Someone prayed for Barack Obama to lose. I think the minister, Arnold Conrad said it best:
There are millions of people around this world praying to their god -- whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah -- that his [McCain's] opponent wins, for a variety of reasons . . . And Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation because they're going to think that their god is bigger than you if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and Election Day.
Perhaps prayed isn't the right word for it. Pastor Conrad challenged God to prove Himself. Let me give the right-wingnuts here a little refresher course on their favorite book, The Holy Bible, when their so-called "Lord and Saviour" was told the same thing by the Devil himself. His response--since so many of the right-wing "Christians" are loathe to look such things up for themselves--can be found in both Matthew 4:7 and Luke 4:12. His response was to remind Lucifer of the passage in Deuteronomy 6--"Thou shalt not tempt the lord thy God."
Hence, Pastor Conrad commits blasphemy in the name of politics. Does he think he's the Prophet Elijah? And what will he say if, in a moment, reminiscent of the Priests of Baal, he's had Christians running around the alter, mutilating themselves in the vain hope of provoking their god to action, and fire descends from on high and strikes the other guy's alter (i.e. Obama wins)? Does this mean that Allah is superior to God? Hardly.
I despise ignorance, but I am disgusted by the kind of cynicism shown by the Religious Right. Like me, they know that the God of Abraham from the Torah is also "the Father" of Jesus Christ. They also know enough about Islam to know that Allah and God are one and the same. It breaks down something like this: God has his chosen people--the Hebrews. Later, he sent Jesus for all mankind. In Islamic theology, Jesus isn't the son of God, he's God's prophet--the last prophet before the Prophet Mohammed. And the Jews believe that Jesus was a real person, too, they just don't believe he was the Messiah; I dunno, maybe they think he was a nutty, rogue rabbi--which he might have been. It doesn't weaken his whole "good neighbor" schtick as far as I'm concerned. The point is that every monotheist, whether Jew, Muslim or Christian, prays to the same god.
So whose prayers does God answer?
It's that kind of question that leads me to tell Christians I'm an atheist, which is mostly true: I don't believe in God and I've become increasingly ambivalent toward religion in the recent past; as a person of reason and science, however, God and religion are not associated with empirical evidence, whereby can neither be proven true or false, so I am an agnostic. But from my perspective, the Religious Right is filled with the same kind of nutcases as extreme Islam. They have a thirst for blood, as evidenced by the fact that most so-called "Christians" favor the death penalty--even though Christ's own execution was a stark indictment of such a barbaric practice. Islamic theocracies, such as Iran, also favor the death penalty. And the Religious Right's defiance of laws against using tax-exempt funds for furthing a political agenda shows a clear intent on the part of the Christian Right to convert America into a theocracy. Further, the type of outbursts we've seen from audiences at McCain-Palin rallies, many indicative of a tendency violent behavior, show minds which are both angry and malleable--a lethal combination when it is directed by a toxic message. What little difference that existed between the consequences of Christianity and those of Islam is rapidly eroding.
The Religious Right has a vision of America that is dark, dangerous and none too Christian.
Monday, October 13, 2008
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7 comments:
A-Jack,
Great post. WIll anyone listen? I did. Will the masses? Probably not. This is no reflection of you (or I) - but mostly just indicative of "the dumbing down." Ignorance is a key ingredient of the type of thinking that leads to "assumptions of sanctity" and passive/aggressive hate exhibited by "Pastor" Conrad's "prayer."
Pastor Conrad's way of thinking is the same way of thinking that led to the holocaust, the crusades of medieval Christendom, the inquisition, the Salem witch trials, etc.
In reality, the so-called "right wing" of today is neither conservative nor Christian. It is amazing to me how easily the conservatives of this country have been brainwashed by the neo-conservatives. The psychological mind control techniques employed by this group are so easy to spot - but the masses continue to belly up to the bar for more and more of the toxic libations.
What can a man do? I speak out against it, but it is like bailing water on a sinking ocean liner with a spoon.
It is easy to be an atheist when divisive hate mongers like Pastor Conrad have a platform and claim to speak for God. As far as Pastor Conrad's 'god' goes, I pray we all are atheists.
Seriously, your relationship with God is your business and nobody else's - including this writer. For me, I find I move closer to God the further I move away from neo-conservatives, today's organized religion, and hate mongers like Pastor Conrad.
History repeats itself. My suggestion - put on your seatbelt because it is getting worse everyday.
