US Christian fundamentalists are driving Bush's Middle East policy
George Monbiot
Tuesday April 20, 2004
The Guardian
To understand what is happening in the Middle East, you must first understand what is happening in Texas. To understand what is happening there, you should read the resolutions passed at the state's Republican party conventions last month. Take a look, for example, at the decisions made in Harris County, which covers much of Houston.
The delegates began by nodding through a few uncontroversial matters: homosexuality is contrary to the truths ordained by God; "any mechanism to process, license, record, register or monitor the ownership of guns" should be repealed; income tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and corporation tax should be abolished; and immigrants should be deterred by electric fences. Thus fortified, they turned to the real issue: the affairs of a small state 7,000 miles away. It was then, according to a participant, that the "screaming and near fist fights" began.
I don't know what the original motion said, but apparently it was "watered down significantly" as a result of the shouting match. The motion they adopted stated that Israel has an undivided claim to Jerusalem and the West Bank, that Arab states should be "pressured" to absorb refugees from Palestine, and that Israel should do whatever it wishes in seeking to eliminate terrorism. Good to see that the extremists didn't prevail then.
But why should all this be of such pressing interest to the people of a state which is seldom celebrated for its fascination with foreign affairs? The explanation is slowly becoming familiar to us, but we still have some difficulty in taking it seriously.
In the United States, several million people have succumbed to an extraordinary delusion. In the 19th century, two immigrant preachers cobbled together a series of unrelated passages from the Bible to create what appears to be a consistent narrative: Jesus will return to Earth when certain preconditions have been met. The first of these was the establishment of a state of Israel. The next involves Israel's occupation of the rest of its "biblical lands" (most of the Middle East), and the rebuilding of the Third Temple on the site now occupied by the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques. The legions of the antichrist will then be deployed against Israel, and their war will lead to a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. The Jews will either burn or convert to Christianity, and the Messiah will return to Earth.
What makes the story so appealing to Christian fundamentalists is that before the big battle begins, all "true believers" (ie those who believe what they believe) will be lifted out of their clothes and wafted up to heaven during an event called the Rapture. Not only do the worthy get to sit at the right hand of God, but they will be able to watch, from the best seats, their political and religious opponents being devoured by boils, sores, locusts and frogs, during the seven years of Tribulation which follow.
The true believers are now seeking to bring all this about. This means staging confrontations at the old temple site (in 2000, three US Christians were deported for trying to blow up the mosques there), sponsoring Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, demanding ever more US support for Israel, and seeking to provoke a final battle with the Muslim world/Axis of Evil/United Nations/ European Union/France or whoever the legions of the antichrist turn out to be.
The believers are convinced that they will soon be rewarded for their efforts. The antichrist is apparently walking among us, in the guise of Kofi Annan, Javier Solana, Yasser Arafat or, more plausibly, Silvio Berlusconi. The Wal-Mart corporation is also a candidate (in my view a very good one), because it wants to radio-tag its stock, thereby exposing humankind to the Mark of the Beast.
By clicking on www.raptureready.com, you can discover how close you might be to flying out of your pyjamas. The infidels among us should take note that the Rapture Index currently stands at 144, just one point below the critical threshold, beyond which the sky will be filled with floating nudists. Beast Government, Wild Weather and Israel are all trading at the maximum five points (the EU is debat ing its constitution, there was a freak hurricane in the south Atlantic, Hamas has sworn to avenge the killing of its leaders), but the second coming is currently being delayed by an unfortunate decline in drug abuse among teenagers and a weak showing by the antichrist (both of which score only two).
We can laugh at these people, but we should not dismiss them. That their beliefs are bonkers does not mean they are marginal. American pollsters believe that 15-18% of US voters belong to churches or movements which subscribe to these teachings. A survey in 1999 suggested that this figure included 33% of Republicans. The best-selling contemporary books in the US are the 12 volumes of the Left Behind series, which provide what is usually described as a "fictionalised" account of the Rapture (this, apparently, distinguishes it from the other one), with plenty of dripping details about what will happen to the rest of us. The people who believe all this don't believe it just a little; for them it is a matter of life eternal and death.
