Karen, it wasn't me that wrote. I believe it was William Ward, who made a very interesting point about the focus on the afterlife. I recall that focus when, as a kid, I lived in a German Baptist immigrant community in rural Saskatchewan. It wasn't that the here and now was unimportant. It was just that everything one did in it was about getting to the hereafter - merit and demerit points for eternity - with God keeping score. The more one stoically suffered the vagaries, persecutions and indignities of life on earth, the more certain one was of being endowed with God's grace and getting to heaven.
I'm certain that my own little fundamentalist community was not the only one that saw the world that way, and I've sometimes wondered how that kind of perspective has infused itself into the North America outlook - how, despite our much greater sophistication, it still informs how we behave and divide the world into good and evil. Ed Ed Weick 577 Melbourne Ave. Ottawa, ON, K2A 1W7 Canada Phone (613) 728 4630 Fax (613) 728 9382 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karen Watters Cole" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "William B Ward" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 11:00 PM Subject: RE: Keystone Cops reappear in Florida > Bill, I just finished reading about Florida Voting Disaster, the sequel. > Sorry to hear it. Really. > (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62468-2002Sep10.html. > Karen > Ed wrote: I would guess that you have hit the nail on the head. The USSR was > brought down with fax machines. I have spent a lot of time with the > Christian right. When we lived overseas, we would have a lot of visitors > of such ilk who realized that we did not watch their every move and > phrase the way that their coreligionists did. We also found these > individuals to be very sincere and very caring but unquestioning as you > mentioned. We spent a year and a half going to an 'end of the earth' > church here in Tampa because the 2 foster teens living with us new a > bunch of people there. I do feel that their focus on the afterlife has a > lot to do with their failure to examine the here and now. > > > Bill, I still have the impression that the Old Guard advising le > > dauphin > > Bush were not completely aware of the power of the internet and the > > changing > > communication environment since they last had been inside the > > Beltway. > > There is today a much greater public appetite for openness in > > government, > > following on Watergate, but also from the tell-all books and > > punditry that > > has proliferated since Reagan-Bush. > > It's almost as if they underestimate the press and the public's > > ability to > > disseminate information that is presented to them by their > > leadership, as if > > they lived in CEO vacuums oblivious to what the voting and > > pension-building > > public had become. > > On the other hand, if your voting base is a group of conservatives, > > many of > > them apostolic Christians who believe in the Bible literally down to > > the > > commas, then they are presumed to be much more trusting and > > accepting of > > authority and top-down diktats. Therefore, if you motivate your > > base to > > outnumber your opposition, that's all that matters. > > Which brings us back to the voting booth: like so much else in life, > > half of > > success is just showing up. > > Karen > > Karen quoted: > > > > "information from foreign informants have concluded they cannot > > validate two > > prominent allegations made by high-ranking administration > > officials: > > links between Hussein and al Qaeda members who have taken refuge in > > northern > > Iraq" > > > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! > Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! > Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: > http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. > > >
