Tonight as I sat watching the 300th episode of The Simpsons and eating chips with some Christian friends, a three-second-clip of Marilyn Manson came on during a current affairs-show ad. Imediately the others went all tense and quiet.
Once he was safely off screen, one of the others said, 'Hasn't someone shot him yet?'
I don't know why so many Christians feel so threatened by Manson, or why they're so aggressive towards him. Okay, so what if he is a Satanist? If we believe our God's far stronger than his (if he actually is a Satanist at all) why should we be afraid of him? Shouldn't we be hoping he's (by some miracle or other) saved by Christ rather than shot down by some psycho*? Shouldn't we remind ourselves that we ourselves are only saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), not because we're in any way better than Manson or Hussein or whoever we're projecting the things we dislike about ourselves onto today?

*Reminds me of John Lennon and Mark Chapman.