EQUAL TIME FOR FAT CHRISTIANS

Both from Sunday's editorial section of the Houston Chronicle:

Fatty attitude precludes weight loss

Commercials proliferate. Huge portions of ribs and steak and fried potatoes (frozen, of course) are shown with the slogan, "It's good to be full." And real men supersize!

According to Eric Schlosser, who wrote Fast Food Nation (or Fat Food Nation), one fast-food chain purchases Coca-Cola syrup for approximately $4.25 a gallon. A medium Coke, too large for a car's drink holder, contains about 9 cents' worth of syrup, and costs about $1.30. But the LARGE size costs $1.50 -- 3 cents more syrup, but 20 cents pure profit. No wonder those arches are golden.

Market research also shows that small portions of fattening foods don't necessarily cut down on consumption. So-called "fun" sizes of candy bars and cookies are often consumed by the handful.

Barbara Rolls, Penn State researcher on hunger and satiety (fullness), says that portion sizes need more attention from manufacturers. Right! From the same people who know buyers believe that more portions mean more value. She says children need to learn the concept of fullness. Well, yes, they do, but not when every "kid food" sold has a snack attached, as if completion without high-fat, high-salt is like a day without sunshine.

Many public schools have pacts with fast-food companies -- promoting such sub-nutritional and dense delights as Burger King Whoppers on the sides of school buses and on posters in halls in exchange for money to use for computers and arts supplies.

It's really easy for me to make fun of fat Baptists. After all, fundamentalist Christians annoy me to no end. But it would be unfair for me to not recognize that there is an overall social context that makes obesity more than just an issue of "personal responsibility." Economics weigh heavily (pun intended) on our culture and behavior: there is, indeed, a corporate component to American fatness. It's not all the preacher's fault.

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Christianity's Silent Majority must be heard in the political arena

Indeed, the public perception of contemporary Christianity is most effectively and unfortunately incarnated in the person of George W. Bush. The president attends church regularly. He describes his life as being "rededicated to Christ." He is hailed as the answer to the prayers of the religious right.

His actions, though, are in direct conflict with the teachings of the New Testament. A rich man from a rich family, the president's policies most often benefit his wealthy peers in contradiction to Gospel tenets on responsibility for the less fortunate. As governor of Texas, he took pride in the state's record for capital punishment. In Iraq, he chose violence over diplomacy, all in contradiction to Christ's teachings on compassion, forgiveness and the sanctity of life.

Jesus set a standard for behavior that is almost impossible to attain but nonetheless inspiring. The authority figures of his time, both fellow Jews and conquering Romans, were threatened not just by his message but by the fact that he brought that message to the outer margins of society, embracing the men and women whom others ignored.

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Even though I tend to bash fundamentalists on a regular basis, I haven't forgotten that there are millions of people calling themselves Christians who truly aspire to the ideals espoused by Jesus in the Gospels, and, on some levels, are horrified by the loud mouthed hatred spewed by the fatty evangelists out there. I agree with the above linked essay: it's time for the real Christians to speak up and disavow their retarded, inbred country cousins.

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