NCBC Leaks No. 3

Concerning inter-Christian info-wars

The eco-movement: To the conspiracy theory touting Christian-right the above reference to "Global-citizenship" is seen as the key to the ulterior agenda of the eco-movement; namely, to unite the world under one oppressive world government!

My Norwich church has an enthusiastic eco-committee, a committee who are working hard to work out the implications of the big eco-issues for our church. Recently I received an email providing an end of year summary of all that had been achieved on the eco front by the committee. Now, although the anti-eco sentiments of the allegedly "born-again" Christian Donald Trump  were alluded to in the email I wanted to find out just how much the eco-committee appreciated the deep world view divisions which exist within the broad Christian scene. So, I sent a probing email. To be frank I had no great expectation of a reply (& didn't get one) as I don't have a strong rapport or synergy with these people in spite of supporting their work (my support is based on the sentiment that wise and economic use of resources is a good protestant business ethic!). However, as one of my favorite sayings by George Bernard Shaw goes "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." So being loathe to do nothing I just couldn't stand idly by and let this eco-church email pass without attempting to draw attention to what (to me) is a very pressing issue; namely, the problem of vicious Christian infighting which revolves round the eco-issue (among many others!). Here's my reply:

Dear All,

Thanks very much for the effort and work that's gone into all this. I'll do what I can to help on the premises front. Although that won't be very much, every little helps (I'm actually much more of an arm chair theorist in temperament than I am a practical man).

Now, I guess, or at least I am hoping, that some of you are aware of the sharp world-view conflicts within the Christian scene: Viz: Perhaps some of you know that across the Atlantic evangelico-fundamentalist Christianity is organically joined to the republican-ultra right; so much so, in fact, that in some quarters the eco-movement is thought of as one of Satan's many end-time deceptions (See for example christian right-wing conspiracy theorist Tim Lahaye etc).

Now, you may be aware of all this, but it might seem a long way away over the pond. However, given that social networks follow "small world" structures I'm sure that it wouldn't take much local defective work to find out where eco-scepticism and the much more strident anti-eco conspiracy theorism has close links with Norwich Churches and Belief Communities and thus concomitantly all the inevitable potential for sharp controversy and polarisation.

Just thought I'd bring this issue to the fore and add it to the mix of thought; it may have a bearing as per the allusion to Trumpkinism in the notes below.

Tim

Polarisation passion feeds. Passion polarisation breeds. Polarisation is passion's cause, for crusade and holy wars.

To be fair I suppose it is really difficult to know how to respond positively to Christian infighting, infighting which signifies fundamental world view differences (See here, here and here); after all, this infighting compromises the faith, or at least raises big questions over it; ignoring these question is the easiest response.

The holy wars between Christians are passionate, very passionate. Consider, for example, the following: 

The August 2016 edition of Premier Christianity magazine carries a news item on page 13 entitled "Trump has made a commitment to Christ, says Dr James Dobson". The article reports that Dobson  claims televangelist Paula White had 'personally led him (Trump) to Christ'. Dobson is a right-wing  Christian who, according to the article, sits on Trump's evangelical advisory board.

Let us now turn to the November 2016 edition of Premier Christianity. This edition contains an interview with Tony Campolo  a "red-letter" evangelical who supports Hilary Clinton and says "She (Clinton) wanted to use politics to do what her Christian faith had led her to do". Campolo, as an evangelical who accepts gay marriage, would likely be considered as at best a very substandard and untrustworthy Christian by the Christian right who have more tolerance towards Trump's sleaziness than they do toward the conscientious acceptance of gays. In fact, as a rule the Christian conservative right is far less accepting of the authenticity of  the faith of the 'Christian left' (such as Campolo) than the 'Christian left' is accepting of the Christian right. 

However, the point under scrutiny here is that the documentary evidence suggests that both Clinton and Trump identify as Christians. In short the Trump vs. Clinton presidential campaigns were effectively a Christian-on-Christian celebrity 'death match'. The Christian conservative right are likely to attempt to solve the paradox that this introduces by claiming that Clinton isn't a Christian - they may even claim she's demonically inspired! (See video below). To me, as an outside observer, that just doesn't ring true! Every sectarian division of Christianity between here and Salt Lake city have these exclusives opinions of their standing before God; it just smacks all too much of typically human conceits and self-deceits for me to believe any of it!

Alex Jones: You won't want for a moonshine if you believe him!