High life
Christian thoughts
Taki
New York h, dear! For one brief shining moment I thought that God and Christiani- ty were making a comeback. (Not to be confused with the Second Coming.) Paul Johnson started it with his personal pil- grimage, A Quest for God. (Incidentally, Paul also predicted two months ago that the you-know-what would first hit the fan in the Far East and then cause the stock- market to collapse over here.) Jesus made the cover of Time, Newsweek and US News ':, World Report last Easter. A wonderful biography' of God was recently published hY Jack Miles, one that examined God as a Character in that marvellous creation, the Bible. Even my buddy Norman Mailer, bet- ter known for things physical rather than metaphysical, has just published the great- est story ever with our Lord Jesus doing the narrating. Nearer, My God: An Autobiography of Faith is William F. Buckley Jr's latest and 4. 1st book. To have written 41 books is an incredible achievement, but in Buckley's case it is only a part-time one. He also lec- tures, writes a nationally syndicated column twice a week, hosts a weekly nationally televised show, sails across the oceans rather regularly, skis with Taki daily during the winter months, and attends church reg- ularly. Oh yes, I almost forgot. He also finds time to attend dinners with his very social wife Pat, and to be host to lively par- ties in his Park Avenue pad. Incidentally, I find there is nothing that gets closer to liv- ing sainthood than when the poor little Greek reek boy, blotto, engages Bill Buckley in PsYehobabble late at night while the latter is desperate for some sleep but even more desperate not to offend the drunk one. Nearer, My God is the most poignant of Bill's books. One reviewer called it a small miracle. It doesn't preach and does not try to make converts. It is the best answer to secular elite hackles and suspicions towards those who despite a good education express deep religious faith without an apology. The part I liked was on the uniqueness of Christ: 'Everything would be so simple if God saw fit to remove the doubt of every Doubting Thomas by, say, worldwide thunder at three in the after- noon (local time) on Good Friday, or such.'
When Bill recently lectured at a Virginia university, he was asked to pose for a pic- ture with one of the students and his host as part of the school's record. The photog- rapher, an elderly woman, demanded that the student remove the tiny cross on a sil- ver chain around his neck. The student immediately complied. When Bill demand- ed to know why, the photographer said that the cross might offend non-Christians. But a Christian can surely wear their cross,' muttered Bill.
Not according to the PC times we are liv- ing in today. The Muslim and Jewish reli- gions teach that those who are different are infidels. It seems that we Christians have missed the boat. We long ago made the mistake of thinking that those who believe and behave differently from us can also be good people. In the back of Buckley's book he profiles top elite American schools' treatment of Christianity. My old school is included and I read that obligatory chapel was abolished in 1968 and that the name of Jesus during prayers is forbidden. Well, that's just too bad for Lawrenceville. And I was about to give them a cool £2 million greenbacks, which I will now spend on myself.
The reason I began this column the way I did is easy to guess at. For every Paul John- son and Bill Buckley there are thousands of Christopher Hitchens and people of his ilk. The Churches are no help. Spain's bishops are reported to be preparing to 'ask for- giveness' for the Catholic Church's support for General Franco before, during and after the Spanish Civil War!
How was that again? Apologise for whom? If the Spanish Church needs to apologise, it is to those nuns and unarmed men, women and children whom the corn- Did the earth move for you, too?' munists and their fellow travellers mur- dered in cold blood during the civil war. Franco was by far the greatest leader of the 20th century. He saved his country from totalitarianism, resisted both Hitler and Mussolini, and managed the transition from authoritarianism to the most success- ful monarchy in Europe, if not the world.
The Spanish bishops are insulting the thousands of innocents slaughtered by the atheists by turning trendy and playing PC games. Those who need to apologise for the rest of their miserable lives are those who sided with the sandal-wearing poofs against Europe's greatest statesman.
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