The Jesus-Pimp

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/12/23/huckabee-unapologetic-for-religious-tone/

The gist of this news story: Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee name-drops Jesus into a televised “Merry Christmas” message to score some easy points with the evangelical right-wing base.

Here’s what Huckabee’s message said:

“Are you about worn out by all the television commercials you’ve been seeing, mostly about politics? Well, I don’t blame you. At this time of year sometimes it’s nice to pull aside from all of that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ and being with our family and friends. And I hope that you and your friends will have a magnificent Christmas season. And on behalf of all of us, God Bless and Merry Christmas. I’m Mike Huckabee and I approved this message.”

After drawing a fair amount of heat for the message, here’s how he responded during his campaign-stop at Cornerstone Church:

“I got in a little trouble this last week because I actually had the audacity to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ Isn’t that an odd thing to say at this time of year?”

Gee Mike, maybe people aren’t angry that you had the audacity to say “Merry Christmas”. Maybe they’re angry that you had the audacity to pimp out Jesus Christ for political capital. Did that thought ever cross your mind?

I don’t recall Huckabee sending out televised Merry Christmas messages in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina before he started campaigning for president. Also the choice of states is quite interesting given the “non-political” nature of the spot.

It’s all-in-all sickening. How this sort of thing fails to offend most Christians escapes me. The fact that I would want to protect and respect Christ’s memory more than somebody who actually thinks that he is God baffles me.

War imagery in our society

This is just a brief observation on my part — there have probably already been studies on this, and if not, there should be. War imagery in our society is especially prevalent; people desire to identify themselves as part of a harsh, violent struggle, either figuratively or literally.

Some salient examples: the perceived “War on Christmas”, the “War on Drugs”, the “War on Poverty”, the “Culture War” (along with Bill O’Reilly’s book Culture Warrior), the “War on Terror”, the popular hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers”, and so on and so forth. There are probably plenty more examples than that. People are proud to be a part of a fight, a struggle, and beyond that, a good old-fashioned war. It’s as if wanting to start a war over something is the highest mark of seriousness an issue can achieve in this country.

It’s easy to associate this phenomenon solely with conservatives, but I think that simplifies the issue — the trait seems to be an overall American trait. Take the “War on Poverty” for instance. It’s as if liberals have to say “look, our cause is as important as yours … important enough to be a war, even!” as if it were a good thing.

I wish peace were more of a virtue. I mean, even proposed programs at ending poverty are identified as part of a “war” effort. How sad.