Rapture politics

Fundamentalism and World War IV

I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job.
-- George W. Bush, Lancaster County, July 2004

God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East.
-- George W. Bush

I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord's work.
-- Adolph Hitler, speech to the Reichstag, 1936

I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.
-- Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf, pg. 46

Fundamentalism isn't about religion. It's about power.
-- Salman Rushdie

A cult is a religion with no political power
-- Tom Wolfe

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.
-- Aristotle

If you're "born again," does that mean you have a second belly button?

the only dangerous form of marriage

jesuscampthemovie.com

I am deeply disturbed by the dangerous and growing influence of people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell on our nation’s political leaders.
-- Walter Cronkite, January, 2004

www.waynemadsenreport.com/scoops/christian_mafia.htm

EXPOSÉ: THE "CHRISTIAN" MAFIA
Where Those Who Now Run the U.S. Government Came From and Where They Are Taking Us
By Wayne Madsen

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http://harpers.org/SoldiersOfChrist.html

Soldiers of Christ
Inside America's most powerful megachurch
Posted on Thursday, May 26, 2005. Originally from May 2005. By Jeff Sharlet.

good article about Christian Fascism in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

"The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood (book and movie) is a
fictional prediction of what these people intend to do.

In God's Mission: The Crusade of George W. Bush

www.waynemadsenreport.com/scoops/christian_mafia.htm

www.theocracywatch.org - Theocracy Watch, documenting the rise of a dangerous religious cult that has taken over part of the Republican Party

The dominionist movement, as we demonstrate in this web site targeted the Republican Party as the vehicle through which they could advance an extremist political agenda. Let's look at some of those "moral values."
This movement values guns and the death penalty. It values the rich at the expense of the poor. It favors corporations at the expense of individuals. It seeks to eliminate virtually all regulations that protect the environment, worker safety, and public health. And in an effort to fulfill the dominionist belief in the manifest destiny of "Christian" nations, it values an aggressive foreign policy. It is possessed of absolute moral righteousness. It tolerates no dissent. And now it has almost absolute power in the U.S. government, with two branches solidly in its pocket and the third, the judiciary, just a couple of retirements away. ...

If you are a U.S. citizen, don't change your citizenship. The fight for Democracy is not over, and what happens in the United States will have a profound impact on the rest of the world. There is no hiding from a country that devastates the environment and has a massive arsenal of nuclear weapons.
The dominionist movement is twenty-five years old, and it is being noticed only now! We need to educate the American public about the political goals of Dominion Theology.
We need to stop using terms such as "Christian," "conservative" and most of all "moral," and start calling it what it is: dominionism. This movement seeks radical change.

www.4religious-right.info/separation_church_state2.htm
The United States Constitution explicitly did NOT establish a religious government -- this page is an excellent antidote to the push for theocracy

www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/ConstitutionRestorationAct.htm - an effort in Congress to establish theocracy
it would abolish judicial review of bigoted local and federal laws based on an extremely narrow view of "Biblical law" - a pseudo-Christian analogue to the cruel rule of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan -- this could allow jailtime (or even the death penalty) for homosexuals, abortion providers and even heretics who disagree with these fascists. This is not an exaggeration. It would be a merger of the intolerance of the Inquisition with modern surveillance and weapons technologies.

www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheSwiftAdvanceOfaPlannedCoup.htm
Conquering by Stealth and Deception
How the Dominionists Are Succeeding in Their Quest for National Control and World Power
By Katherine Yurica September 14, 2004

Pity the nation that submerges itself in fear and its rhetoric. Americans and the British did not get through WWII by dwelling on fear. They did not overcome their enemies by cowering in the darkness and placing their hands in the hand of an unknown stranger. They won because they overcame their fears and outfought their enemies. That is our task once again. These are not “fearful” times. These are the days of creativity and courage. Since when has any nation trembled before a handful of criminals? Call them what you may--Pirates? Outlaws? Gangs? Or Goliath? They have never had a future much less a projection of a hundred years of successful criminality. Our world has never been safe from dangers: mankind has been subjected to earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, diseases, accidents, and has not death visited both the young and old? But civilization keeps marching on. Let us never follow false leaders into the valley of fear ever again.

"This article is the documented story of how a political religious movement called Dominionism gained control of the Republican Party, then took over Congress, then took over the White House, and now is sealing the conversion of America to a theocracy by taking over the American Judiciary. It’s the story of why and how “the wrath of God Almighty” will be unleashed against the middle class, against the poor, and against the elderly and sick of this nation by George W. Bush and his army of Republican Dominionist “rulers.”
How Dominionism Was Spread
The years 1982-1986 marked the period Pat Robertson and radio and televangelists urgently broadcast appeals that rallied Christian followers to accept a new political religion that would turn millions of Christians into an army of political operatives. It was the period when the militant church raised itself from centuries of sleep and once again eyed power.
At the time, most Americans were completely unaware of the militant agenda being preached on a daily basis across the breadth and width of America. Although it was called “Christianity” it can barely be recognized as Christian. It in fact was and is a wolf paradingin sheep’s clothing: It was and is a political scheme to take over the government of the United States and then turn that government into an aggressor nation that will forcibly establish the United States as the ruling empire of the twenty-first century. It is subversive, seditious, secretive, and dangerous.[9]
Dominionism is a natural if unintended extension of Social Darwinism and is frequently called “Christian Reconstructionism.” Its doctrines are shocking to ordinary Christian believers"

http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/02/heavenly-deception.html

The Unification Church / Moon cult, Christian dominionism, Rev. Jerry Falwell, military recruiting in churches

http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2004/11/theocracy-watch.html

Saturday, November 13, 2004
Theocracy Watch, a site which will become more and more important as the conspiracy to turn the United States into the land of fruitcakes continues over the next four years and beyond). The recent crooked election with its nut-controlled computer voting machine companies is just a small part of the conspiracy. When you see seemingly independent actions across the United States to promote creationism, remove the separation of church and state, applaud the genocidal policies of the State of Israel, and attack human rights, including reproductive rights and rights for homosexuals, you have to realize that much of this is centrally organized and funded by a not-so-vast, but very committed and very well funded, extreme right-wing conspiracy. This particular conspiracy is probably the most important and most dangerous one in the United States, and, due to the fact that it is violently colonialist and militaristic in its pursuit of a Christian empire, the world. Americans now face the very real danger of having the country turned into a religious-fascist dictatorship right under their noses.

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Rapture Awaits in the Florida Panhandle
By Tom Harpur
The Toronto Star
Saturday 12 February 2005

