Patterico's Pontifications

9/21/2006

Cathy Seipp on the L.A. Times Myth of the Church Supposedly Investigated for An Anti-War Sermon

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 12:44 am



Cathy Seipp has more on that church that the L.A. Times claims was targeted for a simple anti-war sermon. I laid this out in two previous posts (here and here), but Cathy — reminding us of a piece she had previously written about the sermon — makes it even more clear that the sermon was flagrantly anti-Bush:

Although Regas called his sermon “If Jesus Debated Senator Kerry and President Bush,” he didn’t imagine Jesus sitting there awkwardly on a third stool, like Ross Perot, but as a presence directly criticizing only Bush, never Kerry. . . .

. . . Regas’s Jesus scolded: “Pres. Bush, you have not made dramatically clear what have been the human consequences of the war in Iraq…and now the latest figures say 100,000 Iraqi fighters, women and children are dead.” And: “Jesus turns to Pres. Bush again with deep sadness. ‘Is what I hear really true? Do you really mean that you want to end a decade-old ban on developing nuclear battlefield weapons?'”

Leaving aside the odd notion of Jesus getting information by checking “the latest figures” (wouldn’t he just know?) or hanging around the water cooler (“is what I hear really true?”), Regas’s Jesus is quite a policy wonk. According to the sermon, Jesus is pro-choice, against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and disapproves of the Bush tax cuts. He’s in favor of good pre-natal care, “dignified jobs” (does carpentry count?) and affordable housing. I’m curious what he thinks of, for instance, gerrymandered voting districts. But maybe Jesus isn’t really into California politics.

Recall that the L.A. Times claimed that the IRS investigation was purely about the rector’s comments about the war. Cathy notes that the rector did indeed criticize the war . . . but it was hardly a nonpartisan prayer for peace, but rather a pounding of Bush as arrogant:

“How deeply the world longs for peace,” Regas continued preaching in his own voice, which sounds strangely like Jesus’s. “Jesus refuses to accept the violence of war as the necessary consequence of our tragic loss on 9/11. Maybe you are calling Jesus naïve…” . . . .

“How Jesus mourns the death of those 3,000 people killed on 9/11,” Regas continued. “But Jesus also mourns the death, devastation, and loss in Afghanistan and Iraq and Sudan and Israel Palestine…” Then he conjured up Jesus the Chastiser of White House Policy again: “At the time of the trauma of 9/11, you did not have to declare war. You could have said to the American people and the world, ‘we will respond but not in kind.'”

. . . .

“Mr. President,” Regas’s Jesus continued, “The consequences of arrogance, accompanied by certitude that the world’s most powerful military can cure all ills…” And blah-blah-blah-blabbity-blah. This Jesus is awfully wordy, not at all like the terse prophet you may remember from the Bible – which, if Regas had had anything to do with it, might have included lines like “Father, forgive their consequences, for their ignorance is accompanied by certitude.” Regas apparently thinks Jesus would sound rather like Cindy Sheehan blathering on to the Huffington Post, or maybe one of John Kerry’s speechwriters.

Recall that the L.A. Times also claimed that “[t]he sermon did not endorse either candidate.”

Oh, well. I guess the myth makes better copy than the whole truth.

9 Responses to “Cathy Seipp on the L.A. Times Myth of the Church Supposedly Investigated for An Anti-War Sermon”

  1. Jesus wept–when he read that pile of BS in the dog trainer.

    Mike Myers (f8ce82)

  2. I watch the local TV “news” no more than once a week, and then for only a minute or so. However, last night Channel 4 uttered the exact words contained in the LAT article regarding that church in Pasadena. This is how the Left gets their “story” out. And out….

    Howard Veit (28df94)

  3. I actually favor allowing such sermons, but then I oppose McCain-Feingold for similar reasons. I wonder what Regas thinks of “campaign finance reform.”

    Kevin Murphy (805c5b)

  4. Shorter Patterico:

    Lousy reportage is somehow more important than differential treatment under the law based on political views.

    Kimmitt (80218d)

  5. Shorter Kimmit:

    I have now set a new world record for consecutive times missing the point.

    Harry Arthur (b318a5)

  6. From the LAT article:

    “Some All Saints defenders have called the IRS probe a case of selective prosecution. But conservative congregations, as well as liberal ones, have been investigated across the country by the agency over the years.”

    Shorter Kimmitt:

    I consistently use the “Shorter Patterico” conceit to say things that aren’t true because I don’t know what I’m talking about.

    Patterico (de0616)

  7. “Some All Saints defenders have called the IRS probe a case of selective prosecution. But conservative congregations, as well as liberal ones, have been investigated across the country by the agency over the years.”

    Pat, please excuse the paraphrase, but in the interest of a little humor …

    Shorter Patterico:

    Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then.

    I can’t help but wonder how far down in the article this little acorn was buried.

    Harry Arthur (b318a5)

  8. Remember what christ did when he found the money changers in the temple he grab up a whip and drove them out

    krazy kagu (31c771)

  9. […] Ah, so the sermon was critical of Kerry, was it? Where is the evidence of that? I have three posts about the L.A. Times coverage of the sermon and the IRS investigation (here, here, and here), and I have never seen a shred of evidence that the sermon was in any way critical of Kerry. […]

    Patterico’s Pontifications » L.A. Times Beating Into the Ground the Fable of the Church Supposedly Investigated by the IRS for an Antiwar Sermon (421107)


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