Evangelical Realism

Washington insider and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has a rambling rant about “The (Anti-Religious) Bigotry of the Elites” in DC. Oddly, however, he never gets around to giving us any examples of “bigotry” by any members of any Washington “elite” (a group to which he himself belongs). Instead, he begins with an anecdote about a private property owner issuing a tenant policy that prohibits sectarian religious displays in the public areas of a privately-owned apartment building. And what does this have to do with “anti-religious bigotry” in the government? Well, it’s really all the government’s fault, you see.

The management company blamed federal regulations for its anti-religious directive. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) denies that this is their policy, but they say that religious bans like this are commonplace.

Anti-religious zealots have put property owners and managers on the defensive. Rather than risk a lawsuit, they issue blanket prohibitions that amount to nothing less than anti-religious bigotry.

It’s another example of the biases of the elites — in this case, anti-religious bigotry — being imposed on the American people.

So he checked and found out that, in fact, the government does not have any such policy against sectarian displays in public areas. But why let a mere fact get in the way of a perfectly good rant? Especially when you’ve got a book to sell:

One of the main reasons I wrote Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation’s History and Future was to combat this anti-religious bigotry.

I trust my readers will forgive me if I omit Newt’s direct link to the Amazon Buy It Now page.

The message of both the movie [the movie??] and the book is simple and direct: There is no attack on American culture more destructive and more historically dishonest than the anti-religious bigotry of much of the nation’s legal and political elite.

No, Newt, America’s legal and political elite have manuvered us into a pointless war against non-Christians in Iraq, and are busy neutering the First and Fourth Amendments so that they can do as they please, including kidnapping and torture (which we don’t call “torture” any more) and spying on whoever they like, without warrant and without accountability. These attacks are much more destructive to American culture than any rental agreement that says you have to keep your religious displays inside your own apartment.

The rest of the article goes downhill from there, but what it lacks in objectivity and accuracy it makes up for in marketing. He’s got ads promoting his web site and a second book as well. I guess if you’re gullible enough to believe what he writes in his article, you’re probably right in the middle of his target demographic. Ka-ching. That’s what keeps the elite at the top.