And among them are some of the most powerful men in America. John Ashcroft, the attorney general, is a true believer, so are several prominent senators and the House majority leader, Tom DeLay. Mr DeLay (who is also the co-author of the marvellously named DeLay-Doolittle Amendment, postponing campaign finance reforms) travelled to Israel last year to tell the Knesset that "there is no middle ground, no moderate position worth taking".
So here we have a major political constituency - representing much of the current president's core vote - in the most powerful nation on Earth, which is actively seeking to provoke a new world war. Its members see the invasion of Iraq as a warm-up act, as Revelation (9:14-15) maintains that four angels "which are bound in the great river Euphrates" will be released "to slay the third part of men". They batter down the doors of the White House as soon as its support for Israel wavers: when Bush asked Ariel Sharon to pull his tanks out of Jenin in 2002, he received 100,000 angry emails from Christian fundamentalists, and never mentioned the matter again.
The electoral calculation, crazy as it appears, works like this. Governments stand or fall on domestic issues. For 85% of the US electorate, the Middle East is a foreign issue, and therefore of secondary interest when they enter the polling booth. For 15% of the electorate, the Middle East is not just a domestic matter, it's a personal one: if the president fails to start a conflagration there, his core voters don't get to sit at the right hand of God. Bush, in other words, stands to lose fewer votes by encouraging Israeli aggression than he stands to lose by restraining it. He would be mad to listen to these people. He would also be mad not to.
· George Monbiot's book The Age of Consent: a Manifesto for a New World Order is now published in paperback
www.smirkingchimp.com Comments...
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by OleHippieChick on Tuesday, April 20 @ 10:35:56 EDT
(User Info)
They go fuckin nuts EVERY millennium, damn them! Too bad they have to drag the rest of us into the pits with them. Damn! Next Dark Ages comin right up. Glad I'm ole.
[ Reply ]
* Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power'
by Groverpm on Tuesday, April 20 @ 10:50:16 EDT
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by evanste on Tuesday, April 20 @ 10:55:28 EDT
(User Info) http://www.ethardvanstee.com
Could anyone with a nominally functioning brain but believe that the United States of America is becoming a degenerate society? Deteriorating slowly. Degenerating rapidly. Anyone who doubts this assertion might want to visit
www.robert-fisk.com.
View the human cost of Bush's folly. See what the "Onward Christian Soldiers" crowd is really up to.
[ Reply ]
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are (Score: 1)
by moominpapa on Tuesday, April 20 @ 11:05:49 EDT
(User Info) http://www.livejournal.com/users/moominpapa/
We can laugh at these people, but we should not dismiss them. That their beliefs are bonkers does not mean they are marginal.
Best two sentence assessment of present-day America you are likely to see all year.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by shonen on Tuesday, April 20 @ 11:28:00 EDT
(User Info)
What I love about these people is their adaptability. Take the issue of just who is the antichrist. At various times he has been the Pope, Martin Luther, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Saddam, and my personal favourite, poor old King Juan Carlos of Spain. Jack vanImpe dreamed up that last one, based on one of the king's ancient titles as King of Jerusalem.
American nutcases are thick of the ground these days, which usually doesn't matter one bit, except that now they are running the show. One wonders how many members of the Supreme Court hold these fundamentalist beliefs. After all, they selected George for a reason, and just maybe being a republican wasn't quite enough.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by Suz on Tuesday, April 20 @ 11:29:13 EDT
(User Info)
Can't someone convince this crowd that the way to rapture is a South American trip and partaking in the refreshments once they get there? Then those of us with our sanity still intact can deal with the real problems of the world. Who could have predicted this pandemic of severe mental illness? If I had a direct line to Jesus I would beg him to take these nutcases away, and make the world a better place.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are (Score: 1)
by GZeus on Tuesday, April 20 @ 11:45:07 EDT
(User Info)
If atheists ever expect to convert the religious, they need to come up with some better stories. It's not enough to knock on someone's door on Saturday morning and invite them to do nothing on Sunday. They need to come up something even better than floating nudists and a front row seat at the ultimate gladiator combat.
