This is true.
On one example, I find it it is hard to take part in Political discussions here on IWETHEY because they are usually US-centric. (This is a comment, not a criticism.) On another point, finer points of religious discussion don't take place much here, either. I may partly at fault there, though when one feels like one is presenting as a highly visible target when opining such, perhaps that's understandable.
I have a problem with the 'Christianity' that Bush seems to stand for. The article linked at the top of the thread is a very good summation and as I've hinted at, I agree with the articles author in a lot of ways. The Christianity I subscribe to does not agree with "God helps those who help themselves". Instead, it promotes "Seek God's purpose in your life."
I have a problem with the way big multi-nationals constantly try end-runs around governments and consumers. This creates slave-labour in second and third-world countries because its cheaper than employing people in first-world countries, for instance. I have a problem with the amount of political clout people with too much money seem to have. This prevents a viable glass and plastics recycling scheme running anywhere in Australia but in SA, for random instance. I have a problem with the fact that the US is acting like is has to be the world's police force. Too bad that a lot of the rest of the world doesn't seem to want them to do that. Or that the US don't seem to be all that good at it.
A lot of ills mentioned in that article can be attributed to attitudes akin to "God will make things right - whatever I do". That's bullshit. You've got to let Him work. And that's hard. It runs counter to our instincts, often to our breeding. You've got to be able to look at yourself critically and be unafraid of finding something you don't like. That's very hard. But I've been listening for many years to preachers teach that God can and will help you do that - if you put aside your sinful nature and let Him in. Again and again and again, because it's not something that happens Once And For All: it is a process of (hopefully) daily renewal.
Does Bush do this? Does DeLay do this? Does Pat Robertson do this? I don't know. It is easy to lie and say that you do. Dreadfully easy - and few if any will know or can tell. (Unfortuantely, it gets easier over time to say this lie until it's posible to believe it yourself.) Do I do this? No, I do not. At best, I can currently manage weekly. I'm human; I fail. But this is not a copout: it is my recognising that I need His help, too.
A number of missionary organisations are beginning to view the US in a new way: it is a new mission field, one with unique challenges and dangers, but no less worth ministering to. It is one where the fundamental message of salvation has been buried not just under secularism, but under fanatacism. Over here, we can get easily awed at US churches whose average service attendance is in 5 digits - but from what I've heard from people who've actually visited them as well as what I've seen when I've visited large churches here in Australia, that sort of size is too big. People get easily lost in the crowd. The teaching gets watered down and 'the show' starts taking over. People respond to that in much the same way that they respond to performers at pop concerts.
In more ways than one, the US needs someone bigger than them to forcibly corral them and to tell them "you're not coming out until you behave". Unfortunately, were we to find someone big enough to do that, the world would very likely be trading one overgrown bully with an even bigger one. And then there's the problem of just what does "behave" mean? And then there's the problem that that sort of forceful action requires the constant threat of increasing force to stay effective.
Wade.