Last month, as we usually do, we motored down U.S. Interstate 75, to the emerald waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the shores of the Florida Panhandle. It's a time to catch up on serious reading, walk the pristine white quartz beaches, watch for pelicans and passing dolphins, and do some research on the ever-fascinating phenomenon of American religion.
The whole coast from Panama City on the east to Pensacola on the west, apart from having the most beautiful beaches in the world, is the focus of some of the most intense conservative evangelical activity in the entire U.S. Superchurches, training schools, and all kinds of crusades abound.
You know you are in a different culture when you enter the U.S. We always enjoy the flagrant billboards along the highway. Shortly after entering Ohio, a large sign trumpets a coming "Gun and Knife Show;" this one was followed shortly by another equally vast board touting "Microsurgery: Vasectomy Reversal a Specialty - Money Back Guarantee!"
In rural Georgia, a rather beat-up Pentecostal Church had a big sign: "Road Rage? How would Jesus drive?" Another advertised a Bible Factory Outlet with drastic savings on both new and used Bibles. Then there was the enormous Wal-mart store with a sign at the customer service counter: "No refunds on guns and ammunition." Guess they meant use them or lose them, but don't bring 'em back.
At first impression, the religious scene in this Bible Belt terrain is upbeat, vigorous, prospering in numbers, properties, and outspoken leadership. There is an agenda both spiritual and political as well as the people and money to make it happen. But, when you pay close attention to the message being driven home by every possible technical medium and skill, you meet some deeply disturbing, even frightening realities.
Let me illustrate by describing an all-day Saturday conference at one of the largest Protestant churches I have ever been in, The Village Baptist Church in Destin, Fla. The facilities there are gleaming, spacious, comfortable.
The theme of the day was Left Behind: A Conference on Biblical Prophecy about End Times, and it featured three of the leading voices in the U.S religious right today: Tim LaHaye, Gary Frazier, and Ed Hindson.
LaHaye was one of the leaders included in Time magazine's Jan.31 story on evangelicals most influential in the presidency of George W.Bush. He appeared, for that reason, a few nights ago along with three other prominent evangelicals on Larry King Live.
LaHaye has written about 50 non-fiction books and is particularly noteworthy because of his multi-million dollar Left Behind series of novels dealing with end-of-the-world themes.
Following the "Rapture" - the supposed moment when Jesus Christ will suddenly appear and all the saved will be "caught up to meet him in the air" - leaving the rest of Earth's billions to plague, pestilence, famine and war, there will be seven years of the "Tribulation."
How the Christian "God of love" treats those "left behind" makes for lurid reading indeed.
To sum up the essence of the three speaker's messages all that long Saturday, I have never heard so much venom and dangerous ignorance spouted before an utterly unquestioning, otherwise normal-looking crowd in my life. For the $25 fee, the 800 devotees certainly got a plateful.
There were stunning statements about humans having been only 6,000 years on Earth and other denials of contemporary geology and biology. And we learned that the Rapture, which could happen any second now, but certainly within the next 40 years, will instantly sweep all the "saved" Americans (perhaps one-half the population) to heaven, leaving the United States as "a Third World country" with the European Union becoming the revived Roman Empire.
But these fantasies were harmless compared with the hatred against Islam that followed. Here are some direct quotes: "Islam is an intolerant religion - and it's clear whose side we should be on in the Middle East." Applause greeted these words: "Allah and Jehovah are not the same God ... Islam is a Satanic religion ...We will never be able to understand their (Muslim) mentality ... They're going to attack Israel for certain. ..."
Gary Frazier shouted at the top of his lungs: "Wake up! Wake up!" And roughly 800 heads nodded approval as he added that the left-wing, anti-Israel media - "for example, CNN" - will never tell the world the truth about Islam. According to these three and the millions of Americans they lead, Muslims intend ultimately "to impose their religion on us all."
The idea of peace in the Middle East was denounced - specially any accord granting any land whatever to the Palestinians.
The two-state concept is unacceptable to American Christians, they argued, because "God gave that land to the Jews through Abraham" long ago. If the Palestinians want a state they must go to Jordan or elsewhere.
A terrible, final war in the region is inevitable.
Frazier, Hindson and LaHaye all teach at Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. They have the ear of the President of the world's sole superpower.
Tom Harpur is a theologian whose focus is on cosmic spirituality. His website is at TomHarpur.com.

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Parody (hopefully?)

http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/2004/12/new_sat_questio.html

December 16, 2004
New SAT Questions Replace Evolution with Creation
Students attending school in districts that have phased out the teaching of evolution will no longer be forced to answer SAT questions about the controversial theory. Instead, they'll answer questions about the six days in which God created the earth and the great flood that took place 4,300 years ago. New version of test to be administered in 'red' states of Georgia, Kansas
By Cole Walters
Education Correspondent
NEW YORK, NY—Officials from the College Board, the nonprofit entity that administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test or SAT, have announced that they are producing a new version of the test for students who live in school districts where creationism rather than evolution is taught in science classes.
Students who take the revised test, which will be introduced in school districts in Kansas and Georgia in the fall of 2005, will no longer be tested on their ability to comprehend passages from scientific texts that are based on the controversial theory of evolution. Instead, they will read excerpts from writings on such creation-related topics as the six days in which God created the earth or the great flood, then answer a series of questions to indicate how well they've understood the passages.

http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/2004/12/adultery_provis.html

December 08, 2004
Adultery Provision Could Stall Homosexual Marriage Amendment
Pro-family groups are seeking to bolster a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage by adding a provision that would also prohibit adultery. While the so-called "seventh commandment" has strong voter support, some legislators are wary of outlawing adultery, citing what they call the 'Glass House of Representatives' effect. In a related story, for some congresswomen, infidelity may be in the genes. But some on Capital Hill are nervous about what the law could mean for them
By Deanna Swift
WASHINGTON, DC—When the 109th Congress convenes in the nation's capitol next month, legislators will have an awesome responsibility on their hands: defending the sanctity of marriage. Now, some pro-family groups are proposing that a constitutional amendment to protect marriage be strengthened further—by adding a provision that would ban adultery.
Their demand is simple: add two simple words to the proposed marriage amendment. "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups—or adulterers."

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Bush Is A Christian? So Was Adolph Hitler
by Kurt Vonnegut
I, like probably most of you, have seen Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Its title is a parody of the title of Ray Bradbury's great science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451. This temperature 451 Fahrenheit, is the combustion point, incidentally, of paper, of which books are composed. The hero of Bradbury's novel is a municipal worker whose job is burning books.
And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.
So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.
And still on the subject of books: Our daily sources of news, papers and TV, are now so craven, so unvigilant on behalf of the American people, so uninformative, that only in books can we find out what is really going on. I will cite an example: House of Bush, House of Saud by Craig Unger, published near the start of this humiliating, shameful blood-soaked year.
In case you haven't noticed, and as a result of a shamelessly rigged election in Florida, in which thousands of African Americans were arbitrarily disenfranchised, we now present ourselves to the rest of the world as proud, grinning, jut-jawed, pitiless war lovers, with appallingly powerful weaponry and unopposed.
In case you haven't noticed, we are now almost as feared and hated all over the world as the Nazis were.
With good reason.
In case you haven't noticed, our unelected leaders have dehumanized millions and millions of human beings simply because of their religion and race. We wound and kill 'em and torture 'em and imprison 'em all we want.
Piece of cake.
In case you haven't noticed, we also dehumanize our own soldiers, not because of their religion or race, but because of their low social class.
Send 'em anywhere. Make 'em do anything.
Piece of cake.
The O'Reilly Factor.
So I am a man without a country, except for the librarians and the Chicago-based magazine you are reading, In These Times.
Before we attacked Iraq, the majestic New York Times guaranteed that there were weapons of mass destruction there.
Albert Einstein and Mark Twain gave up on the human race at the end of their lives, even though Twain hadn't even seen World War I. War is now a form of TV entertainment. And what made WWI so particularly entertaining were two American inventions, barbed wire and the machine gun. Shrapnel was invented by an Englishman of the same name. Don't you wish you could have something named after you?
Like my distinct betters Einstein and Twain, I now am tempted to give up on people too. And, as some of you may know, this is not the first time I have surrendered to a pitiless war machine.
My last words? "Life is no way to treat an animal, not even a mouse."
Napalm came from Harvard. Veritas!
Our president is a Christian? So was Adolf Hitler.
What can be said to our young people, now that psychopathic personalities, which is to say persons without consciences, without a sense of pity or shame, have taken all the money in the treasuries of our government and corporations and made it all their own? --posted 08.31.04, reprinted from In These Times

