Bruni on Bachmann
July 25, 2012
11:44AM
Post by Sarah Posner
Frank Bruni weighs in on Michele Bachmann’s version of Christianity, questioning how she “presents herself as a godly woman, humbly devoted to her Christian faith.” He adds, “I’d like to meet that god, and I’d like to understand that Christianity.”
It seems appropriate to give Bruni some credit for recognizing, if belatedly, something that was captured pithily in a bumper sticker years ago: “the religious right is neither.” In case you weren’t paying attention, though, Bruni, author of a hagiographic memoir of covering the campaign of George W. Bush, fills you in on what’s been happening in Republican politics over the last 40 years, a phenomenon he apparently failed to notice as he cozied up to the religious right’s 2000 and 2004 candidate of choice:
My aim here isn’t to re-litigate Bachmann’s crimes against reason and decency, all widely documented.
It’s to wonder why we accept her descriptions of herself, and in turn describe her, as a deeply religious woman. That grants too much credence to her particular, peculiar and highly selective definition of piety. And it offends the many admirable people of faith whose understanding and practice of religion aren’t, like hers, confrontational and small-minded.
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/sarahposner/6218/bruni_on_bachmann/
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