Christmas Message by Lutheran Bishop Reveals Political Slant
Perspective on race in effect argues alternate message of atonement
The Office of Bishop of the Nothwest Synod of Wisconsin sent out two emails on November 13 and 14.
The first included two Christmas messages. The second seemed to be meant for use by the Social Justice Warriors.
AN UNPRECEDENTED GIFT
Advent and Christmas Greetings from
Bishop Laurie Skow-Anderson
Jesus is God’s unprecedented gift of love for a world in great need. Friends, we live in unprecedented times. The word “unprecedented” means never done or known before. In recent years we’ve heard of the unprecedented effects of climate change causing more powerful hurricanes and devastating wild fires. We lived through an unprecedented pandemic, and we lament the unprecedented death toll from mass shootings in our country. We worry about the stability of our democracy after an unprecedented political insurrection at our own capital. At times it feels as though we are reeling from one unprecedented disaster to the next. How do we live as people of faith in this time and place? How do we put our Christian faith into action? What if we countered with unprecedented goodness?
Unfortunately, the bishop chose a Christmas message of all things to push her slant on the political agenda.
She made supposedly incontestable axioms. Humility suggests that these are contestable narratives: Climate change/climate alarmism. Pandemic/Plandemic. Mass Shootings/Back the Blue. Insurrection/Fedsurrection.
She went on to tell the story based on the following:
The Irish are sending relief to Native Americans, inspired by a donation from a tribe during the Great Famine | CNN
The bishop concluded, “Perhaps the Choctaw and the Irish were connected by their common experience of colonization, mistreatment and suffering.”
In the midst of the cultural and political divide, the Office of Bishop is clearly aligning itself with one side and against the other. In the process radicalizing one side and marginalizing the other. Instead of providing a bridge, this approach creates a moat. Such an approach shows little interest in protecting the unity of the church and risks further polarizing the church.
The next day, the Office of Bishop sent out an invitation to Trouble the Waters.
You are invited to join Deacon Lidixe Montoya and Michelle Pride to Trouble the Waters. Based on the ELCA’s Social Statement “Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture” this 18-session course explores the power, privilege, and prejudice that belongs to White Christians.
Race, Ethnicity and Culture - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (elca.org)
Many of us know racism is a sin – a mix of power, privilege, fragility, and prejudice. As leaders and members of primarily White congregations in a White denomination in a mostly White state, we are called upon to recognize the power of implicit bias and whiteness in order to live more fully as the people of God.
Join as individuals or with a group for awareness & growth and to work for change together within your congregations and communities. We will examine the history of the United States, the church, and your own personal history for the legacy of White Privilege. This is an intentional journey to enter into addressing hard questions, or what needs to die in order for new life to rise.
Northwest Synod of Wisconsin | Racial Justice (nwswi.org) TROUBLING THE WATERS
Gad Saad in his book The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense levels an even more harsh critique of social justice warriors in a section entitled Self-Flagellating at the Altar of Progressivism:
Many of the progressive positions espoused by SJWs are a form of self-flagellation meant to atone for some assumed “Original Sin” (most likely being a White Westerner) and to highlight one’s virtuous ideological progressive purity. In this sense, SJW progressivism can almost be seen as an alternative religion to Christianity…. (Page 114)
Social justice warriors and various assorted progressive brethren are typically privileged white Westerners. In their warped sense of the world this is akin to being born with original sin as postulated in Christian doctrine. They must atone for the sin of not having been born poor persons of color in the third world; thus, they might seek penance in a form of ideological self-flagellation. Rather than using a whip or chain to self-harm, they adopt a progressive mindset that is ultimately harmful to them and their society. (Page 116)
The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are... by Saad, Gad (amazon.com)
There's a war against truth... and if we don't win it, intellectual freedom will be a casualty.
The West’s commitment to freedom, reason, and true liberalism has never been more seriously threatened than it is today by the stifling forces of political correctness.
Dr. Gad Saad, the host of the enormously popular YouTube show THE SAAD TRUTH, exposes the bad ideas—what he calls “idea pathogens”—that are killing common sense and rational debate. Incubated in our universities and spread through the tyranny of political correctness, these ideas are endangering our most basic freedoms—including freedom of thought and speech.
The danger is grave, but as Dr. Saad shows, politically correct dogma is riddled with logical fallacies. We have powerful
weapons to fight back with—if we have the courage to use them.
A provocative guide to defending reason and intellectual freedom and a battle cry for the preservation of our fundamental rights, The Parasitic Mind will be the most controversial and talked-about book of the year.
The Parasitic Mind Quotes by Gad Saad (goodreads.com)
A Conversation with Gad Saad on Parasitic Ideas and the War Against Truth. – Thought Economics