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Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 20:22:44 -0500 (EST)
To: Matthew Rudary <mrudary &AElig eecs.umich.edu>
cc: improvetheworld &AElig umich.edu
From: Daniel Reeves <dreeves &AElig umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Opposition vs. enemy, evangelical vs. radical and hateful
Status: O

Thanks, I agree, and this article has chilled me out a little.  Kapoo has
been making that argument to me for some time.  My counterargument
has been (as I work myself back into my usual de-chilled state): sure,
most christians aren't that extreme but only because they lack the
conviction to take it to its logical conclusion.  And there are some
dangerous fundamentalist attitudes that do border on mainstream.  Like the
example discussed in the Bill Moyers article that Bethany sent a while ago
(excerpt below).  A member of Reagan's cabinet (!) actually espoused the
view that environmental concerns should be deprioritized since the Second
Coming is imminent.  I call that a fundamentally unhealthy belief system.
  [addendum: the Huffington article that Andrew just sent has more hard
evidence that an enormous minority of Americans have some kind of "end
time philosophy".]


Bill Moyers article excerpt:

For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly
of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be
proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a world view despite being
contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and
theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always
blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to
the facts.

Remember James Watt, President Reagan's first secretary of the Interior?
My favorite online environmental journal, the ever-engaging Grist,
reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that
protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent
return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, "after the last tree
is felled, Christ will come back."

Beltway elites snickered. The press corps didn't know what he was talking
about. But James Watt was serious. So were his compatriots out across the
country. They are the people who believe the bible is literally true --
one-third of the American electorate, if a recent Gallup poll is accurate.
In this past election several million good and decent citizens went to the
polls believing in the rapture index. That's right -- the rapture index.


--- \/   FROM Matthew Rudary AT 05.01.08 19:40 (Yesterday)   \/ ---

> Eric Burns of websnark.com posted "The Twelfth Commandment" to which I
> add the subitle "Know Your Opposition." He makes some good points about
> not lumping Christianity (or even Fundamentalist or Evangelical
> Christianity) in with people like WBC (creators of God Hates Fags):
>
> http://www.websnark.com/archives/2005/01/the_twelfth_com.html
>
> Matt

-- 
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves  - -  google://"Daniel Reeves"