Katie Toth at Religion Dispatches calls her op-ed the
Lou Engle's Bizarro Esther recalling the Superman comics Bizarro Superman from the Bizarro world where everything is skewed almost to the opposite of what it should be. She explains:
Lou Engle’s
“Esther Call” will be finishing in Dallas, Texas today on Good Friday.
The “mass event […] focuses on God's forgiveness for those who have been
involved in abortion […and calls on] viewers to pray for an end to the
bloodshed of innocent lives.” Along with co-leader Laura Allred, Engle
has called on women to repent for the nation’s abortions on behalf of
America’s women.
That’s a far cry from the original Esther—a biblical
queen who used the power of prayer, fasting, and a ballsy appeal to the
king to save the Jews after her stubborn cousin Mordecai nearly got them
all massacred.
One video calls on women who have been “hurt” by abortion to come together to “release the pain,”
a process through which political change will be possible. At face
value, Engle seems to be calling on some conservative Christian
reconfiguration of girl power—uniting women so they can refine their
political voice.
Problem is, for these Esthers power is only realized through the humiliation of themselves and their peers.
The biblical Esther doesn’t really do any ‘pain-releasing.’ She’s
busy using her cleverness, faith, and womanly wile to protect her people
after her cousin puts them at risk with his ego (Esther 3:1).
Engle’s Esthers, however, will only be able to protect their land once
they repent their own failings.
In other words: Sure! Women can have power to influence national policy… if they start crying about what dirty sinners they are. Engle borrows from rhetoric about women’s power, but tells them to turn that power in on themselves.
This Engle campaign sounds to us like an extreme hijacking of a biblical story which distorts it for aims that are diametrically opposed to the original intents of the narrative.
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