The Jesus Freaks have finally learned to read. The godbothering posse from last time has wisely skirted my property this time around. I threw in a death stare just to be sure. Judging by the neigbourhood dog chorus, other sleepy villagers aren't so lucky.
It must be something seasonal. It seemed to be Hug a Christian on NatRad's Panel show on Thursday, with Chris Trotter and Gary Moore, Otautahitan Catholic and Anglican bashers respectively. The former smugly announced that Godbotherers have a monopoly on human caring, while the latter rejoiced in vanilla traditions in public places. Chocolate and Hemp flavours need not apply.
I was angry before I realised just how scared and frustrated they sounded, not a bit like the RSA geezer up in Auckland. And I laughed.
Scared Christian White People are a minority, which goes some way to explaining how a Catholic squash player became the new Race Relations Conciliator. We'll see how minor once the first burst of data spews out of this month's Census.
Devoy's choice is ahead of its time. That is, in twenty years or so Scared Christian White People might well be a down-trodden minority, but not yet.
Indeed, Scared Christian White People have disproportionate voice presently. For every nutty Hone-ism or Joris de Bres-ticle, there's a dozen Gareth McMullah rants, a screed of narrow-minded bigotries from Family First's Bob McHuntly. For every militant atheist, there's a tax free haven like Sanitarium, a zero-rated piece of church land, and a meal ticket for government funds.
The world turns and this too shall pass. In twenty years time, I doubt Sanitarium will dodge its due taxes, churches will pay rates on their buildings and land, and secular protocols clean out all the loopholes such as integrated schools. God will pay tribute to Caesar.
