I also became aware that Bush and minions follow the "strategies" of James
Dobson to the letter. I'm talking about Dobson's recommended strategies for
raising and disciplining children. Bush sees us (Aaaargh!) and developing
countries as his children. --Peggy
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Morrison
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 11:03 AM
Subject: Re: [rhetoric-list] Re;The Rapture Index and the 2004 elec
It's my pleasure and privilege to pass on the information like the Rapture
article, which I was fortunate to have passed on to me in another group. My
youth was also spent attending a 'non-denominational' evangelical church where
my mother served for a few years as the organist
Living in the heart of fundamentalist/baptist Georgia is sometimes a scary
proposition for me, but it also helps me by re-enforcing my decisions to leave
that church at the age of 14 and continue to believe in Universalist principles
of tolerance and diversity and the divinity of ALL people of ALL faiths who
practice the true spirit of their respective icons, whether it be Buddhist,
Christian, Muslim or other less prominent spiritual paths
It's interesting that you included Sun Yung Moon. He has very close ties to
Bush.
Do you have any references concerning the two 19th century immigrant
preachers Moyer referred to in the article?
prezbotchistheultimatechimpanzee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
This was an EXCELLENT post (The Rapture Index and the 2004 Election)
to our Rhetoric site.
Thank you Jim Morrison for passing it along.I'd like if I may, to
add something to what you posted based on my own personal life
experience in this area.
I can attest to the truthfulness of the excerpts from Bill Moyers
and George Maniot (hope I got the names spelled right).
I used to belong to a two different denominations, so called "non-
denominational" evangelicals who subscribed to exactly the scenario
of the rapture described in these excerpts. For thirteen years,until
I fell out of these beliefs and more or less deprogrammed myself, I
heard such teachings every Sunday from the pulpit woven into the
sermons given.
This sounds wild-eyed and nuts but it is indeed an integral part of
the beliefs of most 'fundamentalist' Christian churches in the
United States.
I came across an old-style preacher on the radio in the 1970's by
the name of Walter Martin, who had founded an anti-cult apologetics
organization to combat the teachings of non-orthodox teachings such
as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Sun Myung Moon, etc.
This radio preacher showed from the Bible how this rapture teaching
is not supported in any reasonable reading of the Bible and he
showed it elowquently cross referencing between books of the New
Testament, to show that the early Apostles believed that the Church
(believers) would GO THROUGH THE TRIBULATION. But you can't
convince any right-wing, fundamentalist today hardly anywhere of
this. They have swallowed this, I would call it, heresy, hook, line,
and sinker and they are adamantly convinced that it is literally
coming to pass before our eyes.
I am ashamed now to admit that I too at one time believed this as
a 'given' until I began questioning it after I heard the
aforementioned broadcast radio evangelist, Dr. Walter Marin, who
died in the late 1970s or early 1980's, but his organization lives
on in the form of the Christian Research Institute in Southern
California.
I just wanted to thank Jim Morrison for passing this along to us. It
explains a lot in terms of support for George Bush among so-called
Christians, who are very sincere (but I believe sincerely wrong) in
their dedication to such teachings being literally true about the
rapture and doing all they can to 'help it happen'.
It explains why they are 'proof' against any objective, rational
analysis of Bush's myriad crimes and failures. It is mystifying to
us who practice empirical observation just HOW these people can be
so 'programmed' but programmed they are and they DO believe it is a
matter of ETERNAL' life and death and their duty to propagate this
belief and these politics by any means possible in order "to save as
many as possible for Christ".
I know whereof I speak. I (red faced now but really believed it back
then)...was ONE OF THEM.
Thank you again,Mr. Morrison, for sharing such a valuable insight.
It hit the proverbial nail on the head. Bullseye. Thank you and I
hope this is a wake up call to us who consider
ourselves 'progressives' that the power of religious fervor is
indeed strong, and I believe, very dangerous because it now is
playing with the use of weapons of mass destruction. Whether Islamic
fundamentalist or "God's Cowboys" here in America, we have a world
teetring on the brink of any number of disaster scenarios.
I can't remember where I heard it said, but I like this saying:
"There is no man so dangerous as that man who KNOWS that he is
RIGHT".
That is a good part of how GW got back in. We thought we had the
momentum behind us, we who are sick to death and sick at heart when
we think of the slaughter, economic damage, damage to America's
prestige and credibility....we progressives thought that finally
RIGHT was on our side...and it was.....but the religious right
marches to the beat of a "proof texted" "jury rigged" Christianity,
as American as hot dogs and coca cola. And it indeed IS driving
George Bush's Iraq policy.
