watching the two conventions last summer can’t have missed the stark differences: One party was brimming with energy, youth and diversity; the other felt like an annual Depends sales meeting.
The GOP isn’t the only victim of armband religion, of course.
Since 1998, the ex-gay movement — led by Exodus International and funded by religious-right mammon-churches — has embarrassed the Christian faith by wearing religion on its sleeve instead of taking Christ-like values to heart.
Exodus demands that the human rights, equal opportunity, and daily welfare of sexual minorities be sacrificed to make life easier, softer, lazier for insecure ex-gays who wish to be free from need to face people who are sexually and spiritually honest.
Would Jesus crucify someone else to make his own life easier?
As they enter the second decade of their open political campaign for “freedom” from the freedom and honesty of others, the armband “Christians” of Exodus threaten not just the GOP, and not just Christian values, but freedom itself.
Hat tip: AmericaBlog
