A little piece of Controversy!

Around the start of this season on The View Rosie O’Donnell became a new co-host. Never one to keep an opinion to herself she started off the season with a bang. Around the anniversary of 9-11 she made the comment that Radical Christians are as dangerous as Radical Muslims. This started a backlash against The View and ABC.

It got me to thinking – do I agree with her or not?

At first I was - hell no I don’t agree with her. Then I began to really weigh my answer. Rosie – being a Lesbian has been attacked by ‘Christian” Groups since coming out as a Lesbian. So her idea of Christians and Christianity will not be favorable.

Then I began to think about the meaning of the word Radical. In the dictionary there are several meanings.

Many Christian groups use the word radical in a way that means: Basic, essential; original, innate, ingrained. There is nothing wrong with being original to our faith and holding the bible in the utmost regard – neither deleting nor adding to it. Upon doing a Google search under Radical Christians – I got a mixture of web pages – some pages seemed to be about God and the personal journey of living for him. Yet other sites were about Radical groups who publish people’s addresses who go to abortion clinics or work for them, or threaten people who accept donations from plays that have content they don’t like.

That then led me to flip my option – perhaps I agree with Rosie – which wasn’t where I thought my research would lead me. There is another meaning of Radicalness - complete, unqualified, thorough; drastic, excessive, immoderate, violent. Radical, extreme, fanatical denote that which goes beyond moderation or even to excess in opinion, belief, action, etc. Radical emphasizes the idea of going to the root of a matter, and this often seems immoderate in its thoroughness or completeness: radical ideas; radical changes or reforms.

This same definition goes on to say - Extreme applies to excessively biased ideas, intemperate conduct, or repressive legislation: to use extreme measures. Fanatical is applied to a person who has extravagant views, esp. in matters of religion or morality, which render that person incapable of sound judgments; and excessive zeal which leads him or her to take violent action against those who have differing views: fanatical in persecuting others.

This would describe the people who threaten people if they have a different opinion than them. Natalie (of the Dixie Chicks) was threaten for publicly declaring her lack of love for W Bush, Abortion doctors are routinely shot or threatened for the work they do. Courts have to make legal security zones around clinics to prevent people from being accosted.

So where did this leave me? Back at my original opinion as radical is the wrong word! Fanatical Christians are just as dangerous as Fanatical Muslims. Being radical (feel the 80’s vibe here) was a cool word in my childhood. I think it is still a good word today!

I all honesty I don’t care if people agree or disagree with Rosie or myself. What I care about is people taking the time to form their opinions through understanding of facts – not hatred of one group or race.

Alright – enough heaviness – tomorrow’s topic – moaning husbands (get your mind out of the gutter!!)