Let's just keep speaking out against it as long as we can. Example below:
This shift toward the U.S. proclaiming itself as the hand of God’s will serving as the global police force, and those that oppose the U.S. as evil, allowed U.S. leaders to address the world with a straight face despite the ever-increasing hypocrisy of its policies. While many U.S. leaders, including Ronald Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, and G.W. Bush, may have believed it was God’s desire for the U.S. to function in this manner, the reality was that the U.S. was moving closer to the modus operandi of Islamic fundamentalists and the crusaders of medieval Christendom. In this way, the hand of religious conservatism believing itself to represent God’s will fits neatly into the glove of the Military Industrial Complex and its bottomless pit of monetary consumption that has driven the engine of the U.S. economy from 1950 through today. The most logical path to correct this course is to apply critical thinking in exchange for a position based on the erroneous assumption of sanctity that drives U.S. policy. The U.S. must begin to apply its most sacred concept, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, to every nation and every human. No nation, including the United States, owns the sole right to claim it represents God.
If the U.S. desires to lead the world toward democracy and freedom, it must do so by example - not by force. To escape the hypocrisy inherent in the assumption of sanctity in its policies, the U.S. must divorce itself from reliance on the Military Industrial Complex to drive its economy.
Today's neo-conservatives are simply recycled Nazis using Hitler's playbook.
They may taze me, throw me in jail, beat me, or kill me - but I will not be silent.
When I die, I will have no regrets because I will have fought the good fight. Eventually, the people will figure this out. I just hope it will not be too late.
First the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
IMO the Religious Right is doing more damage that good...to the nation and to the Rep party.
The Religious Right, as a political instrument, was created in the late 70s as a natural response to the radical excesses of the Left in the 60s. This country went through the biggest social shift in our history (abortion, civil rights, cynicism about our leaders, destruction of many of our national myths, etc.) and terrified many people who ultimately sought refuge in the politics of the Religious Right.
Well, they've pushed too far and have become extreme to the point where most voters reject them.
The dilemma for the Reps is that the Religious Right is the most loyal and motivated part of their Base. They can't win without them. So, they must figure out how to maintain the support of The Religious Right while pushing the Party back to the Center.
Damned if I know how they can do it.
I was raised Catholic, but in recent years I too have trended towards atheism, or perhaps agnosticism, and the religious right is the reason why.
It's a shame really, I never really doubted my faith when I was younger, and I saw the church as a source of good in the world. I still believe that religious teaching can be used to instill morals if it's taken with a grain of salt and a good deal of metaphorical understanding. It took ignorance of this level to shake me and cause me to re-evaluate my own beliefs and my opinion of religion on the whole.
I can't tolerate intolerance in any way, and I was raised to believe that Christianity too could not condone intolerance like this, I certainly don't believe that Jesus Christ who they pretend to worship would've acted this way, yet seeing religion being used more and more as a tool for atheism and waging wars, seeing the comparison between Muslim and Christian extremists and how ugly and frighteningly similar they both are, has really given me a cause for concern about the future path of the United States.
That doesn't mean I personally am not hopeful. Let's just say I'm on pins and needles waiting for November 4th for a hint at what America will come through.
It's brought out the fringe element. I'm currently arguing with a guy on YouTube who refers to Obama as "Buckwheat," then resents the allegation that he's a racist. His homepage--I shit you not---is decorated with confederate flags; his friends all have them as backdrops in their photographs.
This election is bringing out the nuts. I'm with you: I can't wait until it's over, but I don't think this country will ever be the same, either.
Can I appologize to you...as a follower of Jesus...I am truly sorry. Everything that the "religious right" and many Christians for that matter are misrepresenting my Jesus. Oh if we (as Christians) were truly live what Jesus lived. Gandhi said: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” The reason so many are turned off by Christianity is because of Christians. The Pharisees in the Bible were the religious teachers during the time of Jesus and many of them never truly understood or wanted to understand what the true message of Jesus was. Many of us today are stil those Pharisees...just religious hypocrites. Jesus said this “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,that the blind will see,that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Luke 4:18-19 Jesus came to change and transform the earth NOT IN ANY SORT OF GOVERNMENTAL WAY...but by LOVE. This is what Jesus said when questioned by the Religious people of the day on which commandment is the greatest Matthew 22:36-40“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” JESUS TELLS US RIGHT HERE THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT IS TO LOVE!! Love Him and love others!!