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Marines turn to God ahead of anticipated Fallujah battle
Sat Nov 06 2004 09:37:17 ET
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov 6 (AFP) - With US forces massing outside Fallujah, 35 marines swayed to Christian rock music and asked Jesus Christ to protect them in what could be the biggest battle since American troops invaded Iraq last year.
Men with buzzcuts and clad in their camouflage waved their hands in the air, M-16 assault rifles laying beside them, and chanted heavy metal-flavoured lyrics in praise of Christ late Friday in a yellow-brick chapel.
They counted among thousands of troops surrounding the city of Fallujah, seeking solace as they awaited Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's decision on whether or not to invade Fallujah.
"You are the sovereign. You're name is holy. You are the pure spotless lamb," a female voice cried out on the loudspeakers as the marines clapped their hands and closed their eyes, reflecting on what lay ahead for them.
The US military, with many soldiers coming from the conservative American south and midwest, has deep Christian roots.
In times that fighting looms, many soldiers draw on their evangelical or born-again heritage to help them face the battle.
"It's always comforting. Church attendance is always up before the big push," said First Sergeant Miles Thatford.
"Sometimes, all you've got is God."
Between the service's electric guitar religious tunes, marines stepped up on the chapel's small stage and recited a verse of scripture, meant to fortify them for war.
One spoke of their Old Testament hero, a shepherd who would become Israel's king, battling the Philistines some 3,000 years ago.
"Thus David prevailed over the Philistines," the marine said, reading from scripture, and the marines shouted back "Hoorah, King David," using their signature grunt of approval.
The marines drew parallels from the verse with their present situation, where they perceive themselves as warriors fighting barbaric men opposed to all that is good in the world.
"Victory belongs to the Lord," another young marine read.
Their chaplain, named Horne, told the worshippers they were stationed outside Fallujah to bring the Iraqis "freedom from oppression, rape, torture and murder ... We ask you God to bless us in that effort."
The marines then lined up and their chaplain blessed them with holy oil to protect them.
"God's people would be annointed with oil," the chaplain said, as he lightly dabbed oil on the marines' foreheads.
The crowd then followed him outside their small auditorium for a baptism of about a half-dozen marines who had just found Christ.
The young men lined up and at least three of them stripped down to their shorts.
The three laid down in a rubber dinghy filled with water and the chaplain's assistant, Navy corpsman Richard Vaughn, plunged their heads beneath the surface.
Smiling, Vaughn baptised them "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
Dripping wet, Corporal Keith Arguelles beamed after his baptism.
"I just wanted to make sure I did this before I headed into the fight," he said on the military base not far from the city of Fallujah.

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From George Grant, a leading dominionist writer in The Changing of the Guard, Biblical Principles for Political Action:

Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ -- to have dominion in civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness.
But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice.
It is dominion we are after. Not just influence.
It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time.
It is dominion we are after.
World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for anything less... Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the conquest of the land -- of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts, and governments for the Kingdom of Christ. (pp. 50-51)"

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www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?
xml=/news/2005/01/02/weden02.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/01/02/ixworld.html

In the beginning . . . Adam walked with dinosaurs
By James Langton in New York
(Filed: 02/01/2005)

With its towering dinosaurs and a model of the Grand Canyon, America's newest tourist attraction might look like the ideal destination for fans of the film Jurassic Park.
The new multi-million-dollar Museum of Creation, which will open this spring in Kentucky, will, however, be aimed not at film buffs, but at the growing ranks of fundamentalist Christians in the United States.
It aims to promote the view that man was created in his present shape by God, as the Bible states, rather than by a Darwinian process of evolution, as scientists insist. ....

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www.againstbombing.com/ArmageddonUpdates.htm

very thorough list of articles that discuss the "rapture" as the underlying motivation for Christian fundamentalist support for the US invasion of "Babylon"
from a conservative, anti-war website -- a must read for sane citizens / subjects of the Oil Empire

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http://thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20030922&s=mcalister
An Empire of Their Own
by MELANI MCALISTER
a book review of
Armageddon: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages (Left Behind, 11)
by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
[from the September 22, 2003 issue]

www.preteristarchive.com/dEmEnTiA
Dispensationalist Dementia (more deconstruction of "rapture" religion)

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www.sonic.net/~doretk/ArchiveARCHIVE/MARK%20EVANS/BohemianClub.html
Bohemian Bigwigs Perpetuate Canaanite Cult
by Mark Evans

Although the 1992 Republican Convention in Houston touted the virtues of "Family Values," Judeo-Christian civilization, the Bible, and Main Street, in a transparent strategy to equate religion with the Reagan/Bush phenomenon, it is an open secret on the Russian River in Sonoma County, California, that when Reagan and Bush and other Republican movers and shakers meet and let their hair down at the annual summer encampment at Bohemian Grove, another tune is played. The 2900-acre Bohemian Grove, property of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, is situated on the south shore of the Russian River, near Monte Rio.
The roughly 2500 "Bohemians" -bi-partisan in politics, although mostly Republican-constitute the most exclusive men's club in the Western Hemisphere, a Who's Who of corporate board members, bankers, entertainers, faded literati, world-class politicians, and heads of government.
In stark contrast to the warmed-over Moral Majority formula that was mixed and served at the Republican Convention, vacationing Bohemians under the shadow of giant redwoods, hunker down to a difference species of mixed drinks. Family Values are also left behind, or temporarily forgotten, as procurers for both female and male prostitutes "on the river" do a booming business, and the "Bohos" let it all hang out.
But the most jarring contrast of all is the contradiction between the pious hand-over-heart singing of the Star Spangled Banner at Party conventions and the secret ritual that is the real "turn on" for the ruling class habitués of the Grove. For when the rich and powerful "gather at the river," it is not to pray and sing psalms. Every July, the summer encampment at Bohemian Grove is opened with a remarkable commencement ceremony called the Cremation of Care which takes place at the base of a 40-foot owl.
The ceremony . . . involves the burning of an effigy named Dull Care, who symbolizes the burdens and responsibilities these harried Bohemians now wish to shed temporarily. More than 100 Bohemians take part in the ceremony as priests, acolytes, torch bearers, brazier bearers, boatmen, and woodland voices, but despite many flowery speeches, they can't get the fire started. . . the perplexed Bohemians must turn to the mighty Owl for advice: "O thou, great symbol of all mortal wisdom, Owl of Bohemia, we do beseech thee, grant us thy counsel," intones the High Priest. An aura of light creates a glow around the Owl's head, and then the big bird reveals its wisdom. The High Priest must light the pyre with the flame from the Lamp of Fellowship, located conveniently enough on the "Altar of Bohemia" at the base of the Shrine . . . -William Domhoff, The Progressive, January 1981
The "priests, acolytes, and torch bearers" are clad in red and orange hooded robes resembling the hooded regalia of the Ku Klux Klan
Jack Anderson, writing in the Sunday supplement, Parade Magazine, February 22, 1981, disarmingly stated, ". . . the participants in this strange ceremony were not part of a secret conspiracy or far-out cult that had infiltrated the nation's power structure. They were simply enjoying a midsummer frolic at the world's most exclusive summer camp. . . ."
Should the Cremation of Care ceremony so quickly be dismissed, given its occult nature and historical antecedents? This ceremony resembles the ancient Canaanite worship of the idol, Molech. Like the Owl of Bohemia, the ancient Ammonite idol Molech was a towering larger-than-life edifice. Whereas the Owl is solid, the bronze Molech was hollow. Molech worship consisted of the ritualized sacrifice of the first-born infant son of every Ammonite newlywed family. Building a fire in the belly of the beast until the flames poured out of the mouth, the high priest mounted a scaffold and tossed the first-born male child into an aperture in Molech's chest, to the incantation of drums and droned liturgy of the priests of Molech.
Technically, Owl worship, as it is practiced at the Grove, is somewhat different from Molech worship. Peter Weiss, writing in Spy Magazine, November 1989, states, "Bohemian Club literature . . . boosts that the Cremation of Care ceremony derives from Druid rites, medieval Christian liturgy, the Book of Common Prayer, Shakespearean drama, and nineteenth-century American lodge rites." Is this the straight goods, or is it PR sugar coating of a darker sacrificial rite, terrifying even on a symbolic level?
John DeCamp's book, The Franklin Cover-Up, includes Paul Bonacci's testimony about a snuff film of a child being murdered on July 26, 1984 in California in "an area that had big trees." At a meeting in Santa Rosa, DeCamp told a group that he had edited out Bonacci's references to an enormous, moss-covered owl and men in hooded red robes because he not know then about the owl at the Grove and thought it "too far fetched for people to believe." In the fall of 1992, Paul Bonacci was shown a black and white photo of the moss-covered owl at the Grove and quickly identified it as the site of the July 1984 snuff film described in DeCamp's book. Although this testimony has been available to law enforcement officials since mid-October 1992, no official investigation has been made. A casket christened "Dull Care" and borne, like the passing of Arthur, in a boat across the lake could be a symbol, also, not only of "cares of the world," but of caring itself. The denizens of the Grove, as a collective body, are the ruling class and upper echelon bagmen who make and orchestrate war-the modern Molech. It would make sense to immolate caring, conscience and the consequences of their business transactions, lest they take responsibility for millions of souls around the globe whose lives have been affected by wars of Yankee Imperialism in the twentieth century.
The existence of a pagan cult of sacrifice among the power elite at Bohemian Grove contradicts the media portrayal of a Republican Party "taken over" by the Moral Majority right-wing. The Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells have not taken over the Republican Party because the power elite-amoral and always bi-partisan-have been using the religious right as "useful idiots," to borrow Lenin's phrase, in the longterm manipulation of the masses into accepting the "New Paradigm," which is nothing more than the social liturgy of the high priests of the New World Order. They would willingly sacrifice the whole world on the altar of economic hegemony of multinational cartels.
The world that the plutocrats are attempting to bring to birth is far more Babylonian and pagan than Christian. The twenty-year alliance between the Christian right and the Republican Party, so useful in its day in accomplishing the economic agenda of the power elite during the Reagan-Bush years, is being turned on its head and used as another kind of asset by the manipulators of the dialectic. The religious right, who by their silence and approval of the Iran-Contra and the Gulf War, were complicit in the genocidal policies of Reagan-Bush, will increasingly become the fall guys and flack men for their ruling class masters, as the dialecticians maneuver the armies of the night into the battle formations of the Final Conflict.
The ruling class is certain that by convincing the Left and the Christian Right that each other is the main enemy, they can orchestrate a crescendo of conflict between both camps, knock both out, and eliminate substantial sectors of resistance to the New World Order in the process. The denizens of the Grove are well aware of the critical path of the decade of the nineties. After inducing the various elements of the opposition to fall upon each other, they expect to be able to continue their sacrifices in peace, in their corporate-feudal Shangri-La, the new world they are earnestly bringing to birth, the new age in which ritual sacrificing of live humans shall be considered normal and healthy.
Mark Evans -- North Coast HOME -- Archives -- Electrons to the Editor