I've got it! Replace the rapture meme with the reality TV meme -- Heaven is a reality show where you can be any of the characters. People worship the idiot box already, so yanking down the big wooden T and putting up a plasma screen to pray to should go over big. Then we convince people that when they die, their soul lives on in the reality series of their choosing.
Yes, reality religion could really catch on. Child molesters could star in "Survivor: Island of the Alter Boys"; wife beaters could expect a heavenly hall of punching bags; gun lovers could see their revolvers rise from the inanimate and return that unrequited love. Reality religion will have a TV show that anyone would love to star in, but you have to pray real hard and send lots of money to GZeus to make the audition.
And if some of you think I'm crazy, that's all right, I will pray to the Holy Plasma Screen for you, and most important, TV loves you.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by yellowdawg on Tuesday, April 20 @ 11:50:10 EDT
(User Info)
Wanna end a 'friendship' or never see a relative again? Just say, 'you don't really believe this horseshit, do you?...trust me, that'll be that.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by Bouttimewegotwise on Tuesday, April 20 @ 11:55:35 EDT
(User Info)
Check this Young Mullah out. Gimme that old time Religion.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040419/capt.gjp10104190017.topix_nra_convention_gjp101.jpg
* Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power'
by mscurmudge on Tuesday, April 20 @ 21:52:05 EDT
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by Anti-Symp on Tuesday, April 20 @ 12:13:10 EDT
(User Info)
Quick, load up the TX fundies and send 'em in to Fajulla armed with nothing but bibles. Let em go door to door. Now that would fun to watch!
BTW I wonder what Israel's populace and leadership really think about the fundies and what do they say in private?
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by buck_fush on Tuesday, April 20 @ 12:54:10 EDT
(User Info)
Letter yesterday to Feinstein and Boxer:
Between his press conference, his endorsement of the West Bank settlements and the revelations on 60 Minutes, I think George Bush is the scariest thing since Jim Jones (People’s Temple).
We can’t wait until November to pull the plug on this guy.
What’s next?? Bush announcing a faith-based Foreign Policy decision to take out Kim Jung Il’s train with a Predator while it’s still in China with the words “Bring on the Rapture!”?
Yes, I am scared.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are (Score: 1)
by Mexican on Tuesday, April 20 @ 13:17:14 EDT
(User Info)
From a true christian perspective, fundamentalism is a cancerous sore eating away the true message of Christianity and trying to bring about armaggedon. Fundamentalism neglects the 3 pillars that christ preached. Justice, mercy, love, and above all humility. To those fundamentalist hypocrites out there that are waiting to be raptured, don't forget what Jesus said, " The first will be last and the last first."
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by Iguazulu on Tuesday, April 20 @ 13:53:11 EDT
(User Info)
I have a suggestion for any "Rapturists" who may accidently be visiting the Chimp: If you believe that at the Rapture your clothes will fall away and you will be swept up to heaven--why not hurry up the process? Just strip nakid and walk down mainstreet in any Bible Thumper town in this country and I guarantee that your fat, hairy ass, will have a ride coming along shortly.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by Euromutt on Tuesday, April 20 @ 14:17:44 EDT
(User Info)
Isn't it amazing that seemingly normal adult human beings (if one can qualify John Ashcroft as "normal") can actually believe in such utter nonsense created by a couple of guys on a power trip?
Does this fall into the category of naivety or sheer stupidity?
