They are cultlike in their recruiting practices, brainwashing members to believe they are of no substance outside of the organization. They claim to be a form of ‘unorganized’ religion, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. They disseminate information forcefully through sermons characterized by the faithful being rewarded with eternal life and the unfaithful being punished with eternal damnation by fire and brimstone in the depths of hell. They teach that they are unjustly persecuted by the evil of society and stress that a faithful and good member will fight for the will of God to be carried out. They reach out to the poor, distraught, and needy and promise health, happiness, and fellowship.
Sounds pretty familiar to what the Muslim extremist teach their suicide bombers, doesn’t it?
It’s hard to believe how or why, but there really exists a subculture in America that is militaristic, hateful, vengeful, irrational and ambitious. These extremists are cancerous to progressive society and similar groups have had similar effect throughout the history of civilization. America’s version of the Taliban consists of fundamentalist Christians and their cult-like behavior.
Now don’t get me wrong, we’re not talking about all Christians here. The vast, vast majority of religious people, both Christian and not, are reasonable. They believe in progression, adaptation, evolution of society, and to these followers, no disdain is meant to be directed. However, inside the vast spoils of Christendom exists a backwards society of extremists who believe that those who don’t outwardly adhere to a set of very strict, bible based moral standards that directly conflict with human nature, are agents of evil.
It comes as no surprise that these people are oblivious to the irrationality of their thoughts and actions, but it is scary as hell. Undoubtedly, these people are very dangerous. Aside from spreading hatred towards homosexuals, women, and minorities, as of late they’ve successfully gained some political power. George Bush is their savior, a modern day Jesus, and if you wonder who the 25% of people that think Bush is doing a good job are, well folks, now you know.
These people support their own at all costs. Through this mechanism they are able to survive and flourish. While others spend time doing things to help the communities they live in, build actual relationships with the people around them, these people attend numerous church services where they are encouraged to spread hatred. They are told their leaders are no different than they are, that they are just as specials in the eyes of God, but their leaders have a better understanding of the will of God and have been anointed by the hand of God. They believe that these people hear directly from God, having been annointed by the holy spirit, and thus are more knowledgeable about choices they should make, personally and politically.
It’s scary to think how much of a cult these fundamentalists are, and if you can’t see how nutzo they are based on their recent media moments surrounding John McCain and Sarah Palin on the campaign trail, then you need to open your eyes. They make statements like, “Obama is an Arab” and “Pray for everyone to vote for McCain, because those who hate you, support Obama.” This is real folks, very real.
It might seem all too innocent, but don’t make the same mistake we’ve made with other extremist organizations in the past. We let the Taliban and others flourish, organize, and it was only a matter of time before they became violent. It’s not that far away here. They already preach hate and destruction for those who don’t support them, encourage their members to not associate with societies in which they live, and various other sociopath behaviors. They’ve blown up abortion clinics, killing innocent civilians, doctors, and others. They are responsible for the 1996 Olympic bombing. They believe that the end times, of which they believe we are in, will be characterized by an army from God slaughtering all who don’t faithfully believe. It actually says the ground will run red with blood.
You can’t reason with them, much like the people who bombed the world trade center. You just have to realize that they are a huge threat and seek to minimize their impact on civilization. Modern day barbarians, they will seek to destroy all that is modern about America.
This election is a crossroads for progressive Americans. The Republican platform tried to distance itself from fundamentalism, but realized that a huge block of its voters are for some reason Republican, and therefor had to be catered to. They chose Sarah Palin, an unqualified, self-righteous idiot, to be vice president in order to get the buy in from this reluctant group. John McCain is not a crazy fundamentalist, but he supports them, he supports Sarah Palin.
As the realization that America is going the opposite way of their desire, this group will get more vocal and if left unchecked, a lot more dangerous. Open your eyes and check out fundamentalist groups who support McCain, the truth will shock you.
America, by voting for reason, by voting for sensibility, by voting for Obama, we’ll be much closer to becoming the nation our founders imagined us to be.
OUR LATEST DIGG SHOCKER! <—- John McCain Has Alzheimer’s??
[edit: this edit was nessecary because it seeks to do exactly what this article decries as evil, that is, make blanket statements without giving appropriate evidence. While we do believe that support for Obama is the correct course of action for all freethinkers and no not equate his liberal tendencies to be communistic, we don't feel that an explanation of this policy is suited to the topic of this article. Therefor, we'll edit out this part and tackle the topic of "Obama is not a socialist" later on.]
[further edit: You may have noticed that there is a lot of activity surrounding this post in the comment section. The comment section is not a great medium for discussion. We've opened up this forum for you to discuss. This forum is very rudimentary, so be easy.]
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! Make sure to follow on Twitter! Comments/love can be sent here. Thanks for reading!
As usual from the fearful and negative left - another poorly researched propaganda hit-piece using straw man arguing to make false comparisons between Christianity and Islam. The fact is that 100 percent of those who follow all the teachings of Jesus would FORBID using force to advance the faith. Yes, there are a few groups using the name christian that practice violence - but you are not talking about “fundamentalists” at that point, instead you are talking about those that ignore Jesus’ teachings in favor of some non-orthodox belief in kingdom building.
The only other violent groups calling themselves Christian are those that have suffered massacre for years at the hand of Islamic advancement by force. After years of watching their children hacked to death with machetes, stoned in the streets, or other atrocities, these well-meaning people fight back.
