Christian Theater Troupe Scolds Griffin

From the AP via the Huffington Post courtesy of AlterNet:

In accepting the Emmy for her Bravo reality show, "My Life on the D-List," Griffin said that "a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus."

She went on to hold up her Emmy, make an off-color remark about Christ and proclaim, "This award is my god now!"

"We at The Miracle Theater consider it an honor to stand for Jesus today," the ad said. "We may never win a national award. We may never be household names. We may never be seen in Hollywood. Although others may choose to use their national platform to slander our God, we are honored as professional entertainers to stand for Christ."

The Associated Press was attempting Wednesday to reach Griffin's publicist.

Griffin's comments have also drawn ire from the Catholic League, an anti-defamation group that called on the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to "denounce Griffin's obscene and blasphemous comment" at the Sept. 9 ceremony. The E! channel chose to edit Griffin's speech when it aired the taped event last Saturday night.

More here.

Strictly speaking, I think it's only blasphemy if the person doing it actually believes in the Christian god. Otherwise, it's simply Constitutionally protected commentary on a powerful economic and social institution called "the church."

This is an issue that bugs me increasingly: on the one hand, these angry Christians insist that everybody rhetorically respect their religious beliefs, implying that religion bears the same cultural significance as ethnicity or race; on the other hand, these same angry Christians have no problem with rhetorically disrespecting pretty much any point of view that doesn't jibe with their own. Atheists, agnostics, non-Christians, anybody who disagrees must toe the line, obey their laws, show respect.

The point is that they're trying to have it both ways. They want to enter the political sphere and tell everybody what to do, but when people bite back, they cry foul. Well, that's bullshit. Griffin has nothing for which to apologize. These guys are just whiners who obviously weren't beat up enough when they were kids.

Like my dad always used to say, if you're going to play rough, you've got to expect to get hurt.

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