Franky Schaeffer: Filial impiety in excelsis

There have been several examples of public filial impiety lately, including Christopher Buckley's remarks about his father and mother (William F. Buckley and Patricia Taylor Buckley) in his book, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir (2009), on which we posted "Loss of faith, loss of filial piety" (Musings, June 5, 2009).

But the worst example of late is Frank Schaeffer, who wrote a screed on his parents four years ago in Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back (Carrooll & Graf, 2007) (see our post of November 3, 2007 and Os Guinness' review, "Fathers and Sons").

Now the junior Schaeffer, whose ailing blind mother is 96, has come out with yet another book of this kind entitled Sex, Mom, and God: How the Bible's Strange Take on Sex Led to Crazy Politics--and How I Learned to Love Women (and Jesus) Anyway (Da Capo Press, 2011). Of course Kirkus Reviews, Huffington Post, and The Humanist love it, caressing the author with words like "intelligent" and even "sensitive." I think I'm inclined more toward Holden Caulfield in Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, when he says "That guy Morrow was about as sensitive as a goddam toilet seat."

For a couple of reviews that offer what I consider fairly reliable insights (only if any of this interests you), I would recommend those written by J.Mart and Colin Duriez. J.Mart offers an interesting comparison with Wilfrid Sheed, the son of Frank Sheed and Maisie Ward, who lost his faith but always treated his parents respectfully in public and in print, even when he disagreed with them.

[Hat tip to our HBCU Correspondent we keep on retainer somewhere in the middle of Hurricane Irene]