Wise Turk

Martin Luther once said he’d rather be ruled by a wise Turk than a stupid Christian. At the time, Austria was under invasion by Islamic Turks.

Whatever our founding fathers believed, the founder of the Protestant faith considered sensible Islamic terrorism preferable to mindless Christian government. Luther believed these Islamic invasions were God’s vengeance against the Catholic Church. Maybe 9/11 didn’t reflect God’s judgment against gays and abortionists so much as his opposition to government that is Christian in name only, something they had in Luther’s day as well.

One man’s reformer is another man’s terrorist. Though supported by his fellow Protestant reformers, Luther, like Barack Obama, was opposed by the religious establishment.

Today’s Christian fundamentalists would likely label a bright, anti-establishment monk like Luther an elitist. Fundamentalists distrust intellectuals, apparently believing that only stupid people would choose to become a Christian. It’s amazing how a religion that’s so intollerant of human intelligence could tollerate its Intelligent Designer. Didn’t God create humans in his own image?

Conservative columnist David Brooks recently attributed conservative movement self-destruction to attacks on elitists. While early conservatives, like William F. Buckley, were extremely intelligent, the movement has become so anti-intellectual that it’s alienated entire professions. College professors, lawyers, doctors and technology professionals are now predominately Democrats, Brooks said.

Buckley’s son, Christopher Buckley, was recently fired by the National Review--the magazine his father founded--for endorsing Obama. Though a conservative, Buckley, like Brooks, acknowledged he’s impressed by Obama’s intelligence.