LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY 1400scale)

This is an older piece that was linked to here last month, I believe, but with Joe Bageant's "Left Behind" article referred to a few threads down, I felt it was timely to bring it up again:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-endtimes22jun22,0,5277604,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines



We need to remind ourselves sometimes how dangerous these people can be, and not just to personal freedoms in America.

To them, Christianity is not about following Christ's example and teachings as a means to live in harmony with others. It's about a vengeful Messiah (or Mahdi, depending of who you ask) swooping down like Rambo to wipe out their cultural and political enemies with extreme gory prejudice, while they get to watch gleefully from the heavenly VIP lounge.

But when real armed conflict ramps up in the Middle east (and I suspect we ain't seen nothing yet), the Western World is gonna be dragged, kicking and screaming, further and further into it. And make no mistake, most of mainland Europe WILL side with the U.S. and Britain, whether it wants to or not; increased threats of terrorism (genuine or otherwise), dwindling petroleum reserves, and fundamentalist votes will make sure of that. With Russia and China's ties to Tehran, this has the very real possibility of escalating globally, whether anybody here wants to admit that or not, and in the nuclear age this is not an option.

But when their precious Rapture and Second Coming doesn't go down the way they want, and more and more rationally-thinking people clue in to the fact that religious wack-job radicals are deliberately trying to steer the planet towards Armageddon and the near-extinction of our species by means of a prophetically-influenced World War, disease pandemics aggravated by religiously-motivated "Abstinence-Only" family health programs, ignoring vital Climate Change science because it doesn't jive with literal Biblical interpretation, and increasing public sexual abuse scandals by priests and ministers, public support for freedom to practice religious beliefs will plummet catastrophically.

They are laying reasons to dispense with organized religion completely (or, at the very least, public expressions of it) at the world's feet, because I can't see how fair and democratic societies can outlaw dangerous religous groups without restricting ALL organized religious associations.



The actions and motives of the authoritarian Religious Right place all forms of freedom, security, peace, and religious expression at risk everywhere, including their own.

Just my opinion.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

DefCon Board Member Michelle Goldberg to Debate the Religious Right
( Read more... )

---

Prior registration is required.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY karnythia)

Biracial boy turned away from church. Church votes not to accept any black members Can someone please tell me what Bible they're reading?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

--Republican candidate for a Florida U.S. Senate seat, Katherine Harris, a divisive figure in the 2000 presidential election, responding to questions posed in an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness regarding her views on religion in politics.( Excerpt )

---

Full Story

---

There's plenty more, but I am becoming a bit nauseous. I need to stop reading this.

She is the epitome of everything wrong with Dominionism. What I don't understand is why she isn't at home "scrubbing the floors and cooking that dinner." Why is it acceptable for only a few women to work outside the home?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ellid)

Jackie Mason has every right to be upset. How dare they!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/08/25/jackiemason.ap/index.html

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This review of Michelle Goldberg's "Kingdom Coming by John W. Dean is not to be missed:

If more Americans would read works like Michelle Goldberg's Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, the longevity of our democracy, as we know it, would be more assured. I say this because the more people who understand the thinking and agenda of the growing forces of "Christian nationalism," the less likely it will be that these forces will succeed. Not many people want to go where Christian nationalists want to take the country.

Michelle Goldberg, a journalist who writes for Salon, defines Christian nationalism as the "Christian worldview" that envisions Christianity governing "every aspect of public and private life, and [holds] that all -- government, science, history, culture, and relationships -- must be understood according to the dictates of scripture." Christian nationalists have "biblically correct positions on every issue, from gay marriage to income tax rates."
Click here to find out more!

These believers are also known as dominionists. Dominionism is a theology drawn from God's instruction to Adam in Genesis (1:26-27) to take dominion over the animate and inanimate world. As Goldberg explains, "dominionism is derived from a theocratic sect called Christian Reconstructionism, which advocates replacing American civil law with Old Testament biblical law."

In this column, I'll first share, by way of background, a few of many facts from Goldberg's work, which I have either quoted or paraphrased, including information she provided to me during a conversation about her book. Then I'll address what she reports is the underlying strategy of the Christian nationalists: to use the courts, state and federal, to implement their agenda.

Read the whole thing at the website.