The Lynching of Saint Ken

A former Bush attack dog who has since rejected the Bush Doctrine writes a stunning obituary article on Ken Lay for the Times of London.

In the pews were a former president, George Bush, former first lady, Barbara Bush, and the Bush famiglia dignitaries, James Baker and Robert Mosbacher. And then the coup de grace: the white-collar convicted criminal was compared to an innocent black man, James Byrd, brutally lynched in Texas not so long ago, tied to the back of a truck and dragged through dirt roads until his body split in two.

“Ken Lay was neither black nor poor, as James Byrd was, but I’m angry because Ken was the victim of a lynching,” the minister said to huge and hearty applause.

Welcome to the strange new world of conservative evangelical Christianity, where government torture is no big deal, Lay is a martyr, and the death penalty is God’s will. In this version of Christianity what matters is not so much what you do – but what’s in your heart. And if you have committed to Jesus Christ and attend the right church, a little corporate larceny is no big whoop.

And so a president who has abandoned the Geneva conventions and signed more death warrants than any other American alive is regarded by many as sincere in his desire to do good, to help others, and to bring healing to the world. In this George W Bush is like Lay – a man who, while bilking share owners and employees out of their livelihoods, was, by all accounts, personally generous, charitable and devout. A true Christian. A giver. Of other people’s money.

Amen to that. Read the rest for some grim statistics on what the great Christian giver Bush will be handing over to all Americans after he leaves office. (Lots and lots of debts.)

The Discussion: 4 Comments

I don’t mean to be irreverent, but, (oh what the hell, yes I do): Your caption “Lynching of Saint Ken” makes me think of a Ken doll swinging from a tiny rope…

…a totally disrespectful thought, worthy of Ken Lay’s memory…

July 18, 2006 @ 1:36 am | Comment

I don’t mean to be irreverent, but, (oh what the hell, yes I do): Your caption “Lynching of Saint Ken” makes me think of a Ken doll swinging from a tiny rope…

…a totally disrespectful thought, worthy of Ken Lay’s memory…

July 18, 2006 @ 1:37 am | Comment

I’m still waiting for a modern-day Martin Luther to finally stand up and say to these fake Christians: “You are not true Christians, and Jesus would have rejected you for the Pharisees that you are”.

Yes, I know, the last thing we need is yet another religious war. But this is just the gist of what such a Christian leader might say, and the actual words they’d use would of course be far more measured and non-inflamatory (but still very powerful), and backed up with a reasoned argument.

Every religious movement gets derailed from time to time, not by schisms over doctrine or ritual, but over fundamental principles. And these Christianists have clearly done that. Not only are they in no way true Christians, they are in no way Judeo-Christians, or even Abrahamists.

Someone with moral authority and intellectual substance has got to finally say that, and say it loudly, widely and convincingly. They are leading their flocks and the rest of us to disaster–as have so many other false prophets.

July 19, 2006 @ 3:53 am | Comment

Remember, the last time Jesus showed up in a house of worship, they killed him.

July 19, 2006 @ 12:55 pm | Comment

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