Strib's Nick Coleman: The gospel truth about some readers

[question everything]

Nick Coleman: The gospel truth about some readers

Star Tribune
Published December 17, 2004

Many people say Christians are under siege this Christmas from godless types who want to give us a black eye. I don't buy it for one simple reason: No one knows how to give us Christians a bigger black eye than the people who call themselves Christians.

This week, a number of my fellow Christians took time from worship to criticize a column I wrote about the homeless. They didn't write to tell me about their concern for the 8,000 homeless in Minnesota or the fact that half of them are women and kids or that 100 of them died this year. No, they wrote to say that even though we will always have the poor with us, as Jesus said, that doesn't mean those poor buggers shouldn't get out of the way of our SUVs.

"These homeless are bums, nothing but leeches on society," wrote a guy who signed himself Trav. "If we could push a button and make the homeless die and disappear without repercussions, nearly everybody would do it. I would. Good riddance."

(snip)

"After all," I wrote, "Once upon a time, a homeless couple came to Bethlehem, looking for shelter."..I thought it was pretty straightforward: The Gospels stress the strong identification Jesus had with the poor. But sharp-eyed Christians saw through the scriptural smokescreen to reveal my agenda: There I went again, shoving liberal dogma down their mouths. Thankfully, the righteous are smart. Especially the self-righteous.

"Your allegation that Mary and Joseph were homeless is just a plain lie," wrote Jerry. "They were no more homeless than you would be if you showed up at a posh hotel without a reservation and were turned away." "Joseph and Mary were NOT homeless," wrote Steve. "They were forced to go to Bethlehem by Caesar Augustus, who undoubtedly was the world's first liberal Democrat."

Wow, that's right (picture me slapping my forehead)! It's coming back to me now: Caesar built the Roman roads, conquered Gaul and traded on his friendship with Jesse Jackson to get appointed secretary of labor in the Clinton administration! ..But dang me, I left out the important part: Mary and Joseph weren't homeless; they were just being shoved around by Democrats. And it's only because the Democrats have been laid low by Republicans that we are hearing anything about homeless scum now.

More..

http://www.startribune.com/stories/357/5141957.html

Nick Coleman is at [e-mail].

[GoBlue]

1. Just more fuel for my hypothesis

That Christians themselves are the best evidence that the basic premise of Christianity is hypocrisy. Jesus may well have been as fine a man as there ever was, but he can't save anyone from the curse that thye themselves, and not God, put on their souls.

Cheers and Happy Holidays

[Skidmore]

2. It's not even about hypocrisy--

it's is all about corruption. The premise of Christ's teachings is good--treat others as you would have them treat you. That is the only law he gave mankind. These people are selfish and corrupt to the core, not willing to give of themselves to others.

[question everything]

6. My theory is that the more people rely on their "good deeds"

the worse they are. Thus, if they go to Church every Sunday, they think that this frees them to behave atrociously.

[InvisibleBallots]

3. the older I get, the more profound Life of Brian becomes

Sure, as a kid, I laughed at the zany and rique humor. As a grown man, I can more fully appreciate their parody of human nature. Blessed are ALL manufacturers of dairy products, indeed.

[colonel odis]

4. nick coleman's a bigoted asshole who trades on stereotypes.

when the twins played the braves in the '91 world series, he let go with every anti-southerner stereotype in the book in a lame attempt to show how witty he is.

[question everything]

5. What that's got to do with this one? And if you have to go back 13 years

to give an example than perhaps the problem is yours.

We all make mistakes and we change.

[colonel odis]

7. no, i think the problem is pretty much mr. coleman's.

but hey, in a lot of folks' minds there's not a thing wrong with bashing southerners.

[dflprincess]

8. That series was Minnesota's first exposure to the

"tomahawk chop" and that obnoxious noise the Atlanta fans made while "chopping". Many of us found it annoying and racist and it's probably what precipitated any comments Coleman made at the time.

[colonel odis]

9. they don't have televisions in minnesota? it wasn't till the world series

that they heard about what other teams do in baseball?

wow.

the tomahawk chop could be labeled racist by some. but so could the way many in minnesota treat native americans on a daily basis.