SHRED - "Snobs Hate Red Envelope Day"

The Internet Monk is the personal blog of Michael Spencer, a "post-evangelical reformation Christian in search of a Jesus shaped spirituality." He is also a critic of the Facebook phenom "Red Envelope Day."

RED was started by Matt Stokes. Matt wants people to send a red envelope to President Obama saying, "This envelope represents one child who died because of an abortion. It is empty because the life that was taken is now unable to be a part of our world."

Simple enough. One more petition for me not to be involved in.

Matt will take no offense, however, as even he admits that in one sense, it's a "useless" activity, i.e. no laws are going to change as a result. We all know that. Matt smartly encourages more substantial efforts such as supporting adoption and crisis pregnancy shelters. Well and fine.

IMonk takes a different tact: he thinks there is something wrong with participating in RED. Or, more accurately, something wrong with Evangelical-dom:

"This is a perfect representation of where evangelical Christians are in about every area I can think of: theologically, missiologically, ecclesiastically, culturally, politically. It’s perfect."

Not only that, it's a McCarthy-esque plot to single out the "real Christians" from the fake:

"It’s this kind of meaningless symbolism that causes division and argument for no reason. The whole plan is an artificial loyalty test."

Wow. Did this guy have some sort of traumatic experience with a stack of petitions back in the day? There is nothing "theologically, missiologically, ecclesiastically, culturally, or politically" problematic with this petition. It's a petition for crying out loud. Sort of like sending a letter to your Congressman or writing a letter to the editor. Posting on IMonk's blog. Making your opinions known is the American way, after all. And obviously the petition is not a Christian "loyalty test," although it might double for a snob test depending on how much you doth protest when asked to participate in RED. (For example, I register as a "2" on the snob factor scale, and IMonk peaks at about "6.8").

Btw, if you post on IMonk, be advised that the words "sucks" and "jerk" are acceptable (based on what I've seen in other posts), but if you use the term "snob" or "stupid petition" (like I did) IMonk will actually edit your comments in such a way as to possibly lead people to believe that you cursed a blue streak and that the all-seeing "moderator" was forced to "edit" them. (That's pure genius, btw. I love it and plan to use it on my critics, assuming someone ever posts to this blog).

I, on the other hand, fully welcome any sort of mild put-downs (esp. if they are directed to my critics).