From Consortium News:
There is a significant part of the American population (possibly as many as 20 percent), who believe that the United States has been chosen by God to be a special people led by Christians. Their vision is the United States leading the world under the banner of Christ.
One of the marks of Christian nationalism is that it identifies its enemies, and Muslims have been identified as the enemy that must be defeated.
Yet, Christians are very diverse as they always have been. Throughout history, there have been Christian peace lovers who cite Jesus’s teachings of loving one’s enemies and there have been militants who grab a sword with little provocation. Between these extremes, the varieties of Christians are endless.
The same is true of Muslims. Just as there is an ongoing struggle among Christians for the soul of the Faith, so also is there an ongoing struggle among Muslims for the soul of Islam. In recent decades, for a variety of geopolitical reasons, the militants of both faiths have become powerful.
In the past, when Christian militants and Muslim militants tangled, mighty battles have ensued. The Crusades, in which Christian armies invaded Muslim lands with the goal of claiming the Holy Lands, represent history’s most brutal example.
At present, the tensions between Christians and Muslims are heightened by world events. Trust is at a very low level. Emotions are high. A mosque and community center near Ground Zero has been cited by some Christians as an aggressive act by Muslims.
Of course the Reverend Bess is absolutely correct. This is merely the newest chapter in the age old battle between the Christian fanatics and the Islamic fanatics played out in this brand new century, proving that regardless of how far we may evolve the anchor of fundamentalism will still connect many modern humans to their most primitive and deeply held feelings of religious hatred.
Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and their ilk are fanning the flames of hate on one side of the religious divide and the Islamic radicals are fanning the flames of hate on the other side. But it will be the entire planet that is consumed by this religious inferno if cooler heads do not prevail.
The effects of this latest hate speech are already being felt in New York, as well as other places across this nation.
I believe that Sarah Palin and Newt the Whore are responsible for the stabbing of the New York taxi driver. They had help from their lying, racists, homophobic, simpleton allies over at Fox Slimes.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this post. This is something I have said for years and of course no one wants to hear it or acknowledge it, but that doesn’t make it any less true. The radical right are really no different than the Jihadist they want to take down.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Taliban: How Sex, Sin and Power Bind Jihadists to the Radical Right.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/markos-moulitsas-z/post_743_b_693281.html
May cooler heads prevail indeed. Just heard about the violence in NYC.
ReplyDeleteJust who are the enemies - sounds as if the real enemies are fanatics who live here and call themselves patriots. Really, though, these are just people who jump at anything to justify being a thug, a killer.
Shame on us for not demanding an end to the hate speech.
I hope the petitions to Shut Off Fox become very, very popular and that vile network loses a lot of money because with Murdoch and his ilk, money is the only thing that counts.
May peace be restored and tolerance be rekindled. We may have to fight amongst ourselves to bring this craziness to a halt.
Great Post!
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with your reasoning, the clarification must be made that the builders of the NYC mosque are the NON-fanatical Muslims. Those who oppose the mosque so vocally are the fanatical "christians", no matter where they live.
ReplyDeleteAs an unbeliever in any god I sit in jaw dropped disgust at all sides, and there are more than two.
"Their vision is the United States leading the world under the banner of Christ."
ReplyDeleteI hope no one thinks that I want to be included in this equation because I don't believe in the U.S. being superior to any other nation at this point in time due to the wars we are waging and because I don't want to be included under any banner regardless of name association. Religion has been the ruination of people; they believe anything their preachers [or others] tell them to believe and there is no science or fact to back up any of it. When I see the so called 'christians' of today [Paylin, Gringrich, Ensign, Craig, most all republicans] who are filled with HATE, GREED, WORSHIPING POWER, GLUTTONY, ADULTERY, ETC. they are worse than anyone who doesn't profess to be christian. Count me out please. I don't want to be anything like them. They are evil and only care about themselves.
Great post Gryphen. Thanks so much!
You're only treading water if you continue to support the christian religion. You need to either condemn it or say nothing if you don't think your audience will accept an atheist POV.