INSANITY to those of us, Christian or non Christian, who I believe
are rational, but SALVATION to the programmed "rapturist-Fallwell-
Robertson-Right-Wing-God's-American-Political-Army" people
*********************************************************************
******************************************************************
Excerpts from an address given by Bill Moyers to the Society of
Professional Journalists 2004 National Convention, September 11,
2004
The Rapture Index and the U.S. election
How do we explain the possibility that a close election ... could
turn on several million good and decent citizens who believe in the
Rapture Index? That's what I said ­ the Rapture Index. Google it
and you will understand why the best-selling books in America today
are the twelve volumes of the Left Behind series which have earned
multi-millions of dollars for their co-authors who earlier this year
completed a triumphant tour of the Bible Belt whose buckle holds in
place George W. Bush's armour of the Lord. These true believers
subscribe to a fantastical theology concocted in the l9th century by
a couple of immigrant preachers who took disparate passages from the
Bible and wove them into a narrative millions of people believe to
be literally true.
According to this narrative, Jesus will return to earth only when
certain conditions are met: when Israel has been established as a
state; when Israel then occupies the rest of its "biblical lands;"
when the third temple has been rebuilt on the site now occupied by
the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques; and, then, when legions of
the Antichrist attack Israel. This will trigger a final showdown in
the valley of Armageddon during which all the Jews who have not
converted will be burned. Then the Messiah returns to earth. The
Rapture occurs once the big battle begins. "True believers" will be
lifted out of their clothes and transported to heaven where, seated
next to the right hand of God, they will watch their political and
religious opponents suffer plagues of boils, sores, locusts and
frogs during the several years of tribulation which follow.
I'm not making this up. We've reported on these people for our
weekly broadcast on PBS, following some of them from Texas to the
West Bank. They are sincere, serious, and polite as they tell you
that they feel called to help bring the Rapture on as fulfillment of
biblical prophecy. That's why they have declared solidarity with
Israel and the Jewish settlements and backed up their support with
money and volunteers. It's why they have staged confrontations at
the old temple site in Jerusalem. It's why the invasion of Iraq for
them was a warm-up act, predicted in the 9th chapter of the Book of
Revelations where four angels "which are bound in the great river
Euphrates" will be released "to slay the third part of men." As the
British writer George Monbiot has pointed out, for these people the
Middle East is not a foreign policy issue, it's a biblical scenario,
a matter of personal belief. A war with Islam in the Middle East is
not something to be feared but welcomed; if there's a
conflagration there, they come out winners on the far side of
tribulation, inside the pearly gates, in celestial splendor, supping
on ambrosia to the accompaniment of harps plucked by angels.
One estimate puts these people at about l5 per cent of the
electorate. Most are likely to vote Republican; they are part of the
core of George W. Bush's base support. He knows who they are and
what they want. When the President asked Ariel Sharon to pull his
tanks out of Jenin in 2002, over one hundred thousand angry
Christian fundamentalists barraged the White House with emails and
Mr. Bush never mentioned the matter again.
Not coincidentally, the administration recently put itself solidly
behind Ariel Sharon's expansions of settlements on the West Bank. In
George Monbiot's analysis, the President stands to lose fewer votes
by encouraging Israeli expansion into the West Bank than he stands
to lose by restraining it. "He would be mad to listen to these
people, but he would also be mad not to." No wonder Karl Rove walks
around the West Wing whistling "Onward Christian Soldiers." He knows
how many votes he is likely to get from these pious folk who believe
that the Rapture Index now stands at 144 --- just one point below
the critical threshold at which point the prophecy is fulfilled, the
whole thing blows, the sky is filled with floating naked bodies, and
the true believers wind up at the right hand of God. With no regret
for those left behind. (See George Monbiot. The Guardian, April 20,
2004 (following)
I know, I know: You think I am bonkers... But this is just the
point: Journalists who try to tell these stories, connect these
dots, and examine these links are demeaned, disparaged, and
dismissed. This is the very kind of story that illustrates the
challenge journalists face in a world driven by ideologies that are
stoutly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally
accepted as reality.
Bill Moyers
Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power
US Christian fundamentalists are driving Bush's Middle East policy
George Monbiot
Tuesday April 20, 2004
The Guardian
To understand what is happening in the Middle East, you must first
understand what is happening in Texas. To understand what is
happening there, you should read the resolutions passed at the
state's Republican party conventions last month.
Take a look, for example, at the decisions made in Harris County,
which covers much of Houston. The delegates began by nodding through
a few uncontroversial matters: homosexuality is contrary to the
truths ordained by God; "any mechanism to process, license, record,
register or monitor the ownership of guns" should be repealed;
income tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and corporation tax
should be abolished; and immigrants should be deterred by electric
fences. Thus fortified, they turned to the real issue: the affairs
of a small state 7,000 miles away. It was then, according to a
participant, that the "screaming and near fist fights" began. I
don't know what the original motion said, but apparently it
was "watered down significantly" as a result of the shouting match.
The motion they adopted stated that Israel has an undivided claim to
Jerusalem and the West Bank, that Arab states should be "pressured"
to absorb refugees from Palestine, and that Israel should do
whatever it
wishes in seeking to eliminate terrorism.
