Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Bob Dutko: Ignorant of History!

Bobbo,

Do you hold anything higher than a high school diploma? Because for a guy who claims to have an IQ of 160, you are amazingly ignorant.

You did your pre-packaged spiel about how America has a Christian heritage, and I'm stunned at how little you actually know about history. So let's play a little game. Let's assume for the moment that you are correct and America's heritage is of pure Bible-believing Christians just like yourself. Now answer me these questions:
  • Were Christians responsible for chattel slavery that treated Africans as property?
  • Were Christians responsible for the wholesale slaughter and subjugation of Native Americans?
  • Did Christians ever form radial groups to promote racial intolerance?
The answer is "Yes" on all three counts, Bobbo. Christians were more than happy to participate in slavery:
Slavery in the United States, by the European Christians, in the name of Christianity, was the development of the worst form of slavery in world history; "chattel slavery." In other words, Afrikans were not considered human but property or animals, with absolutely no type of human rights at all. This was justified through the misinterpretation of Bible stories, particularly about Afrikan people being cursed and turned black.
Christians also justified their treatment of native Americans as a way of promoting Christianity:

Immediately upon hearing of Columbus' "discoveries," King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain dispatched the news to Pope Alexander VI (a notable reprobate), who issued a Bull, Inter Caetera...[giving] the new territories to the Spanish king and queen, with the sole condition that no other Christian monarchs had previously held such a dominion. For anyone who might happen to oppose this authorization, Alexander stated: "Should anyone presume to do so, be it known to him that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul."

The slaughter of Native Americans that then commenced was chronicled by Father Bartholomé de las Casas, in his Destruction of the Indies, and other works. Entire peoples were exterminated;
And finally, Christians formed the KKK:
The largest Christian Identity movement has traditionally been the Ku Klux Klan which was reorganized in 1915 by William Simmons, a Christian pastor. He had been inspired by the film The Birth of a Nation which portrayed the KKK as a champion of white civilization. The KKK slid into obscurity by the second World War, but was revitalized in the mid 1950's as a reaction to enforced racial integration in the southern US.
So, Bobbo, if your so damned insistent that America has a Christian heritage, why don't you educate your listeners to the whole truth?

I'll venture a guess: You're a hypocrite and a liar.

Irl

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a bunch of slander to me.

PresuppositonalApologist said...

I don't even know where to begin. It's all about epistemology and this is what I will challenge. Ready? Here we go: You say Christians started slavery (or at least condoned it) and they started the KKK. By what standard are you using calling these people Christian? Hmm? Is it because they said they were Christian? How do you know what a Christian is? Oh wait, don't you have to go to the founder...what's His name...Jesus? And where does Jesus teach this? My point is simple: You are quick to call these people Christians, but you don't care to see what Chrsitians teach. When you examine the Bible you will see that starting a horrific organization such as the KKK is absolutely CONTRARY to Scripture. You have no evidence whatsoever to back it up. I can say that I am a doctor right now, but without credentials, without practicing it, why should you believe me? Because I told you? And by the way, I would dare you to pick up the documentary titled "America in Black and White" and see the documented evidence of where the KKK began. It was the democratic party that started it, not Christians.

Irl Hudnutt said...

By what standard am I using to determine that the people who committed these atrocities were Christian? You nailed it: I call them Christian because they claim to be Christian.

So you would have me use the words of Christ to determine who is and is not a Christian? What if other Christians don't like my determination of who isn't a "Christian" and deem me not to be Christian? Then we can have a big circle-jerk accusing each other of not being Christian. It would be just like when Bobbo interviews Fred Phelps.

The bottom line is that you toss out the word "epistemology" to mask a cheap rhetorical device: You redefine the meaning of the word "Christian" to disassociate yourself with those you find distasteful. You want to make yourself a good Christian while accusing others of being bad Christians. For you, being a Christian is about raising your self-esteem and lording your superiority over others.

But who are you to determine who is or isn't a Christian? Last time I checked, a person didn't need credentials to be Christian, all you need is to accept Christ into your heart. So the best I can do is accept someone's word when they claim to be a Christian. The last time there was a central authority determining the standards of Christianity, we got the Protestant Revolution.

And yeah, you do need credentials to be a doctor. The fact that being a Christian doesn't requires an advanced degree is why your analogy fails.

Finally, you're using that same cheap rhetorical device when you say that Democrats started the KKK. It allows you to attack Democrats by cheapening the definition and including members of the KKK.

I can tell you're a hard-core Bobboist: You use cheap rhetorical devices and offer little else.

But thanks for playing!