With two years left in George W. Bush's presidency, evangelical "Christians" and certain corporate interests are pressing hard to ensure that they can create their versions of a perfect world, whether or not it benefits the majority of U.S. citizens.
Believing that the return of Jesus and destruction of the world is imminent, the "Left Behind" folks show little respect for the natural world and are focused upon wiping out their perceived forces of "evil," such as militant Islamists -- or anyone who disagrees with their aims.
Listen to evangelical radio talk shows or read letters to the editors of newspapers and a pattern emerges: Some people calling themselves Christians are complaining of persecution in the U.S. They demand "freedom of religion." The freedom they actually seek is to impose their vision of God and morality upon everyone else. No other view of divinity exists in their minds. All else is "Satanic" or "false doctrine," ignoring the fact that the majority of this world's citizens are not Christians and are sincerely leading spiritual lives.
The LDS Church and Jehovah's Witnesses are even denounced as nothing but "cults," because their "Christian" doctrine differs from the hard-core evangelicals.
I recently heard a radio evangelist declare that only born-again Christians will survive the tribulation that some Bible literalists have been expecting for the past 2,000 or so years. Isn't it time to stop living in the past, basing one's worldview on a heavily edited -- and highly questionable -- history of the Jewish people and the expurgated and misconstrued teachings of Jesus?
Much of the Bible has recently been called into question. Most recently, the "lost" Gospel of Judas challenges the long-accepted notion of his betrayal.
Modern preachers put their own spin on biblical passages, fashioning them to mean whatever they think it means.
When their attempts to create a Christian theocracy in the U.S. are thwarted by civil libertarians, the born-againers cry out about a "War on Christmas" or a "War on Easter." Many of them support the war in Iraq, however, and seem to view it in Apocalyptic terms.
War seems to be foremost in their thoughts, possibly because they see themselves at war with Satan. Violence, within the nation's mass media and to "enemies" abroad, is acceptable to these folks, but let one female breast see the light of day and the rigidly righteous unleash their sanctimonious wrath upon the media. Their obsession with "pornography" and a vague notion of "sin" ignores the real dangers in our society -- bigotry, violence and a growing police state.
There's often a sizeable gap between their preaching and their practice. That hypocrisy is part of the reason Americans are turning away from Christian churches and are finding spiritual comfort in other understandings of divinity.
The "evildoers" subtrefuge can be found throughout recorded history, as fanatics have attempted to create their visions of a perfect world by killing, imprisoning or subjegating anyone in the way. Demonization is often the first step.
The alleged "persecution" of various ethnic or religious groups has often been the pretext for wars or assaults on civil liberties.
For a view of this strategem, go to:
http://www.crossroad.to/Persecution/persecute.html
OR for a more-objective view, check:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_overv.htm
For a history of religious intolerance, order a copy of this book.
For more insight into the current and previous Bush administrations, and on major financiers and industrialists during the past century, go to:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/8425/BONES.HTM
http://www.freedomdomain.com/skullbones.html
For additional information on the Bush family, check out:
http://www.theramp.net/kohr4/geronimo_skull.html
Labels: Bible, Bush administration, Christians, evangelicals, Geronimo's Skull, God, Gospel of Judas, Islamists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus, LDS, Left Behind, Satan, theocracy