ReplyDeleteWow...Bill Press sure put it in perspective in a succinct manner, didn't he?
ReplyDeleteI wish there was SOME way I could make it so everyone I know had to read that short little article.
And, shame on Palin and Gingrich for abetting the terrorists!
SP = David Koresh?
ReplyDeleteThis is so unfortunate. Hatred, fear and the blind devotion of their ignorant followers are all that Scarah, Newt and the rest of the Reich have. Constructive ideas? Education? Phooey! It's much, much easier to promote irrational rhetoric that's being spun via marketing firms hired by self-serving billionaires and their media outlets.
ReplyDeleteIf we voters allow these wingdings to regain power, I envision any number of spite wars (religious and otherwise) being stoked by puppets Palin, Beck and their ilk. Hey, we'd have to prove we're God's chosen country in a global pissing match, right? They're just testing the waters with this hyped-up hatred of Muslims right now--soon it would be any race, religion or country that they perceive as a threat to their vision of pushing "pure" Christianity on the masses. Be prepared to live under the fear of a constant nuclear threat--a newer, nastier version of the Cold War.
Don't sit home undecided and disillusioned--we outnumber them and want better for America. VOTE THEM OUT!!
NY cabbie stabbed in a proported Muslim hate crime--cabbie is OK. Attacker is 21 years old. It's hitting all the news outlets now. You just KNOW Scarah will be twatting, er, tweeting about this to make herself and her allies look innocent.
ReplyDeleteLike Mayor Bloomberg, I am a Muslim.
ReplyDeleteYou've got to read this in Wonkette: http://wonkette.com/417703/team-sarah-worried-that-fox-news-is-becoming-anti-palin-not-sure-where-they-will-get-their-news-now
If these folks want to live in a nation with a Christian banner, perhaps they should begin to act like real Christians instead of arrogant, hate-filled fanatics.
ReplyDeleteThey shame the religion they claim to belong to and they shame our nation. They are puppets of monied interests who will benefit from endless war and those who want to dominate the rest of us.
LoveAndKnishesFromBrooklyn- you are right. People need to get out and vote. We do outnumber these fools and fanatics, but you wouldn't know it.
ReplyDeleteLess than twenty percent of registered our Alaskan voters (much less on the Democratic side) allowed one of these fools to win the GOP nomination for Senate.
People have to wake up. You have to choose which side you want to be counted amongst - the crazies or the rest of us. There is no longer any time or grace to sit on the fence or walk away.
If anyone doubts that these xtian nutcases can overthrow and take over the government just go watch the movie "AGORA" and see just how easy it was for those ignorant bastards to take over and control the city of Alexander and destroy the vast library of science, the arts and copies of every book that Alexander had made copies of over many years of collecting.
ReplyDeleteFrom reading history back into ancient times it does not take a genius to see that religious fanatics of any ilk are anti- science, anti- education and anti- every one who is not like themselves..., mainly those of us who are no longer swayed by tall tales, mythical beings, and plagerized writings of far earlier gods, heros and deamons of the ancient past.
All it takes is for some smooth talking asshole to tell them they are "CHOSEN PEOPLE", "SUPER RACE" or in some way better or more special than any educated, thinking person by the mere act of getting dunked in a river or sprinkled with water and some mumbo-jumbo magical words and hand motions spoken over you.
Oh, and don't forget, you got to tell all the simpletons that you are in direct and constant communication with the one and only Judeao-Xtian God, EL SUPRIMO!!!
See also the movies "Glory Glory" and "Elmer Gantry" after which you will never look at organized religious BUSINESSES the same way again.
Even though I am a atheist I have to say that at least there are some people of faith like Rev. Bess who are trying to defuse this modern day witch hunt. I just can't understand how they can claim to be constitutionalist (blah blah blah)patriots(crazy), and be for states rights(NY approved the building) when they are trying to rewrite the 1st, 14th, and the 17th amendments. They only like the constitution when it helps them. They need to STFU.
