What's the diff?

I've long believed that a "Christian Republic" would look an awful lot like an Islamic Republic. Evangelical Christians would have you believe they'd be very different places. So, is it Christianity vs. Islam, or is it really fundamentalism against all?

Let's see what Pat Robertson has to say about his rivals, the Muslims:

"If we don't stop covering up what Islam is ... Islam is a violent -- I was going to say religion, but it's not a religion, it's a political system, it's a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination," Robertson said. "You're dealing with not a religion, you're dealing with a political system, and I think we should treat it as such, and treat its adherents as such as we would members of the communist party, members of some fascist group."

Totally different from Christianity, right? Well, not so different from a brand of Christianity espoused by Rick Warren:

"For the past 18 months we have been on a stealth, secret mission - project - around the world. We've been sending members out, actually over 4500 members somewhere overseas, over the period of the the last few years, going out to do what we're gonna call the PEACE plan.... ....Friends, this is going to be a revolution. You see, over the years as we've been training these 400,000 churches around the world, we've built a network, and there are literally tens of thousands of other churches waiting to do what Saddleback has been testing the last few years. What is the vision for the next twenty-five years? I'll tell you what it is. It is the global expansion of the Kingdom of God. It is the total mobilization of this church and the third part is the radical devotion of every believer. Now I choose that word radical intentionally. Because only radicals change the world. Everything great done in this world is done by passionate people. Moderate people get moderately nothing done."

Let's hope his vision is unrealistically grandiose.

You just keep on judging.

In a piece in “Politico,” discussing Sarah Palin and her son Trig, Ben Smith reports that Gov. Palin has become a star in pro-life circles. The following caught my eye:

“And those people, says Greg Mueller, a veteran anti-abortion political operative and former spokesman for Pat Buchanan, are getting a powerful message. ‘She’s going out there as a pro-life woman to say that there’s great joy in special-needs kids — and that we shouldn’t be aborting them.’”

I do not deny that most parents love their special-needs children—my parents certainly loved my autistic sister—but let us not romanticize life with family members with physical or mental disabilities. That life is most often excruciating.

My sister had severe problems, and for most of her life, there were no professionals or facilities to deal with people like her. My mother toiled in vain for many years trying to find any situation where my sister would fit in.

Rather than institutionalize her, my parents kept her at home. Her behavior was uncontrollable. If she thought it was mealtime, and mealtime was actually hours away, she would call for her food unceasingly and tirelessly until it came. If my mother went out of the house, my sister would yell for her until she came home. Often during the night, she would awaken screaming, and would scream for hours, preventing anyone from sleeping.

Life with a special needs family member, at its worst, I am trying to say, can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder and thoughts of suicide for the rest of the family. Let’s not depict it as warm and fuzzy.

When my sister died, I could only wonder what such a life meant.

I do not know whether, if my mother had known what my sister’s impact on her life would be, she would have aborted her. Perhaps not.

Knowing what I know, I would do it in a second.