...As for politics...it is funny that Christians are still looking for an "earthly king/ruler". If you look in the old Testament the people of Israel were super adamant about wanting a king cause apparently God and the prophets He provided were not suffice for them. What happened was the people consistently started to look to that "ruler" instead of God. We are still doing the same today...instead of trying to live as advocates of peace, justice, love, mercy, etc. like Jesus did we look to the government to do "our job." If the "church" was doing what it should be...the world would be much different.
The good thing is...there are Christians who are recognizing the hypocracy of the church, there are Christians who are trying to live radically different. We have been transformed by the HOPE OF CHRIST and his compassion and we want to share it with the world!! People like...Shane Claiborne, Donald Miller, Tony Campolo, Mike Yankoski,and other ordinary radicals who are living "it" instead of just talking. We are so unlike our Jesus, please "forgive us, for we know not what we do". (From Luke 23:34 when Jesus forgave those who had hung Him on the cross.)
@Jess
Reaching your hand out gives me reassurance that there are two kinds of Christians: Gospel Christians and Pauline Christians. Gospel Christians, like yourself, follow the four Gospels, which have defined Christ as the Prince of Peace, and promoted his message of "good neighbors," forgiveness and tolerance. Pauline Christians are followers of the Paul, who never met Christ, but presumed to redefine his message after the Apostles were tracked down and murdered. Paul Hellenized and Romanized Christianity, turning it from the brilliant philosophy of a lay Rabbi--who might well have been the son of God--into a religious franchise. Paul was himself a Pharisee, one of the people that Christ had roundly condemned for their pride and wealth. His interpretation of Christ's philosophy was, no doubt, tempered by his own attitudes and beliefs; it would indeed be hard to divorce one's self from the level of sanctimony that the Pharisees and Scribes were known for.
The Romans then turned it into a universal church, taking your freedom and replacing it with bread.
And it is this point that is most salient: freedom for bread. Your Bible tells you that the first temptation of Christ was when resisted the temptation exchange his soul--his freedom--for bread. The same Rome that crucified him adopted his church as a universal faith, giving them their version of his words via Paul's filter.
I am convinced that it was through Paul's filter that the message was distorted, giving quarter to intolerance, hypocrisy and hate.
But then, I am not a Christian. It's easy for me to theoretically divide The New Testament, and by extension, the Church itself, into these two disparate groups. Certainly there is no such distinction held by Christians themselves.
An anonymous poster said, "What can a man do? I speak out against it, but it is like bailing water on a sinking ocean liner with a spoon."
I sympathize, but this is not uncharted territory. A recent example can be found in the American Psychological Association (APA), who recently voted to amend by-laws for their discipline, which barred their members from participation in torture. The previous administration of the APA had been complicit with our government, and it took a revolt from within the profession to make this monumental act take place. Steven Reisner laid his career on the line, fought against injustice, and in so doing, ended the long era of mental health professionals compulsory assistance with state-sponsored torture.
And Jess, you are no less of a person. It was his own Hebrews that Christ was standing up to--and for--not because he hated Judaism or Israel, but because he loved them. He showed this by defending the adulteress, by tending to all of the people that his church ignored and by offering comfort to the thief as they hung beside one another.
So Jess, you need not apologize for your church: I can see what kind of Christian you are. But you must fight for it, and that means fighting against an entrenched definition of "Christian" that is closer Scribes and Pharisees than than it is to the people who need his message the most.
Peace.
Thanks for your encouragement freind. About the Paul thing...you could be right, I never thought about it like that. Although...Paul never claimed to be the Messiah (as Jesus did) and that is what we (the church) forget so often. Whether Paul was justified in everything he said and did in the name of Christ is for God to decide. Every day I am constantly seeking out Jesus and who He is, and struggling with and questioning many things that have continue to lead me to Christ. Not to His people but to Him. One specific thing that has been a focus for me is realizing my fight is not against people...Christian, Athiest, Animist, murderers, friends, enemies. Ephesians 6:12
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." You might have heard about the "Armor of God" ...this verse comes from that passage about how we need to suit up to war against evil (Satan, demons and their wanting to bring destruction to us) not suit up for war against people in this hurting world that are the same as myself...broken and in need of something ....for a Hope. thats what ive got right now, i gotta head to class...keep struggling and seeking (its the story of my life) but it is so growing and life changing.
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