I'm not usually one to pay attention to what celebrities or athletes say regarding politics or political candidates, but yesterday's appearance by Charles Barkley on CNN was a real treat.
Barkley is supporting Barack Obama, and for that reason Wolf Blitzer conducted an interview with him. Barkley is known for being a republican, or at least for supporting some republican candidates, although he denied that to Blitzer. However, it was what he said about conservatives that made news.
He said: " I don’t like the way the Republicans are taking this country. Every time I hear the word “conservative,” it makes me sick to my stomach, because they’re really just fake Christians, as I call them. That’s all they are."
Blitzer acted horrified and asked him to explain what he meant. Barkley replied: " Well, I think they — they want to be judge and jury. Like, I’m for gay marriage. It’s none of my business if gay people want to get married. I’m pro-choice. And I think these Christians — first of all, they’re supposed to be — they’re not supposed to judge other people. But they’re the most hypocritical judge of people we have in this country. And it bugs the hell out of me. They act like they're Christians. And they’re not forgiving at all."
Blitzer told Barkley he was going to get a lot of feedback for that comment to which he replied: "They can’t do anything to me. I don’t work for them." - Nice slap at the many conservative Republican politicians who do work for them.
Certainly Barkley oversimplified things. Not all conservatives are Christians and not all Christians are conservative, nor hypocritical. But to the extent that Barkley was speaking his mind about how much judgmentalism and hypocrisy has become evident in the conservative Christian political movement, his words were a breath of fresh air.
Kind of like Jesus saying : "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness."
