Lack of Wisdom in Obama's War on Fox

This is my first non-theological post (though ultimately everything is theological!). We will call this a political post; I guess. I have been quite appalled at the Obama administration's efforts to marginalize Fox News. I think it is very unwise and actually petty.

First a couple of qualifiers. I am not anti-Obama. I never have been. I almost voted for him, but couldn't pull the trigger because of his pro-choice record. Still, when I voted for McCain, it was one of those 51/49 kind of decisions. In the end, I had to vote with my heart (instinct). Regardless, I have never bashed Obama and never cheered for him to fail. I hoped his policies would succeed in getting us out of Iraq and Afghanistan. I have been directly impacted by this woeful economy. How could I not pray for the success of his economic stimulus?

I am also not all that upset about his health care reform. I despise health insurance companies and it is absurd that there are nearly fifty million Americans without health insurance. The Bush administration had eight years to do address this crippling issue, but apparently found it not politically expedient to lift a finger for reform. I believed that Obama's election victory granted him a mandate to try it his way.

Yet, all of the above demonstrates the foolishness of what Obama is doing in relation to Fox News. If you haven't followed the story, Obama's aides have been lambasting the Fox network to other media outlets, refusing to acknowledge it as new agency, admonishing other media outlets to ignore stories that break on Fox, and refusing interviews to the network while making the rounds with all the rest.

See, I watch Fox News. I don't like all of their commentary programs (Beck andHannity), but I enjoy O'Reilley and the news coverage in general. When the President marginalizes Fox News, they marginalize me (and other folks like me). Guess what Obama administration? I am not a rank and file Republican or right-wing nut-job who likes to get his ideology massaged by watching Fox News. I am an independent swing voter and there are millions out there similar to me.

Furthermore, the paranoia necessary to fuel a war on America's #1 watched cable news channel is downright disconcerting and beneath the dignity of the presidency. Are they so thin-skinned in the White House that they can't tolerate any dissenting voices? Are their egos stroked so frequently by MSNBC and other such media outlets that they are shocked beyond belief when they encounter criticism? Is it really in America's best interest to try to silence your opposition?

Here's hoping President Obama and staff get wise, because their current path concerns me. If they don't, then the swing voters they are alienating will having something to say in the ballot boxes soon enough.

The Lie of Simplicity

I recently shared with an e-mail list that I have been on for over ten years that I had finished my Master's Degree in Theology and Ethics. As I expected most were happy for me and just took the opportunity to express congratulatory sentiments and then went right back to arguing the hot topic of the day. Yet one member in particular used the occasion to proclaim her tired old talking point of simplicity. She did this by questioning whether or not I had or would allow my education with its fancy degrees and titles to corrupt my understanding of the simplicity of the gospel and scriptures.

Those of us who hang out in Restoration Movement circles hear this sort of "reasoning" often. It is understandable, really. Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone believed that the unity of Christian church had been compromised by church councils and their creeds. What was needed--no what was required--was a return to the simplicity of the Scriptures. To whatever degree they were correct about councils and creeds muddying up the waters, so to speak, can you see the problem in their approach? They went to the scriptures assuming simplicity. You usually find what you are looking for. This had a lot to do with the influence of Scottish Common Sense Realism, but that's a blog for another day. I just say it now, so you know I am not making this stuff up out of thin air.

A lot of the focus on simplicity was to blur or even erase the line between clergy and laity. You didn't need a degree in theology to understand the scriptures. Anyone could open the Bible, read it, and grasp its clear presentation of simple facts (the Bible as a collection of facts was distinctively a Campbell emphasis). In many ways they were right, of course. You didn't need a degree to understand the Bible, but it doesn't mean that you read it apart from any sophistication, nuance, or discipline. Yet, as with most well-meaning movements, out went the baby with the bathwater.

So, my list friend who used my recent academic achievement as her latest soap box to proclaim the gospel of simplicity got me to thinking. Is the word even in the Bible? Because if not, there is great irony in the simplicity advocates calling for a return to the simple reading of scripture, if simplicity itself is conspicuously absent from the Bible! I did a quick search on www.biblegateway.com with several versions and could not find even one form of the word simple (there might be synonyms or similar ideas, and I am not saying that the word doesn't exist in any modern English translation or that I know the Greek/Hebrew equivalents. I am just using this search for illustrative purposes).

Your level of education has little to do with your ability to read and comprehend scripture. However, the notion that the Bible is inherently simple is a myth not worthy of the God who inspired it. Discipline, training, practice, and reading in community with other believers are all aspects of successful Bible reading/study. One of the errors of Restoration Movement fathers was that in advocating the correct position that all could read scripture, they also unwittingly proliferated the rampant American individualism that survives today. We don't learn scripture best alone.

I suspect instead fear is part of what upholds this unbiblical notion of the simplicity of scriptures. We are afraid of what we don't understand. God doesn't fit into our box as well, if we can't simplify his revelation. We don't want the tensions produced by the doctrines of the incarnation, trinity, atonement, predestination/free will, etc. The very subject nature of the Bible precludes the very notion of simplicity. Yet, where mystery abounds, it should humble us and leave us in awe of God (cf. Rom. 11:33-36).

A pledge and update

I confess I've been a terrible blogger in terms of consistent posting. The result? No regular readers and a long uphill battle to build up any. But if you do stumble across this blog and find it interesting, then my pledge is to write more often and perhaps be less one dimensional in the variety of topics I cover. Still, expect most of my posts to be theological in nature.

As it turns out, I am currently unemployed and have more time to write. I need to keep myself sharp and this blog will hopefully be therapeutic, even if no one reads.

So, a preacher can get laid off too. No real surprise there, but this is a time where I am having to practice what I preach. I've told the congregation that God is always with them no matter what they go through. Now, do I really believe it for myself? Intellectually, the answer is, of course, yes. Yet, it is a whole other matter to live that intellectual belief out in our everyday lives.

So, perhaps (for my imaginary readership), I will try to keep you posted as we try to discern God's will for our future.