Bottom Line: Christian Fundamentalists are taught to love their enemies, Islamic Fundamentalists are taught to kill the infidel. That is a little bit of a difference, don’t you know.
Still, rants like yours are highly entertaining for their ignorance.
If that 25% were 75% far right, we would be goose stepping into another Shock N Awe every 24 months.
Those that refuse to join the hive, would be tagged and placed in camps.
There would be little opposition to wiretapping, torture, renditions, pre-emptive strikes, merger of church, state, and military.
Merc Armies would rule the streets, and few would question those with the gold who make the rules. The rulers would grow fat with greed and power and would stop at nothing to gain more, the pace would increase and America would be a techno, barbaric place that Hilter would envy. Only the strong would survive and the Spartans would be the model of society. Even the women would become militant as the men. No mercy, No quarter un-civilization.
This is why God needs to flood the earth from time to time.
Not that I am a depopulationist.
Obama is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, he and McCain are equally bad for this country, the Libertarian candidate Bob Barr is the most free minded candidate who puts our constitutional rights above all else, such as separation of church and state. He will shrink the power and never ending bureaucracy of the ballooning federal government and return the power to the people. He will legalize victimless crimes such as marijuana that are filling up our prisons with innocent people. VOTE FOR BOB BARR! http://www.lp.org
@Joel
“by now I expect I’ve lost the uninitiated and the atheists”
-do not assume that all atheists are as ignorant of theology or apologetics as “american boy”. Some of us know considerably more than the vast majority of so-called Christians.
That said, you make a good point, insofar as that those “tolerant, progressive christians” willing to compromise doctrine and reinterpret or flat out ignore scripture where it is in opposition to the secular norms of modern society are guilty of intellectual dishonesty and self deception -and cannot be accurately described as Christian at all. I am an Atheist myself, but actually find these people more objectionable than Christians who at least demonstrate a degree of genuine conviction.
However, to equate Christian fundementalism as you describe it with the politicised, dominionist tendency in the US is misleading. As Duaine Michaels points out, Dominionism, Christian Reconstructionism or “Kingdom Building” is a heterodox tradition confined almost exclusively to certain parts of the United States. It’s essentially a barely theologically coherent, popular and, (succumbing here to Godfrey’s Law) fascistic movement driven by Thomas Schaeffer’s* less able students. I speak here specifically of Mssrs Falwell and LaHaye whose theology is based on a mix of misinterpretation of Kuyper and Schaeffer’s ideas, radiacal postmillenialism often with a good bit of preterist crazy thrown in, and primarily personality driven. I won’t even start about the “prosperity gospel” and similar “religious” financial scams.
The fact is that this is not Christianity either, the ideas prevalent in the “radical” American christian discourse are fundementally at odds with both mainstream protestant (reformed) theology and orthodox catholicism. It is rather a theologically unsophisticated, politicised populist movement, whose most controversial beliefs are at the very least on the outer fringe of Christian thought, if not straight up heretical.
Aslo the Taliban are largely Pashtun Deobandi Salafists, at least originally, and their Law code is based on a combination of an unusually strict interpretaion of Shari’a and Pashtunwali (pashtum traditional tribal practice -where the most severe restrictions especially against women- tend to originate). As such, for all their repressive dictates, (which I agree go far beyond what even the most radical “christian” movements espouse), They do not, have never, and will never practice female circumcision.
Finally, if you re-read the article you will notice it is in fact very badly written.
*Godwin’s Law
I find there biggest media of modern communication is by email. I see a few of these and they always end there emails with God bless.
While I think it is very astute to make the statement that “they are cultlike in their recruiting practices,” I would have to agree with the commentator above, that Obama’s proposed policy changes make him and some of his more extreme followers a bit “cult-esque” . The equal distribution of wealth is a scary concept to me, as is universal healthcare mainly due to my experience working as a social worker in low income areas in LA. Subsidized living destroys motivation, and the services the public services the people I served got were sub-par at best. I digress.
“Live and let live” is not the feeling I get fom Obama. I get more of sense that “government knows better what to do with your money than you do, in fact, because you get to live in such a democratic, liberty-loving country, we deserve to take your money and spend it on policies that make things more equal for everyone.” Coersion, my dear author, is not and will not be the solution. Socialism has not worked well for any developing nation. See: world history. Obama’s policies, while I wouldn’t suggest that each policy individually could be considered socialist, together make up a plan that will stifle those who are willing to take financial risks in our economy and start the businesses that create jobs.
Unfortunately I am not willing to give in to either of the candidates “cult-esque” coersion tactics. That is why, for better or worse, I will be voting independent. I want liberty for all.
“…this group will get more vocal and if left unchecked, a lot more dangerous.” Mikey: How would you propose to ‘check’ this group?
Спасибо!
Спасибо за пост! Добавил блог в RSS-ридер, теперь читать буду регулярно..
In 1916 Lenin wrote the important theoretical work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. In this work Lenin argues that the merging of banks and industrial cartels give rise to finance capital. According to Lenin, in the last stage of capitalism, in pursuit of greater profits than the home market can offer, capital is exported. This leads to the division of the world between international monopolist firms and to European states colonizing large parts of the world in support of their businesses. Imperialism is thus an advanced stage of capitalism, one relying on the rise of monopolies and on the export of capital (rather than goods), and of which colonialism is one feature
[...] GO TO FULL STORY [...]