Almost every year, before one of the major Christian celebrations, some author or research organization comes out with a story or discovery that’s supposed to shock Christianity to its core, minimize it, or put it in a bad light. Again!
The release of such information is maddeningly timed to hit the press and media about a week before a Christian commemoration such as Easter, obviously timed to have the maximum bang-for-the buck for publishers and promoters.
The most recent example is the large red-on-black lettering on the cover of Newsweek’s latest issue, starkly proclaiming, The Decline and Fall of Christian America. In its May, 2006 issue, the National Geographic released research results of an ancient scroll entitled, The Gospel of Judas. The findings were supposed to turn Christianity on its head – I’m still waiting.
Perhaps the most notorious and monetarily successful work of its type in recent times was the book, The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. I read it thoroughly, did extensive research on its claims, wrote a paper on it, and delivered that to a standing-room audience debunking Brown’s pathetic research.
Even President Obama got into the act when, in his recent visit to Turkey, he downplayed the cultural impact of people of faith in the founding of this nation when he said that America is merely “. . . a group of citizens bound by common ideals and values.” That so, Mr. President?
If I sound ornery about this, it’s because I am. I’d like to think – unrealistic, I know – that some of us, could we please, just celebrate a religious fête without the annoyance of a know-it-all telling us what we should believe about our belief.
Meanwhile, Happy Easter to all my fellow Christians, and Happy Passover to all my brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith, without whom our Sacred Writings would be incomplete.
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