Here’s one reason why I wish I had kept my RSS reader closed instead of checking it during my lunch break. I ended up reading this Beliefnet article about the most powerful Christians in Hollywood.
Kristin Chenoweth’s career has ranged from Broadway–where she was a Tony winner (for “Wicked”)–to TV (“The West Wing,” the short-lived “Kristin”) to movies (“The Pink Panther,” “RV,” “Bewitched”). Last year, she was even fictionalized in ex-boyfriend Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” in which the character Harriet, the beautiful evangelical who stood firm in her faith while defying stereotypes of the closed-minded Christian, was widely assumed to be based on Chenoweth. She has spoken at Women of Faith conferences and released an album of Christian inspirational music called “As I Am.” Having grown up dreaming of success in Christian music, Chenoweth has said, “I’m an actress and a singer and I’m also a Christian. We’re not all crazy right-wingers. I just want to be like Jesus, forgiving and loving and nonjudgmental, accepting of everyone even if they don’t agree.”
Most Powerful Christians in Hollywood, Kristin Chenoweth — Beliefnet.com
How is the term “crazy right-winger” not judgmental? And it certainly doesn’t appear that Ms. Chenoweth accepts those “crazy right-wingers,” having just taken the time to repudiate them for not agreeing with her version of Christianity. She claims open-mindedness, which is certainly a valuable PR trait in these post-modern times, while explicitly rejecting a differing school of thought. Convenient, that.
Aside from the fact that she contradicted herself from one sentence to the next, I take serious issue with her theology. How was Jesus not judgmental? He is, in fact, the ultimate judge. He judged us before time – accurately assessing that we were sinners beyond self-redemption, which is why He chose to redeem us. He judged the woman accused of adultery, accurately identifying her behavior as sin. (A failure to administer deserved punishment is not at all the same as not judging.) Bottom line – there is no possible way to conclude that Jesus is not judgmental, especially given Matthew 25:31-33 and Revelation 20.
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