February 28, 2008

Drollinger fires back: Foes 'neuter the message of Christ'

Ralph Drollinger, the controversial Capitol clergyman who created a stir this week with remarks that some legislators are "disgusting to our Lord," is firing back at his critics with a second Web posting, where he says tolerance of nonbelievers is "to neuter the message of Christ."

Drollinger, an evangelical critical of those who don't embrace his vision of Christianity, has taught weekly Bible lessons in the Capitol for more than a decade, earning a $120,000 annual salary from a nationwide group, Capitol Ministries.

"Far be it from any professing Christian, in the Capitol or elsewhere, to neuter the message of Christ in order to make unbelievers feel comfortable in their sin," Drollinger wrote in a follow-up Web posting to a Wednesday Bee story. "This is tantamount to putting a terminal patient on a morphine drip — they die slowly, and go to hell forever, but feel pretty good about themselves on the way."

Drollinger, a basketball player at UCLA in the 1970s, was particularly critical in his original writing of a competing Bible fellowship group in the Capitol, led by Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico, which is more inclusive.

Drollinger's latest entry is called "The One and Only Way to Heaven."

"Contrary to what former California lawmaker Tim Leslie said in this morning’s Sacramento Bee article, there are not 'many paths' to Christ," Drollinger wrote of the group.

Drollinger continued, "I fear that the fellowship group in the Capitol is selling the wrong Jesus," saying the group believes in a "feel-good historical role model" instead of Jesus as Messiah.

Sen. Darrell Steinberg, the Senate's president pro tem-elect, said Drollinger's earlier comments were "intolerant," "troubling" and "deplorable."

"There's just no place in civil society for intolerance of someone's different beliefs," Steinberg said in Wednesday's Bee . "It's the beauty of this country, that people have the right to practice their own faith."

Assemblyman Mike Villines is the sponsor of Drollinger's Bible study and in June 2005 said he didn't recall missing a single Drollinger-sponsored Bible study.

But the Clovis Republican said of Drollinger's original Web posting that he was "very, very uncomfortable with the comments, and I don't agree with them."

This is hardly the first controversy for the 7-foot-2-inch Drollinger. He has derided Catholism as a "false religion" and was protested on the Senate floor after he said it was sinful for a female lawmaker to be away from her children while working in Sacramento.

Drollinger remains a staunch defender of his views, writing in the recent posting, "We should not be surprised by the world’s duplicity, i.e. the world worships tolerance (subjectivism), yet lashes out against Christ and His followers as the only acceptable target of intolerance. This is nothing new."

Posted by Shane Goldmacher on February 28, 2008 12:20 PM