Giving Christians a bad name

The headline in The Associated Press story says, "Christian militia accused of plotting to kill cops." The story out of Detroit leads with a chilling summary of the plans of a Michigan group that calls itself Hutaree.

"Nine alleged members of a Christian militia group that was girding for battle with the Antichrist were charged .... with plotting to kill a police officer and slaughter scores more by bombing the funeral -- all in hopes of touching off an uprising against the U.S. government," The AP reported.

Meanwhile, a notorious group of angry and miserable excuses for humanity under the leadership of a "pastor" protect themselves under the cloak of calling themselves a Baptist church. Fred Phelps and his family call themselves a church and travel the country in the name of God and free speech and disrupt funerals of slain soldiers.

Both groups -- the Hutaree in Michigan and the Phelps-led Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas -- bring to mind the Ku Klux Klan parading in masks and robes, terrorizing and murdering minority families across the nation on Saturday night, and praising the Lord on Sunday morning in their local church pews.

Where do these people come off calling themselves Christians?

I know the exhortation in Matthew 7:1 that instructs us not to "judge lest you be judged," but seriously. I feel pretty confident in my appraisal of these people. Certainly, every Christian in the country ought to be ticked off by the loose manner in which Christ's name is invoked by fringe groups across our nation. And in the case of the so-called Westboro Baptist Church, the courts ruled in favor of their freedom to disrupt the memorial services of fallen heroes in the name of free speech.

For the life of me, I don't know where these people come from. Their idea of Christ-likeness isn't what I learned in my Sunday school classes in Eufaula, Okla.

"It started out as a Christian thing," said the ex-wife of one of the Hutaree militia men. "You go to church. You pray. You take care of your family. I think (he) started to take it a little too far."

Ya think?

The wife of another Michigan militia man described the group as a small group of patriotic Christian buddies. "It was supposed to be a Christian group," she said. "Christ-like, right, so why would you think that's something wrong with that, right?"

Her logic leaves something to be desired.

How can these people describe this as "Christ-like?" What Bible are they reading?

It's largely thanks to depraved people like this in our Land of the Free that I sense a growing and troubling anti-Christian bigotry sweeping across the nation. Many are waging a war on Christianity, and people like the Christian militia and the Fred Phelps family (this old Baptist refuses to refer to them by their preferred "church" name), and even the sex abuse scandal propagated by a few rogue priests in the Catholic Church, have armed the Left with an arsenal of weapons.

It's not enough that Christians have to fight many on the left and that many think Christianity should be removed from the public square.

It's not enough that "Merry Christmas" has become politically incorrect and the Ten Commandments can't be displayed in classrooms, but ghosts and witches can be displayed on Halloween.

It's not enough that Christians are mocked on television and Hollywood makes movies that depict Protestant and Catholic churches as oppressive.

It's not enough that some places no longer use the words "Good Friday" or display any Christian symbols anywhere in the public square.

It's not enough that taxpayer dollars are used for "art" to frame Christ in disgraceful and disgusting ways.

It's not enough that Christianity has to deal with all the craziness of the above, but it also has to defend itself against nut cases hijacking the name "Christian" while committing atrocities in the name of Christ.

Every Christian in America should be outraged at this "Christian militia" group in Michigan, the KKK and the Phelps family.

Christians cannot allow the lines to be blurred, which is what the secularists want. Christians should denounce such groups because what these people are doing does not reconcile with true Christianity or biblical principles.

When George W. Bush was president, many of his opponents liked to claim that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Today, many Christians have deep convictions on right and wrong, and aren't afraid to speak out. They should have the right and freedom to do so without being tainted by the nut cases.

I'm reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King's words in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955:

"If you will protest courageously, with dignity and Christian love ... when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will have to pause and say there lived a great people -- a black people -- who injected new meaning and dignity in the veins of civilization. This is our challenge and our responsibility."

Dr. King was speaking of civilized, principled protest over 50 years ago. In our quest to be heard, we all -- the Tea Party, Republicans, Democrats, liberal, conservative, red, brown, yellow, black and white -- should take note of his words.

J.C. Watts (JCWatts01@jcwatts.com), chairman of J.C. Watts Companies, a business consulting group, is former chairman of the Republican Conference of the U.S. House, where he served as an Oklahoma representative from 1995 to 2002.