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www.counterpunch.org/madsen04222003.html

April 22, 2003
Bush's "Christian" Blood Cult
Concerns Raised by the Vatican
by WAYNE MADSEN

George W. Bush proclaims himself a born-again Christian. However, Bush and fellow self-anointed neo-Christians like House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, John Ashcroft, and sports arena Book of Revelations carnival hawker Franklin Graham appear to wallow in a "Christian" blood lust cult when it comes to practicing the teachings of the founder of Christianity. This cultist form of Christianity, with its emphasis on death rather than life, is also worrying the leaders of mainstream Christianreligions, particularly the Pope.
One only has to check out Bush's record as Governor of Texas to see his own preference for death over life. During his tenure as Governor, Bush presided over a record setting 152 executions, including the 1998 execution of fellow born-again Christian Karla Faye Tucker, a convicted murderer who later led a prison ministry. Forty of Bush's executions were carried out in 2000, the year the Bush presidential campaign was spotlighting their candidate's strong law enforcement record. The Washington Post's Richard Cohen reported in October 2000 that one of the execution chamber's "tie-down team" members, Fred Allen, had to prepare so many people for lethal injections during 2000, he quit his job in disgust.
Bush mocked Tucker's appeal for clemency. In an interview with Talk magazine, Bush imitated Tucker's appeal for him to spare her life - pursing his lips, squinting his eyes, and in a squeaky voice saying, "Please don't kill me." That went too far for former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer, himself an evangelical Christian. "I think it is nothing short of unbelievable that the governor of a major state running for president thought it was acceptable to mock a woman he decided to put to death," said Bauer.
A former Texas Department of Public Safety officer, a devout Roman Catholic, told this reporter that evidence to the contrary, Bush was more than happy to ignore DNA data and documented cases of prosecutorial misconduct to send innocent people to the Huntsville, Texas lethal injection chamber. He said the number of executed mentally retarded, African Americans, and those who committed capital crimes as minors was proof that Bush was insensitive and a "phony Christian." When faced with similar problems in Illinois, Governor George Ryan, a Republican, commuted the death sentences of his state's death row inmates and released others after discovering they were wrongfully convicted. Yet the Republican Party is pillorying Ryan and John Ashcroft's Justice Department continues to investigate the former Governor for political malfeasance as if Bush and Ashcroft are without sin in such matters. Hypocrisy certainly rules in the Republican Party.
Bush's blood lust has been extended across the globe. He has given the CIA authority to assassinate those deemed a threat to U.S. national interests. Bush has virtually suspended Executive Orders 11905 (Gerald Ford), 12306 (Jimmy Carter), and 12333 (Ronald Reagan) which prohibit the assassination of foreign leaders. Bush's determination to kill Saddam Hussein, his family, and his top leaders with precision-guided missiles and tactical nuclear weapon-like Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bombs is yet another indication of Bush's disregard for his Republican and Democratic predecessors. It now appears that in his zeal to kill Hussein, innocent civilian patrons of a Baghdad restaurant were killed by one of Bush's precision Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). Like it or not, Saddam Hussein was recognized by over 100 nations as the leader of Iraq -- a member state of the United Nations. Hussein, like North Korea' Kim Jong Il, Syria's Bashir Assad, and Iran's Mohammed Khatami, are covered by Executive Order 12333, which the Bush mouthpieces claim is still in effect. Bush's "Christian" blood cult sees no other option than death for those who become his enemies. This doctrine is found no place in Christian theology.
Bush has not once prayed for the innocent civilians who died as a result of the U.S. attack on Iraq. He constantly "embeds" himself with the military at Goebbels-like speech fests and makes constant references to God when he refers to America's "victory" in Iraq, as if God endorses his sordid killing spree. He makes no mention of the children, women, and old men killed by America's "precision-guided" missiles and bombs and trigger-happy U.S. troops. In fact, Bush revels in indiscriminate blood letting. Since he never experienced such killing in Southeast Asia, when he was AWOL from his Texas Air National Guard unit, Bush just does not seem to understand the horror of a parent watching one's children having their heads and limbs blown off in a sudden blast of shrapnel or children witnessing their parents burning to death with their own body fat nurturing the flames.
Bush and his advisers, previously warned that Iraq's ancient artifacts and collection of historical documents and books were in danger of being looted or destroyed, instead, sat back while the Baghdad and Mosul museums and Baghdad Library were ransacked and destroyed. Cult leaders have historically attempted to destroy history in order to invent their own. The Soviets tried to obliterate Russia's Orthodox traditions, turning a number of churches into warehouses and animal barns. Cambodia's Pol Pot tried to wipe out Buddhism's famed Angkor Wat shrine in an attempt to stamp out his country's Buddhist history. In March 2001, while they were negotiating with the Bush administration on a natural gas pipeline, Afghanistan's Taliban blew up two massive 1600-year old Buddhas in Bamiyan. The Bush administration, itself run by fanatic religious cultists, barely made a fuss about the loss of the relics. It would not be the first time the cultists within the Bush administration ignored the pillaging of history's treasures.
The ransacking of Iraq's historical treasures is explainable when one considers what the blood cult Christians really think about Islam. Franklin Graham, the heir to the empire built up by his anti-Semitic father, Billy Graham, has decided being anti-Muslim is far more financially rewarding than being anti-Jewish. Billy Graham, history notes from the Nixon tapes, complained about the Jewish stranglehold on the media and Jews being responsible for pornography.
Franklin Graham continues to enjoy his father's unfettered and questionable access to the White House. But in the case of Bush, the younger Graham has a fanatic adherent. Graham has called Islam a "very evil and wicked" religion. He then announces he wants to go to Iraq. Graham obviously sees an opportunity to convert Muslims and unrepentant Eastern Christians, who owe their allegiance to Roman and Greek prelates, to his perverted form of blood cult Christianity. Graham says he is ready to send his Samaritan's Purse missionaries into Iraq to provide assistance. Muslims and mainstream Christians are wary that Graham wants to exchange food, water, and medicine for the baptism of Iraqis into his intolerant brand of Christianity. In the last Gulf War, Graham could not get away with his chicanery. The Desert Storm Commander, General Norman Schwarzkopf, stopped dead in the tracks Graham's plan to send 30,000 Arabic language Bibles to U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. Today's Pentagon shows no such compunction to put a rein on Graham. It invited him to give a Good Friday sermon at the Pentagon to the consternation of the Defense Department's Muslim employees. To make matters worse, under Bush's "Faith Based Initiative," Graham's Samaritan's Purse stands to receive U.S. government funds for its proselytizing efforts in Iraq, something that should be an affront to every American taxpayer.
Bush's self-proclaimed adherence to Christianity (during one of the presidential debates he said Jesus Christ was his favorite "philosopher") and his constant reference to a new international structure bypassing the United Nations system and long-standing international treaties are worrying the top leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. Well-informed sources close to the Vatican report that Pope John Paul II is growing increasingly concerned about Bush's ultimate intentions. The Pope has had experience with Bush's death fetish. Bush ignored the Pope's plea to spare the life of Karla Faye Tucker. To show that he was similarly ignorant of the world's mainstream religions, Bush also rejected an appeal to spare Tucker from the World Council of Churches - an organization that represents over 350 of the world's Protestant and Orthodox Churches. It did not matter that Bush's own Methodist Church and his parents' Episcopal Church are members of the World Council.
Bush's blood lust, his repeated commitment to Christian beliefs, and his constant references to "evil doers," in the eyes of many devout Catholic leaders, bear all the hallmarks of the one warned about in the Book of Revelations - the anti-Christ. People close to the Pope claim that amid these concerns, the Pontiff wishes he was younger and in better health to confront the possibility that Bush may represent the person prophesized in Revelations. John Paul II has always believed the world was on the precipice of the final confrontation between Good and Evil as foretold in the New Testament. Before he became Pope, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla said, "We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel." The Pope, who grew up facing the evils of Hitler and Stalin, knows evil when he sees it. Although we can all endlessly argue over the Pope's effectiveness in curtailing abuses within his Church, his accomplishments external to Catholicism are impressive.
According to journalists close to the Vatican, the Pope and his closest advisers are also concerned that the ultimate acts of evil - the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon - were known in advance by senior Bush administration officials. By permitting the attacks to take their course, there is a perception within the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy that a coup d'etat was implemented, one that gave Bush and his leadership near-dictatorial powers to carry out their agenda.
The Pope worked tirelessly to convince leaders of nations on the UN Security Council to oppose Bush's war resolution on Iraq. Vatican sources claim they had not seen the Pope more animated and determined since he fell ill to Parkinson's Disease. In the end, the Pope did convince the leaders of Mexico, Chile, Cameroon, and Guinea to oppose the U.S. resolution. If one were to believe in the Book of Revelations, as the Pope fervently does, he can seek solace in scoring a symbolic victory against the Bush administration. Whether Bush represents a dangerous right-wing ideologue who couples his political fanaticism with a neo-Christian blood cult (as I believe) or he is either the anti-Christ or heralds one, the Pope should know he has fought the good battle and has gained the respect and admiration of many non-Catholics around the world.
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and columnist. He wrote the introduction to Forbidden Truth.

