Calling Spades Spades

WHEN ONE VISITS CHRISTIAN CHURCHES in the American south, and pays attention to the congregants, one comes to realize that most congregations are dominated numerically by politically and economically conservative folks who strongly favor carrying guns, the freedom to make large amounts of money, more republicans than democrats. The only exception is the southern African-American Christian community, for verily, in America, even our churches are racially segregated, and whites, not blacks, see to it. We just can't seem to totally readicate racism, no matter how hard we try, but we can sure as hell ignore it or call it by another name, or claim that it simply does not any longer exist! Therefore it becomes tempting to refer to conservative Chrstians as the "Jesus, Guns, and Money" crowd, as the late great liberal author Gore Vidal did. The incongruity is readily apparent, don't you think? And the term isn't unfair: they sincerely, simultaneously embrace jesus, capitalism, and carrying guns. In many if not most of these churches in the American south the minister will, sooner or later, start dogging the Moslems, the gays, and the liberals. One might think that greater social harmony could be achieved by simply refraining from such bahavior, but hell, who knows? For all one knows, greater social harmony isn't even a priority with most American Christian ministers. Our best chance of defeating terrorism is uniting, in as many ways as possible, the United States, all other countries, the Christian faith, and the Islamic faith in a rock solid force for decency and justice. But don't hold your breath; when is the last time you heard an American Christian conservative utter a kind remark about lbierals, gays, Moslems, or non Christians, or other countries?