Frank Schaeffer around the bend (Updated)

I'm inclined to like Frank Schaeffer, formerly known as "Franky Schaeffer V," son of L'abri Fellowship founder Francis Schaeffer.

I'd count myself as influenced by the elder Schaeffer's writings, particularly in the way they described the role of mankind in terms of the Christian world view. I also read some of the younger Schaeffer's works, including "Sham Pearls for Real Swine," "A Time for Anger" and "A Modest Proposal." Frank Schaeffer struck me even then as emotionally tilted slightly over the bend, though I would still contend that there is some value in what I would call his polemical body of work.

Francis Schaeffer has passed on to the next realm, but Frank Schaeffer continues to dance on the borderline of reasonable discourse.

His column on the lessons America ought to take from Iran serves as Exhibit A:

What are the real lessons of Iran for the USA?

1) Don't mix religion and politics.

2) Thank God for the separation of church and state.

3) The Republicans are utter hypocrites.

Presumably one should not perform #2 while in service to the United States government for fear of failing in #1.

Schaeffer recounts his associations with evangelicals such as D. James Kennedy and Pat Robertson, suggesting that they were sufficiently of the Dominionist stripe that America might resemble Iran if they had things their way.

I'm not sure Schaeffer can be trusted in his assessment. He was the one viewed as the radical during that period, so it is at least as likely that he heard what he wanted to hear in those meetings, much as the electorate heard what it wanted to hear from presidential candidate Barack "Blank Slate" Obama.

But let's at least suppose that there is a substantial germ of truth in his reports and look at how he follows up:

And what Dobson, Falwell et al were pushing, and what the "tea parties" and Fox News are all about today, is one or another version of the Rushdoony/theocracy version of the Iranian mullahs American-style.

The protest rebellion against irresponsible government spending and high taxation is ultimately about Dominionism/theocracy? In terms of stretches, that's trying to get a ponytail holder around the galaxy.

And he doesn't stop there:

When there are tens of thousands of Americans sitting in evangelical churches every Sunday wherein President Obama is vilified as an "abortionist," a "Communist," a "secret Muslim," and even as "the Antichrist," when the former vice president accuses our President of what amounts to treason, all because President Obama won't allow the torture of prisoners in an American version of holy war, all because he has decided it is wise to build bridges of respect to Muslim countries, we've left recognizable political territory and entered the realm of violence-inciting hate and delusion of the kind Iran's "supreme leader" indulges in.

I frankly (pun intended) have trouble seeing how that follows. "Abortionist," "Communist" and "the AntiChrist" do not particularly follow from accusing Bush of treason, not allowing the torture of prisoners or supposedly building bridges of respect to Muslim countries. OK, maybe the "secret Muslim" one fits with the notion of building bridges of respect to Muslim countries, but that can't excuse the whole thing.

Schaeffer writes irresponsibly. Indeed, his tone fails to do anything to copy what he apparently admires about Obama. Obama wants to build bridges of respect to Muslim countries. Schaeffer wants to shrink respect for fellow Americans who are evangelical Christians and/or Republicans.

Should Obama adopt Schaeffer's tone in dealing the the mullahs, then?

Where should we find the hypocrisy again, Mr. Schaeffer?

Oh, that's right--the Republicans. Pathetic, up to and including the attempted tie-in with the recent shooting at the Holocaust museum.

Update:

Edited the paragraph starting with "I frankly" for clarity, and cleaned up a typo in the process