Good to see that the extremists didn't prevail then. But why should
all this be of such pressing interest to the people of a state which
is seldom celebrated for its fascination with foreign affairs?
The explanation is slowly becoming familiar to us, but we still have
some difficulty in taking it seriously.
In the United States, several million people have succumbed to an
extraordinary delusion. In the 19th century, two immigrant preachers
cobbled together a series of unrelated passages from the Bible to
create what appears to be a consistent narrative: Jesus will return
to Earth when certain preconditions have been met.
The first of these was the establishment of a state of Israel. The
next involves Israel's occupation of the rest of its "biblical
lands" (most of the Middle East), and the rebuilding of the Third
Temple on the site now occupied by the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa
mosques. The legions of the antichrist will then be deployed against
Israel, and their war will lead to a final showdown in the valley of
Armageddon. The Jews will either burn or convert to Christianity,
and the Messiah will return to Earth.
What makes the story so appealing to Christian fundamentalists is
that before the big battle begins, all "true believers" (ie those
who believe what they believe) will be lifted out of their clothes
and wafted up to heaven during an event called the Rapture. Not only
do the worthy get to sit at the right hand of God, but they will be
able to watch, from the best seats, their political and religious
opponents being devoured by boils, sores, locusts and frogs, during
the seven years of Tribulation which follow.
The true believers are now seeking to bring all this about. This
means staging confrontations at the old temple site (in 2000, three
US Christians were deported for trying to blow up the mosques
there), sponsoring Jewish settlements in the occupied territories,
demanding ever more US support for Israel, and seeking to provoke a
final battle with the Muslim world/Axis of Evil/United Nations/
European Union/France or whoever the legions of the antichrist turn
out to be.
The believers are convinced that they will soon be rewarded for
their efforts. The antichrist is apparently walking among us, in the
guise of Kofi Annan, Javier Solana, Yasser Arafat or, more
plausibly, Silvio Berlusconi. The Wal-Mart corporation is also a
candidate (in my view a very good one), because it wants to radio-
tag its stock, thereby exposing humankind to the Mark of the Beast.
By clicking on www.raptureready.com, you can discover how close you
might be to flying out of your pyjamas.
The infidels among us should take note that the Rapture Index
currently stands at 144, just one point below the critical
threshold, beyond which the sky will be filled with floating
nudists.
Beast Government, Wild Weather and Israel are all trading at the
maximum five points (the EU is debat ing its constitution, there was
a freak hurricane in the south Atlantic, Hamas has sworn to avenge
the killing of its leaders), but the second coming is currently
being delayed by an unfortunate decline in drug abuse among
teenagers and a weak showing by the antichrist (both of which score
only two).
We can laugh at these people, but we should not dismiss them. That
their beliefs are bonkers does not mean they are marginal. American
pollsters believe that 15-18% of US voters belong to churches or
movements which subscribe to these teachings. A survey in 1999
suggested that this figure included 33% of Republicans.
The best-selling contemporary books in the US are the 12 volumes of
the Left Behind series, which provide what is usually described as
a "fictionalised" account of the Rapture (this, apparently,
distinguishes it from the other one), with plenty of dripping
details about what will happen to the rest of us.
The people who believe all this don't believe it just a little; for
them it is a matter of life eternal and death. And among them are
some of the most powerful men in America. John Ashcroft, the
attorney general, is a true believer, so are several prominent
senators and the House majority leader, Tom DeLay. Mr DeLay (who is
also the co-author of the marvellously named DeLay-Doolittle
Amendment, postponing campaign finance reforms) travelled to Israel
last year to tell the Knesset that "there is no middle ground, no
moderate position worth taking".
So here we have a major political constituency - representing much
of the current president's core vote - in the most powerful nation
on Earth, which is actively seeking to provoke a new world war.
Its members see the invasion of Iraq as a warm-up act, as Revelation
(9:14-15) maintains that four angels "which are bound in the great
river Euphrates" will be released "to slay the third part of men".
They batter down the doors of the White House as soon as its support
for Israel wavers: when Bush asked Ariel Sharon to pull his tanks
out of Jenin in 2002, he received 100,000 angry emails from
Christian fundamentalists, and never mentioned the matter again.
The electoral calculation, crazy as it appears, works like this.
Governments stand or fall on domestic issues. For 85% of the US
electorate, the Middle East is a foreign issue, and therefore of
secondary interest when they enter the polling booth. For 15% of the
electorate, the Middle East is not just a domestic matter, it's a
personal one: if the president fails to start a conflagration there,
his core voters don't get to sit at the right hand of God. Bush, in
other words, stands to lose fewer votes by encouraging Israeli
aggression than he stands to lose by restraining it.
He would be mad to listen to these people. He would also be mad not
to.
George Monbiot's book The Age of Consent: a Manifesto for a New
World Order is now published in paperback.
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