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Don't give Bright Eyes your tired, your poor your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free; don't give him your Jews, Muslims or queers--he's not interested. In fact, he's publicly condemned homosexuality in full-page advertisements in The Commercial Appeal, a popular Memphis daily. No, just give him your money. And in return he'll waste it, insult your intelligence, spirituality, patriotism, and soon, if you're lucky, he'll sell you a Statue of Liberation dashboard magnet or bobble head.
Can I hear an Amen?
With tithing from his congregation and an agenda that's far more political than spiritual or charitable, Bright Eyes didn't help the starving or the sick, because he believes that food and medicine are not what they need. “God's desire is that everyone become self-sufficient.” He told American Baptist Press. And to The New York Times he said, “I personally feel that the answer for the poor is Jesus Christ.”
So he produced a monument so Hollywood-haughty, so concocted, that you might expect Charlton Heston to pop out of its crown waving two rifles at the megacomplex and shouting one of his most famous lines from Planet of the Apes, “ It's a mad house. A mad house!”
Indeed, Heston, a man who even with Alzheimer's would appreciate the magniloquence of the line, “I decree the spirit of conviction on this intersection!” is probably shaking his head at the irony of Bright Eyes, um, erection.
Where would this world be without self-exalting men and their desire to aggrandize? I fear we'll never know. I also suspect that Dr. Zaius, Defender of the Faith in Planet of the Apes, was right when he said this about Man: “From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand and hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain …”
Yes, I know, it's quite a leap of faith to assume that Bright Eyes has a brain. And it might even appear that he was baptized not by an apostle of God, but by Jose Cuervo--born again unto Christ … and again, and again, before last call. But don't be deceived. He is not a complete idiot. He's crazy, yes, but like a fox.
Disgracing one our country's most recognizable symbols of freedom and liberty has allowed him to appear on news programs and be quoted in major and minor newspapers across the country. He's used the airtime and ink to not only promote his statue, but also himself--his beliefs, his Web site, his books and his warped view of history. “If you really did honest research on the foundations of this nation, you would find out that the Founding Fathers of our nation and many of our early Supreme Court rulings established that this nation would be a Christian nation.”
Bright Eyes didn't just graduate from Pat Robertson's School of Public Relations For Insolent Christians, he's taken it over. And at this point I have to ask, Will decent Christians ever tire of the men who make them all look like idiots?
We can only hope and, of course, pray.
Christian churches that have both a spiritual and political agenda are commonplace these days, that's for sure. For example, churches, not synagogues or mosques, are currently leading the march against gay and lesbian marriage. What's uncommon, however, is the length at which Bright Eyes and his congregation have gone to marry spirituality with democracy--to promote theocratic ideals. The man and those who follow him are shameless. They've defecated on Memphis, and many in that city are gagging on the stench of their belligerence.
“People cannot drive by our statue without thinking about their relationship with God,” Bright Eyes said. Their relationship with God? I don't think so.
Even the children of Memphis don't buy that load. Take 11-year Evelyn Douglass of Hickory Hill, the neighborhood in which Bright Eyes' statue stands. She told the Memphis Commercial Appeal, “That church is trashing the meaning of America. The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of the United States of America. The cross represents a specific religion. It's not right that they are mixing the two.” According to the Appeal, “Douglass now takes the long way home to avoid “the big green thing.””
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