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Two recent surveys rate the United States at the top among Western nations in belief in God and at the bottom among six major countries in school kids' understanding of science and math. This could be dismissed as chance, but it shouldn't be. While our economic competitors' schools are teaching students advanced math and science, many of our schools are wasting energy debating whether to teach evolution or creationism, which maintains that God created the universe over a six-day period about 6,000 years ago. -Bill Mandel, San Francisco Examiner, 12 February 1989

http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/3286/index.php

Marching on Babylon: Is Bush Acting Out an Elaborate Religious Fantasy thru War?
by Cheryl Seal
Email: Cherdav44 (at) aol.com (unverified!)
Address: Baltimore, Maryland

24 Mar 2003
Is this war really about the oil? Or are Bush and his core support block of rightwing religious fanatics turning the world into a stage for acting out an elaborate "Armageddon" fantasy?

Marching on Bablyon: Are Bush and the Religious Right Forcing the World to Act Out their Religious Fantasies?
By Cheryl Seal
Mt. Vernon, Baltimore

Bush's obsession with attacking Iraq has been attributed to oil, to family vendetta due to his father's confrontation with Saddam, and with over-zealous terrorist-fighting efforts. However, what really lies beneath this obsession is a religious delusion, one shared, alas by many of his government appointees, including John Ashcroft, a devout Pentecostal. Bush, like Ashcroft, believes (and in fact is trying to insure) that the world is in the "end times" called for by the biblical book of Revelation - at least as interpreted by the doomsdayers, who are generally barely functional clinically classical paranoid schizophrenics (Pat Robertson being a prime example). Bily Graham, Bush's much-touted mentor, believes Armaggedon is at hand and has helped to fuel Bush's messianic complex as the "blessed" leader of the righteous in the end times. You can see that messianic complex so clearly in Bush's often inappropriately "rapturous" expression and grandiose body language.
In this fantasy scenario, following a mighty battle in a region the "faithful" have pinpointed as Iraq, about 144,000 "good Christians" will be sucked up into Heaven, while the rest are left to fry in a horrific conflagration. The support Bush has shown Israel isn't because of his pro-Jewish sentiments, it is because the "end times prescription" calls for Jews to be in complete control of all of Israel at the time of the big event. But, according to the fanatics' nasty little scenario, the joke will be on the Jews, who will be left to burn with everyone else, aside from a few perhaps a few last-minute converts to Christianity. Sharon, plainly fully aware of Bush's obsession, is taking full advantage of it. He just asked for - and is expected to be granted, up to $10 BILLION more dollars to help secure Israel and to buy war planes to help secure "Babylon."
In the fanatic's scenario, Iraq plays a special central role as "Babylon," embodying in the fundy's dark fantasies the "false religion" and the empire of the the "anti-Christ" in the end times. Here's a blurb for a book plugged by the "Bible Prophecy and the Rapture Report: "The Two Babylons. Authored by the late Rev. Alexander Hislop. An excellent source of information regarding the beliefs and rituals of the ancient babylonian cult that will dominate the empire of the Antichrist just as it dominated the major world empires and the Roman Catholic Church. "
The Roman Catholic Church, by the way is targeted for the wrath and villification of the righteous rapturists, who condemn it as "a false religion." I doubt if it is any coincidence that since Bush has been in office, the media has aggressively and relentlessly gone after the Catholic Church, fanning the pedophile priest stories into a modern witch hunt, while failing to investigate or expose similar allegations chronically being made by members of other religions, where such abuse may be just as rampant or even worse.
Bush's mentor, Billy Graham, as he grew in international fame, became very adept at appearing far more non-fanatical than he truly is in order to draw a bigger audience, a bigger bank account. Yet Graham attended Bob Jones University for some time, is on record making anti-Semitic comments in phone conversations with Richard Nixon, and, in 1948 declared, "The three gravest menaces faced by orthodox Christianity are communism, Roman Catholicism, and Mohammedanism."
In reality, Graham is still very much a fanatic, promoting the end times zealously. Here's a quote from his website:

"The Bible plainly forecasts the coming of yet another great war. It will be a war to eclipse anything the world has ever seen. It will embrace most of the nations of the world; and its focal point will be in the Middle East, where the armies of the world will some day deploy themselves, centering at Mount Megiddo. This great war has been called the battle of Armageddon. In the midst of this terrifying war that could destroy civilization the Lord Jesus Christ will return to this earth in glory and power to judge the nations of the world and set up His own glorious kingdom.
"The Scripture describes this great battle in the sixteenth chapter of the book of Revelation. The sixth angel will pour out his vial upon the great river Euphrates. We are told that the waters of the Euphrates River will be 'dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.' The dry riverbed will permit unhindered passage of the great armies of the East to the scene of the battle. Unclean spirits, demons, will go out into the world to the kings of the earth 'to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty' (verses 12-14).”

This passage is terrifying because if you use this scenario as Bush's real context for the Iraq war, it fits so well. It explains his total refusal to listen to any sort of reason, to the pleas of traditional allies, to the protests of millions. Who cares if millions protest if you are "figthing evildoers led by the anti-Christ," and the end times are near, anway? Billy Graham has been described by followers (and possibly by himself) as the second coming of John the Baptist. If so, then Bush (God help us all) is being seen by fanatics as the second coming of Christ, who is now in the process of setting up "his own glorious kingdom." The diversion of water from the Euphrates, the river that runs across southern Iraq, seems to play a big role in this prophesy (see also http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/revelation_16_12.htm) Don't be surprised if you hear of the Pentagon issuing a demand to divert or pump water out of the Euphrates. If this happens, it will certainly be an ominous signal...the loonies are advancing their cause.
It is not stretching too far to wonder if a good part of the reason Bush allowed "embedded reporters" in Iraq was because he wanted the "glory" he assumed was imminent to be witnessed and recorded - his triumphal entry into Babylon. Hitler, it should be recalled, always had the press on hand to record his "triumphal entries" into France, Poland, etc. It is telling that Bush has granted some of the coveted embedded reporter spots to ultrarightwing Christian outfits,, including Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. Robertson is one of the most delusional rapturists around. I'm sure he wanted to make sure CBN was in on the "glorious unfolding" of biblical prophecy. Because the mainstream media are unquestioningly supporting Bush, they are, at least by default, supporting his insane fundamentalist motivations. Check out this religious fanatic site. You will see that they proudly list their selected network information providesr: CNN, FOX, MSNBC and the pro-Blair/ush BBC. You will also notice to the right of the page that "Iraq in Bibilical Prophecy" (as in Armageddon and the Rapture) is the subject of popular fundie literature. . http://www.bible-prophecy.com/wariraq.htm
It seems totally unreal that our nation and the rest of the world are being dragged through hell and - hopefully- back again by a band of religious fanatics who have insisted through sheer force and relentless intimidation that the world stage be yielded to them so they can play out their fantasies at everyone else's expense.
In any case, as the Iraqi conflict unflolds, we non-delusional folk see thousands of young, tired, scared, and hungry soldiers struggling through the desert near Karbala. Bush and his band of fanatics, meanwhile, see "God's end times army" marching to glory past the ruins of Babylon.

Billy Graham on Armageddon
http://www.billygraham.org/qna/qna.asp?i=501
"Bush's Messianic Complex" by Michael Oritz, Counterpunch
http://www.counterpunch.org/hill01042003.html
If you have a strong stomach, here's the "Bible Prophecy and the Rapture Report:"
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/7895/aarome.html
The Middle East Conflict: Has It Been Engineered by Rightwing Christian Extremeists and Zionists hoping to Force "the Rapture" - Cheryl Seal, April 2002
http://www.unknownnews.net/cdd040302.html
See also:
http://newsinder.org
http://home.earthlink.net/~cherylseal/index.html

