I really want to have something to say about Terri Gross's Fresh Air on Christian Zionism and Lauren Sandler's Salon article on the Mar's Hill Church. I could tell you my sundry opinions but at the end of the day it's really all too disjointed. My final thoughts are that the subjects discussed are important to me but that they haven't provoked anything so new as to warrant a discussion. Terri Gross deserves kudos for raising public attention, but can't really get us past the outrage to unpack who John Hagee is. The show leaves us with "dangerous kook." Similarly, Lauren Sandler raises the important issue of a missional congregation appealing to young people but being decidedly anti-egalitarian. All we're left with though is that Lauren herself has an axe to grind and can't create multi-dimensional characterizations. With both stories, sadly these journalists can't get past the "make them bleed" angle. Terri Gross is so gifted at colorful, multidimensional interviews, but she doesn't quite know what to do with John Hagee's blend of horse sense and Armaggedon. Her question "Do you really take the Bible literally?" Isn't so much for Hagee as for herself. Lauren Sandler falls in the trap of needing her subjects to be one dimensional so that she can hammer home her point: Fear the new brand of young literalist traditionalists! They're so hip, and so dangerous!
But yes I agree: Christian Zionism bad. Egalitarianism good. On the other hand, am I afraid of the evangelical plot to christianize land, air and sea? That would be hard since I am one. I'm not one of "them" but I do love Jesus. There. I've just succumbed to a very assanine description of myself. Truth is I can't love Jesus on any terms other than His. Thankfully that's not set by any particular social/political agenda. What a tar baby this has become.
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