John at Verum Serum yesterday wrote an absolute gold nugget thought when it comes to the media and evaluating certain groups that claim to be Christian:
I realize most secularists think of religion as a grey area where anyone can say anything because nothing really has any meaning, but here’s an axiom you can take to the bank: People who create their own Bibles aren’t evangelical Christians. Period. Those two concepts are irreconcilable.
I realize religious literacy among J-school grads is low, but come on people. Make a little effort.
The comment comes in the context of evaluating Time Magazine’s recent story on a group of Mexican drug gangs. They use Christian language and think of themselves as Christians. Yet they are drug gangs, and they have their own Bible authored by the group’s leader Nazario Morena, aka “The Maddest One.” Time Magazine actually calls them Evangelical Christians.
It turns out that much of their “Bible” is a mix of pop Christian spirituality and typical Mexican Revolution rhetoric a la Zapata, but you don’t even need to know that to see these guys aren’t Christians. John’s insight above will do.