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George Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism
Rev. Rich Lang
Trinity United Methodist Church Seattle. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
02/14/04: (ICH) The men who wrote the Constitution of the United States
knew that we human beings have a tendency to 'not get along with each
other'. They knew that if power accrued into the hands of an elite the
experiment of democracy (power spread out into the realm of the people)
would be over. So they created a system of checks and balances which
blocked access to any one person, or any one special interest or elite
gaining too much power over others. Thus our executive, legislative and
judicial branches of government "checked" each other. The media was yet
another "check" on the accrual of too much power as was the Bill of
Rights which was written into the Constitution. The system wasn't
perfect but it kept alive the possibility of true democracy. It kept
alive the dream that one day "we the people" could live in a peaceful
commonwealth where every person has what they need to survive and thrive.
That dream died in December 2000 when the checks and balances of our
Constitution collapsed and George Bush was inserted into the Presidency
of the United States. September 11, 2001 furthered the atrophying of
democracy handing the country into the hands of an emerging Corporate
(and I say Christian) Fascism.
Since that time we have witnessed and have been unable to prevent the
emergence of an Imperial Presidency that has the unrestricted power to
declare war against any country he chooses. The Imperial Presidency has
brought to an end the Constitutional mandate that 'ONLY CONGRESS' has
the authority to declare war. It has furthered weakened international
law and has undermined the potential of the United Nations to spread
democracy throughout the earth.
The President has also gained unrestricted power to round up unlimited
numbers of American citizens and incarcerate them in military brigs or
concentration camps for the rest of their lives. He can keep them from
ever again communicating with friends, families, and attorneys, simply
on the president's certification that the incarcerated are "terrorists,"
as he has done with Jose Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi. The President may
also now kill American citizens abroad solely on the basis of his
certification that the one killed is a "terrorist". Just ask the family
and friends of Ahmed Hijazi, an American killed with a U.S.-fired
missile in Yemen. Therefore suspending the Constitutional right: "no
person shall be denied life, liberty or property without due process of
law."
Ominous signs are all around us concerning the accrual of power into the
hands of the Presidency. If Mr. Bush stays in office I think our future
will continue to witness shrinking political rights, financial collapse
and endless war. Part of the power and seduction of this administration
emerges from its diabolical manipulation of Christian rhetoric. I want
to flesh out the ideology of the Christian Fascism that Mr. Bush
articulates. It is a form of Christianity that is the mirror opposite of
what Jesus embodied. It is, indeed, the materialization of the spirit of
antichrist: a perversion of Christian faith and practice.
This country, like it or not, is overwhelmingly dominated by the
ideology of the Christian story. It is not so much that our founders
were all Christians. Rather, they lived in an atmosphere scented
throughout by Christian thought and rhetoric. Just as most of us can't
imagine how to keep things cold without refrigeration; so too our
founders couldn't help but think through the lens of the Christian
story. And what they saw was that America had become the New Israel (the
new Promised Land) of God. America has understood itself as a benevolent
nation seeking only the good of all. We have understand our wealth as a
blessing given to us as a sign that we are a "chosen, special people"
whose larger meaning is to help the world into an era of peace,
prosperity and justice. Every politician draws on this "civil religion
story" which gives authority to the politicians ambition and agenda.
Another way of saying this is: every nation needs sacred legitimation.
It needs the authority of transcendence: of a story larger than itself .
a story that connects past with present and future. An Empire needs an
even broader story: one that connects with cosmic and/or historical
redemption and new creation.
Martin Luther King understood this sacred American civil religion and
was able to wed it brilliantly with the prophetic religious teachings of
the Bible. He drew upon Biblical narratives which limited the power and
authority of the elite while calling for economic redistribution of
wealth. He drew upon teachings rooted in the personal morality of
nonviolence and compassion. George Bush, on the other hand, also
understands this sacred American 'civic gospel' and has brilliantly
merged it with Biblical Holiness and Holy War traditions. These
traditions call for the emergence of the Righteous Warrior who will
cleanse the land of its impurity. These traditions are rooted in the
personal morality of righteous zeal and obedience.
For example:
1.. Mr. Bush consistently sends signals to his right wing religious
base. In last year's State of the Union he exhorted: "there's power,
wonder working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the
American people". It's a phrase from a well known Communion hymn
"there's power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb". Bush
brings together the holiness zeal of Christian evangelicalism with
patriotic fundamentalism. The core belief system of this 'civic gospel'
goes something like this: The United States was founded as a Christian
nation with free enterprise as the only economic system truly compatible
with Christian beliefs. These religious values are today under attack in
America. The danger is that without faith in God America will lose its
blessing. Therefore, the government needs to act to protect the nation's
religious heritage.
2.. Mr. Bush's teachings on terrorism: "you are with us or against us"
cements for the hearer the apocalyptic world of good versus evil. There
can be no neutral ground. You have to make a decision. Patriotism is now
all or nothing: it is either total agreement or a slippery slope towards
treason. In the Church you come to Jesus alone for salvation. In the
state you obey the God-anointed leader and are thereby secured.
Renana Brooks writes (The Nation June 24, 2003: Bush Dominates A Nation
of Victims): "Bush is a master at inducing learned helplessness in the
electorate. He uses pessimistic language that creates fear and disables
people from feeling they can solve their problems. In his September 20,
2001 speech to Congress on the 9/11 attacks, he chose to increase
people's sense of vulnerability: 'Americans should not expect one
battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. . I
ask you to live your lives, and hug your children. I know many citizens
have fears tonight . Be calm and resolute, even in the face of a
continuing threat.' (Subsequent terror alerts .. have maintained and
expanded this fear of unknown, sinister enemies.)"
The terror threat itself can only be combated with increases in military
force, domestic security and curtailment of civil rights through Patriot
Acts. There are no other options nor any dialogue or debate that would
create an alternative way to deal with terrorism.3.) Mr. Bush certainly sees himself as a Messiah figure. Listen to his
language after 9-11: " I will not forget this wound to our country or
those who inflicted it. I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not
relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American
people." Or, in his 2003 State of the Union speech: "I will defend the
freedom and security of the American people". He has become the nation.
He is its embodiment. According to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud
Abbas, - Bush told him: "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck
them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and
now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help
me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to
focus on them." This is Biblical language it isn't political script.
This is Bush's soul language. He understands himself as a man with a
Divine mission. It also means that for him leadership is not
"representing the people" rather leadership means transcending the will
of the people. George Bush already knows the truth before the evidence
is presented. He is guided by God and must blaze the trial even if the
people are reluctant.
Iraq, for example, was a necessary war whether or not Saddam had nukes.
Saddam, for Bush, was a bad guy who tried to kill "my dad". The war, for
Bush, was holy and justified and necessary. Purging evil is necessary in
the Holiness/Holy War tradition of the Bible. The righteous will purge
evil but the unrighteous will be consumed by it. Think of an alcoholic:
it's all or nothing. The whole world is all or nothing.
Like all religions the Bible has various narratives within its pages:
Jesus drew on the prophetic traditions that called upon the people to
change their way of life even as it critiqued and called upon the elites
to decentralize their power. Jesus himself role modeled a lifestyle of
service. Mr. Bush, on the other hand, draws on traditions that call for
purity and cleansing. It is a language of hostility towards enemies and
a strident call for obedience. It calls forth a lifestyle of the
RIGHTEOUS ONE who will purge evil from the world through sacred violence.
All of this is not to say that the political world is of less
importance. We know that the planning for the Iraq war was at least a
decade in preparation. We know that America has had imperial designs and
has intervened militarily throughout the world. And we've known for 25
years that Corporations have been savagely reducing labor rights while
looting the treasury. We know that Mr. Bush is not the cause of our
problems. Rather, the point I am making is that Mr. Bush is a sincere
front man for an emerging fascism. His religious rhetoric is an
authentic merging of Holiness Christianity with Imperial Americanism.
The emphasis on security, law and order is necessary to maintain the
"high calling" of the American people. The policies of fascism, in other
words, are consistent with religious holiness and holy war narratives.
And fascism, woven underneath Christian Holiness/Holy War traditions, is
a powerful symbolic narrative that speaks to the American people as
evidenced by Mr. Bush's 58% approval rating.
The coming election will not be decided because of political policy. It
will not be decided in a debate over free markets versus fair markets;
tax cuts or no tax cuts, Patriot Act or no Patriot Act; war with Syria
or no war. None of these issues will determine the election because the
candidates are all for free markets, tax cuts, domestic security and a
strong global military presence. The election will be determined by the
candidate who can embody the deeply felt, often unarticulated religious
yearnings of the populace. Yearnings such as "who will save us, secure
us, lead us??? who will connect us with a power greater than the power
of others?" Bush speaks this language. Democrats are stuck in political
nuance. Or, in other words, Democrats cannot speak the language of
Martin Luther King who understood that social transformation requires a
transcendent authority.

The problem comes down to this: Democrats, liberals, and social
progressives have simply not grasped how afraid, insecure and how deeply
in despair the populace is. They keep speaking as if objective analysis
and idealistic vision can win the day. What Bush and Rove, Rumsfeld,
Cheney, Wolfowitz and Pearls, Abrams and Bolton, DeLay and Rice etc,
have clearly understood is that truth is subjectivity. Unfortunately,
the inner person of America today is a hollowed out consumer who lacks
the will power, stamina and imagination to do anything more than be
overwhelmed. Therefore, a politics of crisis, a politics of fear will
keep us locked into a state of conformity.

