Earlier this week I posted about Ross Douthat’s deft dismantling of Ryan Lizza’s misinterpretation of Francis Schaeffer. Ryan Lizza has since responded on The New Yorker Website and stands by his contention that Francis Schaeffer favored armed resistance to the U.S. government over the issue of abortion. Douthat has just offered another rejoinder to Lizza. Once again, Douthat has the better part of this argument.
One thing I would add about his whole conversation: If Francis Schaeffer really favored armed resistance against the U.S. government, then why haven’t evangelicals answered his call to do so? In the last 30 years, can you think of any evangelical who has heeded Schaeffer’s alleged call to take up arms? No, you can’t. Because anyone reading Schaeffer carefully knows that he called for no such thing.
If Schaeffer had issued a call for armed resistance, we would have to conclude that his influence has been really overestimated. How important can Schaeffer’s ideas be if no one is listening to him?
3 Comments
Derek
This shows how desperate liberals are to find examples of Christian jihad. They are willing to distort words and intentions, by any means necessary.
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david
I actually think Lizza won thid debate hands-down. Douthat complely ignores Lizza’s repeated citings of Schaefer’s evocation of the language of the American Revolution and its lessons for today. I don’t even think Schaefer is being coy – he’s clearly laying the theoretical foundation for a violent rebellion against the tyranny (not to mention mass murder through abortion) of the 1980’s secular-humanist American state.