Frank Schaeffer does it again: Christian Terror in Norway: I Predicted Terror from the Religious Right in My New Book “Sex, Mom and God.”
Saturday, July 23, 2011, 9:39 AM
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July 23rd, 2011 | 10:25 am | #1
[...] (HT: David Koyzis) [...]
July 23rd, 2011 | 10:25 am | #2
[...] (HT: David Koyzis) [...]
July 23rd, 2011 | 10:53 am | #3
More evidence that, as someone said a while back, “Franky has jumped the shark.”
July 23rd, 2011 | 5:19 pm | #4
Looks like Frank has jumped off the Good Ship Reality…
Because Obama is in the White House, the “Evangelical, Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Mormon Far Right” are plotting a reign of terror near you, even if you live in Norway…
He must get paranoia points for coming up with, the “Mormon Far Right”. What are they? polygamists in jackboots…
July 23rd, 2011 | 5:42 pm | #5
David — it all makes sense now. Glenn Beck REALLY went off the air so he could go to Norway.
July 23rd, 2011 | 10:20 pm | #6
“Hi, I’m Frank Schaeffer. I’m angry about my childhood. I’ll say to you what Marty McFly said to the band in ‘Back to the Future’: ‘watch me for the changes.’ You never know where I’m coming from! I’m an evangelical. I’m Orthodox. I’m a liberal. Is there a God?! I hate all of those ultra-conservative Christians who want to take over the world and turn non-Christians into power sources like in ‘The Matrix’ and use the energy for uniting with Muslims and make a one-world government of conservatives who won’t allow women to be free by having an abortion! I’m telling you, those people are nothing but conspiracy theorists!!!”
July 24th, 2011 | 1:30 am | #7
A few problems with such inflated powers of prophecy: the Norwegian mass murderer is a Nationalist first, a member of the Masonic Order second, and third a sort of Postmodern Libertarian who is opposed to cultural Marxism.
One has to be careful in claiming powers of prophecy that one has not typecast the perpetrator to fit the prophecy after the fact.
There is sort of a distorted syllogism operating here:
All native terrorists are Christian,
A native terrorist kills nearly 90 Norwegians,
Thus, he must be Christian.
His hodge-podge of a self-made ideology more reflects Postmodernism, not Christianity.
July 24th, 2011 | 7:49 pm | #8
Sad, sad excuse for journalism.
July 25th, 2011 | 5:43 pm | #9
Some quotes from the Norwegian killer’s 1500 page online manifesto:
Quote 1:
“A majority of so called agnostics and atheists in Europe are cultural conservative Christians without even knowing it.
So what is the difference between cultural Christians and religious Christians? If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God then you are a religious Christian. Myself and many more like me do not necessarily have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God. We do however believe in Christianity as a cultural, social,identity and moral platform. This makes us Christian.”
Quote 2
I’m not going to pretend I’m a very religious person as that would be a lie. I’ve always been very pragmatic and influenced by my secular surroundings and environment. In the past, I remember I used to think;
“Religion is a crutch for weak people. What is the point in believing in a higher power if you have confidence in yourself!? Pathetic.”
Perhaps this is true for many cases. Religion is a crutch for many weak people and many embrace religion for self serving reasons as a source for drawing mental strength (to feed their weak emotional state for example during illness, death, poverty etc.). Since I am not a hypocrite, I’ll say directly that this is my agenda as well. However, I have not yet felt the need to ask God for strength, yet… But I’m pretty sure I will pray to God as I’m rushing through my city, guns blazing, with 100 armed system protectors pursuing me with the intention to stop and/or kill.
My Comment:
He doesn’t sound like any Fundamentalist that I have ever heard.
July 25th, 2011 | 7:08 pm | #10
Trying to blame Christians for the crimes of someone who blatantly violates the most basic teachings of Jesus Christ–to “love thy neighbor as thyself” and care for all people as if they were Jesus himself–shows Mr. Schaeffer to be as out of touch with reality as the Norwegian terrorist. He and the terrorist are two sides of a single coin, raging that his chosen enemies are a great danger, and must be suppressed by any means at hand.
July 26th, 2011 | 3:31 pm | #11
Some Christians try use “Christianity” as a political term in contradictory ways.
On the one hand, they will claim that ours is a Christian nation with something like 90% of our citizens belonging to the Judeo-Christian tradition — a very broad use of the term “Christian” to suit cultural conservative arguments.
On the other hand, they will claim particular individuals and/or groups are not Christian because they fail to meet some stringent theological requirements — a very narrow use of the term “Christian” often made to exclude culturally moderate or liberal groups from blurring or muting the cultural conservative’s political use of Christianity.
You can’t have it both ways.
So if you are going to argue that nominal Christians aren’t really Christian, then as a matter of principle, please apply that standard consistently.
July 26th, 2011 | 6:14 pm | #12
“He doesn’t sound like any Fundamentalist that I have ever heard.”
The media loves them some sensationalism.
And as for Schaeffer, well, his article is really just a straw man dressed as intellectual journalism. I think that says enough.
July 26th, 2011 | 7:03 pm | #13
All the debunking in the world wouldn’t change Franky’s opinion, so is it even worth trying?
There are plenty of vituperative bomb-throwers like Franky out there on the left and the right, and honestly, with such obtuse, shallow thinking on his part, one wonders if Franky is just trying to fit in.
Hope that hate keeps you warm at night, Mr. Schaeffer.
July 28th, 2011 | 5:22 am | #14
The evil, terrible Norway attacks, rest with one person, and one person only, Anders Behring Brevik.
Oh, I’m so sorry, I should say “alleged” person responsible.