On the "civic side" of things America is being inundated with a rhetoric
of insecurity. Most of Bush's State of the Union was taken up with war
themes reminding us all of the horrible new world we live in post 9/11.
We know that further increases in the military and police budgets are on
the way; we know that the Patriot Act is going to be extended and
strengthened; we know that Homeland Security will continue to be a
growth industry. We know that this administration wants to break down
the wall between church and state with faith-based initiatives. The
world is in chaos and the Bush-men will fix it bringing us peace,
prosperity, purity and purpose.
On the religion side of things apocalyptic theology is booming. This is
also a worldview of crisis and insecurity. It is a theology rooted in
the Holiness/Holy War traditions and it dominates the spirituality of
this current administration. More to the point, this is the dominant
theology of the mass media __expression of Christian faith. It is a
theology of despair that has given up on the possibilities of redemption.
One of the most popular fiction series making the rounds these days is
the LEFT BEHIND series written by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins. Multiple
millions of people are reading these books which fictionalize the end of
life as we know it. It used to be that the Church could control people
through the fear of eternal damnation. Today it is through fear of the
future. The theology is basically this: The Bible is a code book that
when rightly interpreted reveals that we are living at the end of
history. History is scripted and is about to come to a catastrophic
conclusion. The only hope is to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and
Savior so that you can be "saved" from the future apocalypse. God will
"snatch you up" (Rapture) right before a seven year series of horrible
events that will see the rise of Antichrist and the rebuilding of the
Jewish temple. There will be world war with most of humanity dying. At
that point Jesus will return to restore law and order. This theology of
despair "fits" our current culture of powerlessness and fear. From SARS
to weapons of mass destruction to the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, to ecological collapse, the whole world seems to be on a "no
exit" slide into an end times abyss. The theology of despair is very
seductive. It is shaping the spirituality of Christians which provides a
strong core from which Bush draws political strength.
And it has, at least, five political implications that affect each one
of us here today.
FIRST: Israel is to be exalted and defended no matter what they do to
the Palestinian people. They are God's chosen people and must reside in
their Biblically anointed Land for the "end time clock" to tick to its
final minute. Israel has a Biblical mandate to conquer and control all
of the land from the Nile River to the Euphrates. Behind the politics of
oil lie the religious passion to fulfill God's will: Syria must fall.
Secondly: institutions like the United Nations are not to be trusted
because they are tools of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is thought of
(not as a spirituality or ideology) but as an personal embodiment of
evil. The Antichrist will be a living person who will come to power at
the end of history and proclaim himself to be god on earth. The theory
has it that his power will be generated from within a coalition of
nations. Thus America, as God's chosen nation, will need to go it alone
so as not to be duped by Antichrist. Our destiny is to take the gospel
to all the nations: a benevolent gospel of therapeutic salvation for all.
Thirdly: since the world is passing away the environment is not of great
importance. There is no need to worry about issues of sustainability
because the world is in its final countdown. Part of the unconcern
towards global warming and other ecological crisis is the religious
belief that we aren't going to be around in 100 years. We're in the end
times now every moment is merely preparation for eternity. Whether Bush
himself believes this or not is irrelevant. This is the religious
worldview of those who exalt him and the voter-bloc to which he plays.
For Bush to act for sustainability would require a major shift in his
religious narrative. As an aside this past summer the National Park
Service was instructed to approve the display of religious symbols and
Bible verses, as well as the sale of creationist books at the Grand
Canyon National Park. In December 2003 the Park Service was ordered to
develop a "more balanced" version of an 8 minute video shown at the
Lincoln Memorial Visitor Center. Conservative Christians wanted the
removal of footage of gay rights, pro choice and anti-war demonstrations
replacing it with footage of Christian rallies and pro-war demonstrations.
Fourth: the trust that Jesus died for "my sins" is far more important
than the teachings of Jesus. This fosters a domesticated therapeutic
religious __expression that insists that "Jesus in my heart" is more
important than my lifestyle. It's like the Mafia don who could order his
enemies killed while he himself was celebrating the baptism of his
nephew. There is a disconnect between one's inner experience of God's
loving grace and embodying that experience outwardly through one's
politics. This leads to a discounting of following Jesus in a lifestyle
of nonviolence, economic justice and compassion. Again as an aside .
while Governor of Texas Mr. Bush was interviewed by Talk Magazine
concerning the impending execution of fellow Christian Karla Faye
Tucker. Bush imitated Tucker's appeal for him to spare her life pursing
his lips, squinting his eyes, and in a squeaky voice saying, "please
don't kill me".
Fifth: a leader who loves Jesus is to be followed as God's man for the
hour. The Christian leader is God's shepherd over the American flock. As
stated before Bush sees himself as a Messiah figure (anointed by God for
a special redemptive purpose). When he decided on running for the
Presidency he called a group of evangelical Pastors together announcing
to them "I have heard the call" and then receiving from them the "laying
on of hands" which corresponds to divine ordination for the task ahead.
On September 14, 2001 he stated: "our responsibility before history is
already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil". He
then launched the crusade Operation Infinite Freedom against
Afghanistan. Yet other messianic statements from Bush:
"History has called America to action. . The great hope of our time, and
the great hope of every time, now depends on us." ..
"We must also remember our calling as a blessed nation to make the world
better . and confound the designs of evil men."
"Our nation has been chosen by God and commissioned by history, to be a
model of justice before the world."
*** According to Vice-President Cheney: America "has the duty to act
with force to construct a world in the image of the United States."
In return for this messianic leadership evangelical Christians have
returned an anointing of prayer. During the Afghanistan crusade
thousands of "Presidential Circles of Prayer" and "Wheels of Prayer"
were organized on the Internet, running 24 hours a day.
WHEEL OF PRAYER FOR OUR SOLDIERS
Lord hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us.
Bless them and their families for the altruistic actions they are performing
for us in our time of need. This I ask in the name of Jesus, our Lord
and Savior. Amen
This prayer was so popular and was hit so often that the website crashed
within days.
Pastor Charles Stanley distributed among Marines as they entered into
combat thousands of pamphlets entitled "Duty of a Christian in Time of
War". With the pamphlet went a card instructing them to sign and send
directly to Mr. Bush. The card says: "I have committed to pray for you,
your family and your Administration." Specific prayers for the President
were included for each day.
CONCLUSION:
The point I'm trying to make is that we are not dealing simply with
politics when it comes to the Bush administration. The progressive left,
which often pays little attention to Christianity, will be making a huge
mistake if they overlook the religious ideology at the core of Mr. Bush
personally and the movement he represents. And we are talking about a
"movement" (a movement of 'the people' not just the elites). We are
seeing today the emergence of a "fascist movement". It is bankrolled and
organized by Corporations, articulated through the ideology of
neo-conservativism. but is fueled by the right-wing church drawing upon
Holiness/Holy War Biblical narratives.
When Dave Korten (author of When Corporations Rule the World) says that
we need a "new story"; he is talking about needing a transcendent
authority in which we root our political culture. Human beings cannot
live in societal form without a sacred narrative. Neither anarchy nor
atheism can construct a house that will hold our future. The Republicans
know this well. But the Democrats seem clueless.
In Biblical language the Republicans have become Pharaoh whose house is
strong because of economic exploitation of the populace and military
repression of the people. The populace is being asked to make bricks
without straw. We are seeking a "savior" . a Moses who can rally us out
of these mudpits towards the promise of a land flowing with milk and
honey. Unfortunately most Democrats are simply offering Pharaoh-lite:
they still will keep us in the mudpit making bricks.
What we need is a movement of spiritual justice. We need the language of
those who can wed America's civil religion with Biblical prophetic
narrative. We need to expand that language so that it can include the
language and stories that are emerging from the antiwar, fair trade and
human rights movements. Together this language can form a unique new
narrative that has the power to inspire imagination and courage. A
language that call forth a new coalition powerful enough to leave behind
the mudpit and to enter the promise of a new beginning. A coalition that
understands that "we are the ones we are looking for". Indeed, the new
narrative will proclaim "God with us" not "God above us".

---

Dear President Bush,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people
regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal
from you and understand why you would propose and support
a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage.
As you said "in the eyes of God marriage is based
between a man a woman." I try to share that knowledge with
as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend
the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind
them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an
abomination... End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some
other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves,
both male and female, provided they are purchased
from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that
this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you
clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as
sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what
do you think would be a fair price for her? (I'm
pretty sure she's a virgin).

3. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I
know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord -
Lev.1:9. The problem is, my neighbors. They claim
the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

4. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the
Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. clearly states he should be
put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself,
or should I ask the police to do it? How can I help
you here?

5. A friend of mine feels that even though eating
shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a
lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't
agree. Can you settle this? Aren't there 'degrees' of
abomination?

6. Lev.21:20 states that I may not approach the
altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to
admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to
be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

7. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed,
including the hair around their temples, even though
this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

8. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of
a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play
football if I wear gloves?

9. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by
planting two different crops in the same field, as
does his wife by wearing garments made of two
different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend).
He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it
really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting
the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16.
Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private
family affair, like we do with people who sleep with
their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and
thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters,
so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is
eternal and unchanging.