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by superdem on Tuesday, April 20 @ 15:25:17 EDT
(User Info)
I became an atheist in November 1963 when, as a young boy on my knees crying and praying and asking God why he allowed President Kennedy to be killed, I suddenly realized I was talking to no one but myself. I realized this is a rock flying through space inhabited by all sorts of life forms, the most dangerous of which is us. I realized all this at the tender age of 10. As I looked around me, I was (and remain) shocked and amazed at the hold religion has on the majority of humans. But I guess if you can believe all physical phenomina were "created" by a God, then you can believe anything. It's like being a little bit pregnant. But when this majority foists their religious delusions on me it is deeply offensive. When the space shuttle crashed and all the astronauts were killed, and President Bush said to the nation that God had taken them to a better place - I was horrified. I couldn't believe the President of the United States would put his personal religious beliefs out as if they were national policy. I hoped one of the astronauts might have been a scientist, and his/her family might publicly question the appropriateness of such outrageous and opportunist Christian prosletyzing. But again, no one asked why God allowed this terrible thing to happen. We simply can't understand His ways, the believers say. Well, such religious insanity would be funny except that real actions have real consequences in the real world. George Bush says freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to mankind. But apparently God did not give this gift to the Palestinians, so he won't either. How absurd to think that modern Israel could resemble anything mentioned in the Bible, much less that modern Christians could link today's geopolitical events with Armageddon myths written, and translated ad nauseum, so long ago. Couldn't an all powerful God just fix everything to His liking with one thought ? Why go through such a long, drawn out conditional domino game of destruction - is God so inefficient or weak that He needs humans to fulfill His desires, or is He maliciously playful with His human toys ? Someone should ask George Bush why the Hubble telescope hasn't taken any pictures of God. I wonder what he'd say.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by Ed_Drone on Tuesday, April 20 @ 16:04:18 EDT
(User Info)
One thing I worry about (among many) is that by attempting to set these conditions up, and thus "tip God's hand," these wackos are "putting the Lord your God to the test." This is specifically forbidden in Deuteronomy 6:16, and I'm worried that the retribution this may bring down will affect the rest of humanity as well.
The rapture will come in God's good time. Nothing can stop it, nothing can hasten it, and trying to "make it happen" is going to bring disaster on us.
Ed
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by burningbush on Tuesday, April 20 @ 16:44:31 EDT
(User Info)
The thought that, if there was an omnipotent God, he would enlist the talents of George W. Bush to assist in implementing His Will is absolutely, undeniably laughable.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by brainchannels on Tuesday, April 20 @ 17:36:31 EDT
(User Info)
I saw this whole thing coming to our world one day in the mid-80's with the Hal Lindsey "The Late Great Planet Earth" movement in Torrance, California. Their idealogy is downright scary and their involvement in politics is even more scary. They had me believing they were going to take over the White House one day. They are truly the most pathetic, ignorant, insane bunch of fanatical assholes I've ever had the displeasure of spending time with. Yes, I visited the church up there to learn what these people were all about, more from a journalist spying kind of viewpoint. Hal predicted the day of the Rapture back in the 80's and went off the deep end, yet his following is still strong as a best selling author. They truly believe they are worthy of God and the rest of us non-believers are going to hell, while they get raptured. They are envisioning Armageddon and want it to happen because they are, for the most part, losers who don't want to face the reality of things. They have no regard for life on earth, or the environment. They are self-destructive in their mindsets, just like the cultists and are truly capable of insane acts. Bush is one of them and they are in power right now. If we can't take them out in November, we're all going to be fried in a Nuclear War.
I view this kind of religion as a virus that takes over people's ability to think clearly. They become deluded and unable to reason clearly. They would expunge anything Bush does, without rhyme or reason, and lack the ability to see their vision for humanity is truly criminal and warped. They view things from a spiritual war perspective, which is why they want a Jesus man in the White House as long as possible, no matter what Bush does. They are loyal to Bush, like they are to their mythical God. I say mythical because their version of God is fiction! Pure fiction!
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by herdgrazer on Tuesday, April 20 @ 19:13:07 EDT
(User Info)
I recommend the following book - "THE END OF DAYS - Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount", by Israeli Jewish author Gershom Gorenberg. The cultural and historical insanity that has been spawned by Christian, Muslim and Jewish fundamentalists is the topic of this thoughtful and prescient work. The author, a journalist, whose probing and astute observations raise the spectre of a dim future for everyone. He describes the impact of the Falwells and Robertsons, the Osama Bin Ladens, the Sharons, and many more such as the Rothchilds, the Kahanes, the whole unhealthy mix of global politics and what they portend for a violent future. (I copied this review from The Barnes Review). This book is extremely pertinent to the insanity that has consumed this world today. I hope some of you will read it.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by diplomacyworks on Tuesday, April 20 @ 19:21:37 EDT
(User Info)
Not only do the worthy get to sit at the right hand of God, but they will be able to watch, from the best seats, their political and religious opponents being devoured by boils, sores, locusts and frogs, during the seven years of Tribulation which follow.
