I am a Christian, but I am not offended by Steve Earle. In fact, I am rarely offended by opinions expressed by artists of any sort. It does grieve me to see the overall blanket view of Christians to be such a negative one, a view that even I have held.

But who to blame for the negativity? It is a by-product of being self-righteous, self-promoting, money-grubbing, finger-pointing bastards who parade as Christians.

In Mississippi, we have a state representative that, IMHO, fails to represent the citizens of Mississippi. Rather, he represents only himself, even as he calls himself a "representative of the people of Mississippi".

That is how I see many "Representatives of Christ"; using the name as a means of self-glorification.

From what I have understood of the character of Christ, He would not be offended at all at Earle. In fact, the ones with whom He did find offense, were the "Representatives of God" (the Pharisees) during his walk on earth. He called them "sons of serpents".

Amen.

khandu