ReplyDeleteall this makes me happy that I'm a Pagan with no dog in this race...but it also scares the proverbial "hell" out of me, because once the "Christians" get rid of the undesirable Muslims right to worship on privately owned property, they may turn their hellfire and damnation ideas back to me and mine. I don't consider these types of people "Christian" because I don't see them following the tenets that Jesus set down for them. I don't see the "love thy neighbor" or the "turn the other cheek" happening with these folks, and it makes me wonder where on the Goddess' Earth did they come up with a militant Jesus? Or is there something I missed in the Bible about loving your neighbor only if he's the same color as you yourself are?
ReplyDeleteThere has to be someone out there who has "the goods" on Sarah, who can put her in her place, and stop those poor misguided souls who dote on her every word. Because if those who CAN stop her DON'T...her hate-spewing and fear-mongering will continue out of control until something really terrible happens.
ReplyDeleteI would hate to live with that on my conscience! Wouldn't you, Gryphen??
I have to wonder though if the battle comes to this again.
ReplyDeleteThat it might not be waged, as it is in Afghanistan and Iraq, initially as intrafaith armed conflicts.
I cannot see the rabid right,as a minority really taking over this country in the way that the Catholic Church could in the middle ages.
There are too many of us who would oppose such a control and if pressed too hard would fight the oppressor, even if a violent insane oppressor were a pseudo Christian American oppressor.
I have to wonder if the inciters of the rabid right have figured into their equation the unwillingness of the rest of us to be over run from within. And to have our own faith suppressed by a bunch of retrogrades who want to return us to the dark ages.
I am fearful of where they are taking this country, but Americans have shown an unwillingness to be bullied very much without striking back.
Frankly its the militarized police and the uncontrolled mercenaries that have me most concerned.
Congratulations HATEMONGER SARAH, on your first blood sacrifice victim.....an innocent Muslim and American family man just minding his own business of earning a living. No telling how many you can actually get killed when you and squalling baby Beck get together to incite more hate crimes against blacks!
ReplyDeleteNews for taxi driver stabbed at ground zero
ABC News NY filmmaker charged with stabbing cab driver for being Muslim - 1 hour ago
Ahmed H. Sharif, 43, of Queens, was stabbed several times by Michael ... of the ground zero mosque debate, he said. "All drivers should be more careful. ...
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-08-25-cabbie-stabbing-muslim_N.htm
Say, was that NY taxi driver heading to the 'Beat Whitey Night' celebration?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100824/NEWS01/8240366/Police-say-it-s-very-possible-attacks-near-fairgrounds-had-racial-overtones
Well, I agree that we're living in a time where extremists of both Christianity and Islam have gained power. Clearly we see that. However, the two institutions are not identical. Islam is the only one of the Big 3 which has not undergone a Reformation. As a result, it is struggling with self-identity and believers in Islam are attempting to define what a good muslim is and how muslims should live in the modern era.
ReplyDeleteFor years we've seen europe struggling with all aspects of muslim immigration, and that was before 911. Along with those problems went terrorism, and we started seeing bombings in London and elsewhere. Religious, cultural, political,..it all goes hand in hand.
Here's a 2007 article on a speech from a London based organization:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/world/europe/06hizb.html
You'll note that those in attendance are not unshaven, robed, taliban-like followers, but bankers, IT managers and teachers. That fact alone has to give you pause.
The islamic puzzle has yet to be solved. In rich countries like Saudi Arabia, they ignore and suppress it. Western Europe has failed to solve it. That leaves, imo, America. We're quoted once as being the last best hope of the world, - maybe we're the last best hope of Modern Islam. Moderation must succeed here, where it has failed elsewhere. And the US has a good track record for that, actually. I don't know if it's our particular brand of democracy that does it, or our constitution, or our tradition of separation of church and state, or even our corporate greed, but it's something.
Islam is beginning to emerge in America. How we deal with it in the next 50 years will determine not only our own fate, but also the fate of Islam itself.
So while it's easy to chalk up a conflict between some protesters near ground zero and an Imam as bigotry, it's less simple than that. My own preference? The Imam moves the center to another location, and continues the work he started. This is a marathon, not a sprint.