A NIGHTCHARM CLASSIC
from April 2006, with a new UPDATE
Welcome to the United States of Rapture.
Can there ever be enough Jesus? Having won their War on Christmas (yes, we are happy to report, it will be held again next year) and signing up their flocks in Republican voter drives, and enlisting all those happy, shiny evangelicals as “Marriage Protectors” (not to be confused with Athletic Protectors), Christians in America are straining under their persecution.
It is a persecution that comes from living in a country where false religions are unpunished by public burnings at the stake, where science is still taken seriously, where the death prayers and earthquake fatwahs of the Reverend Pat Robinson have become — shock! — a national joke!
Because Jesus is simply not ubiquitous enough, not embedded in art, books, movies, songs and gift-shop brick-a-brac enough, Nightcharm lists some rare but recent sightings of this obscure First Century Deity — hard because in America, his hidden catacomb cult is relegated to megachurches, cable networks, and weekly councils with the President.
Here then are our favorite moments in Jesus USA.
Oops, we forgot. First a prayer from the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart. Please bow your head …
“I pray that one day we may live in an America where Christians can worship freely! In broad daylight! Openly wearing the symbols of their religion! Perhaps around their necks. And maybe — dare I dream it? — maybe one day there can be an openly Christian President! Or, perhaps, 43 of them. Consecutively.”
Amen. And take it away, Jesus …. (more…)