Okay, but I'd like to sign up for being eaten by JUST the frogs. Sounds kind of sexy, actully.
If religious groups become so involved in the political process -- shouldn't the state at least be allowed to tax them?
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are (Score: 1)
by elpablo on Tuesday, April 20 @ 21:00:44 EDT
(User Info)
Whats makes this situation so disquieting is that even if the whole end times bit was meant to be some ancient scribes idea of a piss-in-your-pants funny bit of satire, the gullible goomba in the white house buys the whole story, and he has the means to bring about some of its more unpleasant affects. When you view some of the Bushits more puzzling geopolitical gaffs through those special Rapture brand rose glasses, the true thinking behind those gaffs comes into sharp focus.
I personally believe it is question of when and not if SOMEBODY sets the doomsday game plan in motion, whether on purpose of by accident. I wonder how long it will take society to recover after that big reset button has been pushed, and I wonder how those survivors will incorporate that event into their new mythology.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by DrPimpster on Tuesday, April 20 @ 22:30:37 EDT
(User Info)
Crazy how these foolios confuse "faith" with Logic and truth. Sad thing is that these blinders that they call faith are permanently attached to their big heads and no matter how much Logic we throw at 'em it'll fail to chissel these blinders off. It's like my Grandmother used to say, "If you have an argument with an Idiot you'll never win."
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are (Score: 1)
by Trenchman on Wednesday, April 21 @ 00:02:29 EDT
(User Info)
Quotes from:
Arthur C. Clarke
1. It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him. [Arthur C. Clarke]
2. You don't believe in organized religion, yet a major theme in so many of your works seems to be a quest for God. [Arthur C. Clarke]
3. Yes, in a way--a quest for ultimate values, whatever they are. My objection to organized religion is the premature conclusion to ultimate truth that it represents... [Arthur C. Clarke, in _Playboy_ interview with Ken Kelly, 1986, from Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography by Neil McAleer, Contemporary Books, 1992]
4. You will find men like him in all of the world's religions. They know that we represent reason and science, and, however confident they may be in their beliefs, they fear that we will overthrow their gods. Not necessarily through any deliberate act, but in a subtler fashion. Science can destroy a religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the nonexistance of Zeus or Thor, but they have few followers now. [Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End]
5. I would defend the liberty of concenting adult creationists to practice whatever intellectual perversions they like in the privacy of their own homes; but it is also necessary to protect the young and innocent. [Arthur C. Clarke]
6. A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets. [Arthur C. Clarke]
7. The statement that God created man in his own image is ticking like a time bomb in the foundations of Christianity. ,
8. I have encountered a few creationists and because they were usually nice, intelligent people, I have been unable to decide whether they were _really_ mad, or only pretending to be mad. If I was a religious person, I would consider creationism nothing less than blasphemy. Do its adherents imagine that God is a cosmic hoaxer who has created that whole vast fossil record for the sole purpose of misleading mankind? [Arthur C. Clarke, June 5, 1998, in the essay Presidents, Experts, and Asteroids, pp 1532-3]
9. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. [Arthur C. Clarke, Clarke's Third Law from Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible]
http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_ACClarke.htm
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by yahoogy on Wednesday, April 21 @ 00:08:44 EDT
(User Info)
Would it not follow that steeling the next election could be "gods will",in order to give 4 four more years to complete the final steps tword the end and engulf the world in nuclear war.
In the logic of jesus speak it would not be a sin to rig the voting count to ensure "gods plan"...
(just as allowing sept.11 to happen in order to justify invading Iraq was gods will...)
W seems a littel to shure when he says "I will not loose" like he knows somthing we dont.
Im scared of these people...