Christianity is about peace, and love. Anyone who uses it for hate and violence, has done great evil, as this Brevik has allegedly (can’t forget that word) done.
July 28th, 2011 | 1:37 pm | #15
I can’t quite figure the man out. He’s written some very good books related to the military life then turns around &, once again, uses his parents/upbringing as fodder for another book.One wants to cry out, “Oh, get over it!”.
Oddly Schaeffer himself is something of an Orthodox Fundamentalist. If you want to catch something of the allure of Orthodoxy don’t read Schaeffer, read Frederica Mathewes-Green.
July 28th, 2011 | 5:00 pm | #16
Sean, I think Schaeffer’s Orthodox Fundamentalism, as you term it, was an earlier phase in his life. He has now moved on into bizarre political conspiracy theory territory. While the beliefs he happens to hold at any given time may change, the contempt which he has for those who happen to disagree appears to be a constant.
July 29th, 2011 | 1:40 am | #17
“He has now moved on into bizarre political conspiracy theory territory.”
I wouldn’t say that; I’d say he’s, and I’m saying this without any respite or vitriol given my hatred for the current political discourse (and I really don’t have any personal problems with the man), a fairly typical example of left-wing talking points. It seems like he was a typical right-leaning Christian and then caved to all of the criticisms those commonly called “leftists” lob at Christians and is now part of the club of all of the smart intellectuals who love destroying those “Christian fundamentalists.” The guy blogs on the Huffington Post, for heck’s sake. Now, admittedly, his views don’t have to necessarily be part of some larger ideological group or worldview, but the way he acts gives the impression that he’s trying to impress a certain group of people by his conversion from a group that the aforementioned group dislikes.
I actually rather liked his article “Why I’m Pro-Life and Pro-Obama” (found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/why-im-prolife-and-prooba_b_85636.html ). Despite the fact that his views on abortion are rather obfuscated (“I oppose abortion, but I think it must be legal,” which he then never goes on to clarify), he makes some pretty solid points. I like this one:
“What we need in America is a spiritual rebirth, a turning away from the false value of consumerism and utilitarianism that have trumped every aspect of human life. To implement this vision we need leaders that inspire but to do so they have to be what they say they are. It’s not about policy it’s about character.”
July 29th, 2011 | 1:12 pm | #18
Nikolai:
“I wouldn’t say that; I’d say he’s, and I’m saying this without any respite or vitriol given my hatred for the current political discourse (and I really don’t have any personal problems with the man), a fairly typical example of left-wing talking points.”
I’m not in/from the US, may assessment that he was a conspiracy theorist was based on his article’s style of reasoning; guilt by tenuous or non-existant association together with a view that a particular group of people he disagrees with are responsible for most or all of the evil in the world.
If that is mainstream US left wing analysis, I would be very worried. The thing the article reminded me most of was the rambling Jewish conspiracy theory rants that seem popular on the far right here in Europe.
It is a pity to see where Frank Schaeffer has ended up, as I regard his father’s “trilogy” of books in the 1960s as being amongst the best Christian analysis of the cultural trends of the period and unfortunately I don’t see anything written today of the same quality.
July 29th, 2011 | 3:09 pm | #19
I’m not sure this rant be Franki can is properly categorized as the “usual left talking points” or as bizarre conspiracy theory — though like on any extreme the two often seem to conflate (see 9/11 “Truth” sites for example). But whatever the name it is quite bizarre. Robert P. George and Peter Kreeft as leaders of a nascent school of fundamentalist Christian jihad??!!? In what universe does that even make any sense for goodness sake? It’s hilarious. A BC philosopher and a Princeton legal scholar and ethicist — irenic Catholics both leading a violent movement to overthrow the US government? Whatever Frankie is smoking must be some powerful stuff..
July 29th, 2011 | 4:26 pm | #20
I’ve been following Frank for about 12 years. I’ve read four of his books: one about why he became Orthodox, the first two in the Calvin Becker trilogy, and his autobiography that came out three years ago. The guy has serious issues. The title of his latest book will tell you that in and of itself. I don’t think he has changed a lot in terms of his personality. What has changed are his “views.” I say it that way because it seems to me that what he “believes” has alwas taken a backseat to being noticed. The quotation above about what America needs sounds like a platitude that ANY politician could use in a speech. It doesn’t tell us much about Frank. Look at the irony of what he says about doing away with utilitarianism in an article in which he defends keeping abortion legal.
July 30th, 2011 | 5:10 am | #21
On Frank Schaeffer. I just had a read of one of his Huffington Post articles, which says that Evangelicals are to blame for the US debt deadlock. It can be found here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/debt-ceiling-chaos-is-a-b_b_899561.html
Bizarrely enough large parts of the Norway killings article are just a cut and paste from the debt article.
Regardless of the problem Frank just rounds up the usual suspects.
July 30th, 2011 | 2:57 pm | #22
I don’t mean to sound like Glenn Beck, but blaming a certain religious/socioeconomic class for economic downfall and tragedy sounds like you-know-who…..
July 30th, 2011 | 4:20 pm | #23
“Regardless of the problem Frank just rounds up the usual suspects.”
I laughed at that, but then I remembered his father. How very sad that his legacy (in his son) has been so trashed. However, his legacy lives on in others in far better ways.
July 31st, 2011 | 2:26 am | #24
“I don’t mean to sound like Glenn Beck, but blaming a certain religious/socioeconomic class for economic downfall and tragedy sounds like you-know-who….”
Indeed, Frank Schaeffer does sound a lot like Lord Voldemort.
August 1st, 2011 | 2:08 am | #25
“Indeed, Frank Schaeffer does sound a lot like Lord Voldemort.”
Exactly, blaming all the muggles. =)
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