Of course I question your patriotism!

I just don’t get how anybody could boo at this:

It seems this was shown along with the previews before a movie, and a fair amount of the audience actually booed at it. The Cheerful Iconoclast questions the patriotism of those who booed. I question their patriotism as well. And I wonder at all the moral outrage that occurs when anyone’s patriotism is questioned. Why is that considered socially off-limits? If you happen to be a Saints fan - no wait… if you were a Saints fan then I would be questioning your intelligence. Let me try again. If you say you are a Colts fan, yet you seldom watch the games, and when you do watch them, you are unenthusiastic, make sarcastic remarks about Peyton Manning, mock the Peyback Foundation, and say “Hah!” in a “in your face” kind of way every time the other team scores, I question whether or not you really are a Colts fan. I think it’s a reasonable question at that point.It reminds me of the outrage when someone’s salvation is questioned. I know a person who swears she’s a Christian. She hasn’t been in church in nearly a decade and her bible has been packed away in a storage unit for over three years. She’s a big fan of The Secret as a plan to assure her happiness. She bragged about her recent spiritual enlightenment, citing The Secret and several other self-help and new-age tomes. When I asked how those ideas were consistent with the Christianity she still professes she became angry and defensive. She completely blew up, saying, “You just don’t question someone’s salvation. It’s just not done.” I missed the Christian etiquette class. Sorry. But I think, given the preponderance of the evidence, that the question is valid. (And no, I don’t roam the streets doing this, she brought up the topic of religion which made it fair game.)

What’s at stake here is the meaning of words. What is a Christian? What is patriotism? Questioning someone’s patriotism isn’t a breach of etiquette. It’s an attempt to define the concept. Probably about half the country think that dissent is a key indicator of patriotism, citing Thomas Jefferson for the concept. (In fact it was Howard Zinn who said it. Jefferson said that dissent is “a great evil.”) Based on Jefferson’s authority as they perceive it, “dissent” is part of how they choose to define patriotism. That is meaningful because that definition justifies their actions, which do have an effect. This is a concept worth fighting for.

Likewise for Christianity. A lot of the people in this thread think they are going to heaven. On what do they base their beliefs? How are they defining Christianity? For some people, Christianity is whatever they want it to be. While their ideas of what Christianity is will not affect me in the eternal sense, there are still repercussions for individuals and for Christianity at large. It is a biblical mandate for Christians to defend our doctrine, as in Jude 1:3-4. Fred Phelps calls himself a Christian. Do we accept him as such at face value, or do we question his doctrine and his salvation? It’s not rude. It’s necessary. Definitions matter.

The very act of believing something inherently indicates that you have analyzed that idea and found it superior to the other options. It’s a postmodern custom to say that we believe something and then implicitly deny our belief by saying that other things are equally true or that it doesn’t really matter. The recent Ann Coulter flap illustrated the problem well. Why would anyone consider this offensive?

Okay, I’m going to say it. I am a Catholic, and my vision of a perfect America would be that everyone was Catholic. I wish all Americans were Catholic. I wish all of our separated brethren, the Methodists, the Baptists, the Episcopalians, the Fundamentalists, the Evangelicals, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans - all of ‘em - were Catholic, because they’d be “complete” Christians - they would have the fullness of Christ and unity within the Church as Christ founded it, one, holy, catholic, apostolic and Eucharistic. Of course I want all the Protestants to be Catholic! After all, all they have now is the Bible - with missing books - and fellowship and potlucks! They just run around saying they’re “saved” but they don’t have the whole, complete experience of Christ!

They don’t have the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, in the flesh, in the Eucharist, coursing through their veins, and because I love my Protestant friends so much, I want them to have that - I want that for them, because I am a Catholic, and that means I am a “complete” Christian. We have it all, baby! Sacraments! Communion of Saints! Liturgy! Tradition! We’ve got John Chapter 6 and 1 Corinthians 11:26-29 and 2 Thes 2:15! Yaaaay!

Catholics should believe that their faith is superior to others; that should be part of the package, otherwise their choice to be Catholic is as meaningless as the decision to select chocolate or vanilla. While it’s possible for all known doctrines to be incorrect, it is impossible for all doctrines to be equally true. Believing that your own faith is superior doesn’t condemn anybody. People do not have the power to condemn anyone to hell. It’s simply not within our purview. I can speculate where other people might end up, but my speculations don’t have the power to effect change. Do I think the people who booed at the video are unpatriotic? Yes, indeed. My opinion, however, did not revoke their citizenship. At the same time that we are weakening the meanings of words by making every definition a fill in the blank question, we’re assigning an impossible level of power to those same words, and using that as an excuse to not debate them.

If people are so sensitive that they can’t bear an opposing view, the problem is with them. The more important a concept is, the more we ought to be duking it out and trying to get to the truth of it. But our society is falling into a pattern of shutting down debate on important topics by declaring that a) we’re all correct and b) it doesn’t matter anyway. This weakens our ability to reason and communicate, and superficial politeness is not enough of a gain to make up for those losses.