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are (Score: 1)
by Trenchman on Wednesday, April 21 @ 00:18:11 EDT
(User Info)
Like you know, if those scums ever were to be tried when asked why they went into this world wide slaughter they would come up with excuses such as "god told me to do so" like in that Larry Cohen flick a.k.a
demon.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by SnoopDopeyDogg (datruth.hertz.donut/GOPsux.com) on Wednesday, April 21 @ 02:58:24 EDT
(User Info)
One way to deal with maniacs is the time-honored method employed by Japanese samurai: Jiu-Jitsu. Here, using the Bible that they have obsconded with against them.
Wouldn't the "Antichrist" be someone who believed the opposite of Jesus? Someone who believed something like "The RICH and POWERFUL (or, maybe the hegemons) will inherit the earth." (The meek are "fungible", e.g.) A group that despises the poor, worships wealth and the rich, could care less about the sick and downtrodden of the world, hates the peacemakers, views someone who turns the other cheek as someone who is ripe for a kick in the groin, worships materialsm, views religion as a great way to make money (believe that Jesus should have gotten a percentage of the action from the moneychangers instead of kicking their money-grubbing asses), etc. Now WHO does that sound like? Yeah, the Democrats! Of course, the God-haters!
Notice how the "whore of Babylon", mentioned again and again throughout Revelations (which, by the way, says NOTHING about the "Rapture". Morons.) gets very little play from our pious Christian Coalitioners. What, or who, IS that mutha? And why do the moral supermen of the Christian Right avoid it like the IRS? Well, our Jewish readers will verify that it refers to the prostituting effects of wealth, greed, and materialism upon religious faith, thence Babylon's influence on Judaism during the captivity, hence the "Christian" Coalition during OUR captivity. Of course, we know that one would be a commie capitalist-hating Castro-worshipper if one were to insinuate that Christianity in Amerika were somehow similar to the PROSTITUTED (for those not in the know, prostitute is another word for whore) religion portrayed in Revelations, so that comparison couldn't be correct since surely Jesus would be working for Wall Street if he were alive today, like his holy brother, Pat Robertson, DID.
James of Patmos talked a lot about a "New Rome", and used all kinds of innuendos about Rome. Hmmmm, Reich, Third Roman Empire, New World Order, seems like there might be another would-be Empire that looks and acts a LOT like the Roman one and has philosophical similarities to the proponents of a similar New Roman Empire about 50 years ago, just can't quite place it...who were those guys advocating a "Pax Americana"? I don't know, it's all Greek to me.
So, using the Jiu-jitsu/Revelation analysis, we have the Christian Coalitioners on the wrong side of hell, or the right side if you are into the justice and retribution kinda thing. Konichiwa, you Nazi pigs.
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by MrTattieHeid on Wednesday, April 21 @ 03:25:32 EDT
(User Info)
And lo, the True Believers were lifted bodily into the Heavens, and sat at the Right Hand of God. They beheld the whole of earth below, which was devoid of the True Believers. And lo, the people did reason with one another, and take each unto himself the words of the other, and they came closer together. And thus it came to pass that the problems of the earth were diminished. And the Lord God spake unto the True Believers, saying, "You see...you schmucks?!?"
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are (Score: 1)
by canadianperson on Wednesday, April 21 @ 04:30:23 EDT
(User Info)
Oh good, the Europeans have finally figured out the psychology driving Bush and Co. It's not just greed for money, it's also a greed for rapture. And they made fun of Islamic suicide bombers who wanted to have sex with virgins in heaven...
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by Rickster on Wednesday, April 21 @ 05:37:48 EDT
(User Info)
The Rapture has in fact already happened and Bush, Ashcroft and co have been left behind. I know this because there is a pile of clothes on my bedroom floor and I can't come up with any other explanation!
Re: George Monbiot: 'Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power' (Score: 1)
by timbermonkey on Thursday, April 22 @ 11:32:13 EDT
(User Info)
The scary thing about a lot of these people is that they will say, "If I didn't believe in Heaven and Hell, I don't know what I would do." In other words, without the fear of eternal damnation, they would have no conscience. That's the definition of a sociopath.
There's a part of me that would love to see something happen that would make Biblical prophecy impossible to fulfill, but this knowledge that these phony religious convictions are all that stand between us and chaos remind me that for all their lunacy, it could be worse if they didn't believe in anything.