LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Daily Kos Diary has some interesting points. Here's a short excerpt:

The War against Right-wing Theocrats finally begins for real (updated)
by GlennGreenwald
Thu Nov 17, 2005 at 04:41:27 AM PDT

The first four years of the Bush Administration, particularly after 9/11, were characterized by a highly unusual, and at times downright creepy, uniformity of opinion. It was almost impossible to find a Republican anywhere expressing any criticism of George Bush -- on any issue, ever. And other than a few humiliating attacks launched by the party's most extreme elements against so-called GOP moderates made for the purpose of showing who was Boss in the GOP, Republicans almost never spoke ill of one another either, despite glaring differences in their views on a whole host of critically important issues.

In many ways, over this time period, the GOP more closely resembled a cult than a political party, and the cohesiveness of the cult was centered around Personality -- a glorification of, and blind reverence for, George W. Bush. But all of that is changing now...( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Half the fun of reading diaries in "Daily Kos" is reading the replies to them. In the diary I posted below, there were some very interesting replies. One of them quoted an unnamed retired Ohio Evangelical pastor, who did not mince words about the real intent of the "Political Christians" (dominionists). Here's what he had to say:

"God's plan [trying to win peoples' minds and hearts through love, respect, prayer, moral suasion, etc.] may appear to be weak and ineffectual to the 'movers and shakers' among this generation of church leaders. Things aren't moving fast enough for them.

"And so they take power into their own hands. They think it is God's power, but it turns out to be Satan's power. They don't remember when the Political Christians did gain enough power a century ago to pass an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the production and sale of alcoholic beverages. This is an example of the tyranny of the majority. Did it work?

[Not only did it not work, but Prohibition created the means for many gangsters and other outlaws to flourish and thrive. The government had to repeal Prohibition in order to regain control over the revenue they were losing! -ed]

"Worldly politics, as it is practiced by the Republican and Democratic Parties, is always in Satan's realm. The political parties are completely without morals. Their only goal is winning the election. They will tell lies in order to win an election...One would hope that when a group of Christians joins forces with a political party, that the Christians would have a wholesome moral influence upon politics.

"What happened? The Religious Right produced some of the most scurrilous campaign literature I have ever seen [against John Kerry]. Rather than raising the level of moral discourse, these Christians willingly dragged themselves down below the level of respectability. Non-political Christians are appalled at how low the Political Christians stooped in order to 'win' the election. Winning is the goal, not kindness, respect for the opponent, or other Christian and democratic virtues. Win the election but lose your soul.

"Christians who enter the realm of partisan politics (even in sending emails) ought to know that they are entering Satan's realm. They need to be wary, lest the lust for power ovewhelms them. We Christians need to make our voice heard and realize at the same time that that voice will be compromised. There is no possibility of a pure Christian party or voice. Our only hope is that somehow God can use our voice and our moral actions to bend the society in constructive directions. At best we are a respected voice within society. We will never be the voice which controls society. Christian control of the government is not God's plan."

I hope to find out the name of this pastor and the source of his quote. It was not indicated in the original post. If any here know where this came from, I'd be happy to find out.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

I found a new word in "Kos" that eclipses our previous favorite, "Avengelical" for sheer deliciously ironic truth:

"Tablibangelist"

It's a collision of "Taliban" and "Evangelist", and brilliantly describes the aspirations of the Dominionists without busting too hard on genuine Evangelists. Plus, it doesn't look like a typo. "Talibangelical" can also be used.

"Pat Robertson displayed his Talibangelical bias when he condemned Dover PA for voting out the ID-iots from their school board."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY cheap_laugh)

Tackling the Myth of Christian Persecution

the gist of this highly illuminating post, is that the "persecuted christian" is not aware of American History, suchas the Treaty of Tripoli, where is stated:
"As the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." This treaty was ratified by the US Congress when John Adams served as President.

I highly recommend this diary to all.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY hummingwolf)

"The politics of faith: Can Democrats get it right?"

But imagining that red-state voters will turn blue if only Democrats talk more about faith misunderstands the role of conservative evangelical Christianity in American politics. Conservative evangelical churches played a big role in delivering voters for George W. Bush in 2004 — but neither that nor Kaine's victory prove that red-state voters are simply hungry for "religion" and will reward whichever candidate speaks most convincingly about his or her personal faith.

Conservative evangelical churches were able to deliver voters for Bush in much the same way, and for much the same reasons, that labor unions and political machines like New York's Tammany Hall were once able to deliver votes for the Democrats: They offer material benefits to people with nowhere else to turn, and that is easily parlayed into votes at election time.

And here's a taste of sarcasm from the "conservative Christian" World Magazine Blog: Beware of the evangelical cabal!