Why Christians shouldn’t celebrate Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh often joked that his talent was “on loan from God.” That’s about the only true thing, at least in a theological sense, that he ever said.

Today the longtime radio host passed away from lung cancer, and it’s not hard to see that he misused that talent, using distortions and ridicule from 1987 to last year to lampoon those of a more progressive ideological stripe and in the process causing a major divide in this country that exists to this day. I for one refused to listen to him because, according to Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers” — and there’s no getting around the fact that Limbaugh, considered the voice of the “angry white male,” was a mocker.

And yet millions upon millions of Christians hung on his every word for the latest broadside against his targets, playing into their bitterness and resentment. Eventually other right-wing talkmeisters hit the airwaves, and to this day they’re still spouting their bile, most making a mint in the process. And we often wonder why much of the church is in such bad shape — three hours of spiritual poison poured daily into one’s brain doesn’t lend itself to meditating on the things of God.

I know what you might be saying: “Aren’t ‘liberals’ just as bad?” No, and that’s not even relevant. You don’t even consistently have left-wing talk-radio, for openers; most of the time such shows don’t last because they don’t get the ratings (you have some late-night TV hosts, but they don’t have the reach). Besides, people of religious faith don’t watch them anyway, which is the point.

Since Donald Trump was defeated in November and is no longer president, some have said that this nation needs to take “time to heal.” But part of the healing process involves identifying and excising lingering attitudes, and it’s clear that Limbaugh fostered those — that is to say, they came from somewhere and didn’t just start in 2016.