Listening to Christian Radio

There I am, on a long road trip through West Texas, driving from San Antonio to Colorado, by way of such metropolises such as Eden, TX and Winters, TX. I don’t have a CD-player, and this is not exactly NPR-country.
In cranking the radio dial, I find Christian radio stations. I’m an open-minded free-thinker (no, not an atheist), and I don’t mind being challenged, so you know what – I’m going to listen to it.

So, there I am, listening to KCRN 93.3 FM out of San Angelo.

The first hour is about debt management and credit reports from a Christian perspective. This nearly killed me. Falling asleep at 65 mph can have its consequences.

Anyway, soon they went on the issue of the environment. The regular radio-pastor – Dr. Jerry Johnston - was out, and had a replacement radio host: Somebody Overstreet, I think. Anyway, this person is pontificating about how it is so horrible that he has to spend $80 to fill up his gas tank. At some point he starts taking calls of listeners who tell him that evangelicals do have a Christian duty to take care of the planet. Sensing the direction of where these people are going, Overstreet agrees with the callers and quotes from Genesis about man’s dominion and stewardship over the earth.

Apparently, this wasn’t what the regular pastor was trying to hear. The next caller is Dr. Jerry Johnston. Johnston – in a friendly evangelical way, of course – puts Overstreet in his place, (I paraphrase for clarity):

“We have a duty to take care of what God has put in our keeping. However, Jesus us coming back and then the world will be destroyed anyway – so we don’t have to take care of the trees. Liberals like Al Gore want to make you believe that you are destroying the earth, just to make you feel guilty for driving your kids to soccer practice in
your SUV.”

After the implicit rebuke, Overstreet gets back ‘on message’.

All this really made me start thinking about the differences between how I think and how the Christian right thinks. Importantly, I do not want to scoff at another person’s deeply felt beliefs – I honestly respect people’s faiths. But some of this is just nuts – We shouldn’t care about the planet, because Jesus is going to destroy it anyway?? I do think there is a more progressive evangelical movement being formed out there. The question we need to answer is: how do we get the good evangelicals out of the Christian Right echo-chamber, so that they can find out that Democrats/Liberals don’t hate the Bible or Jesus?