Obama, the Antichrist, the Apocalypse and LGBT Rights
Published July 21, 2009 @ 11:25AM PT
Sounds like we're throwing everything and the kitchen sink into this subject, eh? Well, truth be told, there won't really be any kitchen sinks after the apocalypse anyway. But how's this for a concept: some conservative evangelicals are starting to wonder if Obama's support for LGBT rights is a sign that the end of days is near. Moreover, they're even rumbling that Obama himself might be the antichrist.
Antichrist? Apocalypse? End of Days?
Hmm...with a Democrat now in office, is a surge in apocalyptic rhetoric on the horizon?
That's the conclusion reached by Matthew Avery Sutton over at Religious Dispatches, who does a great job tracking the history of evangelical apocaplyptic thinking over the past 100 years, and notes that when Democrats are in power, some religious leaders start planning for Armageddon.
For instance, during FDR's administration...
The rapid expansion of the New Deal state and FDR’s dream of a global United Nations threatened evangelicals’ sense of religious liberty and national independence. For the faithful living in the 1930s and ’40s, to support Rooseveltian liberalism or internationalism was to be complicit in the rise of the Antichrist.
Good, but I think it can be topped. Here's what Sutton has to say about apocalyptic thinking during the days of LBJ:
In the late 1960s, evangelicals once again faced growing state power in the form of Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” while simultaneously witnessing the apparent evaporation of cherished American values. They responded by reverting to apocalyptic jeremiads. This was most evident in the runaway success of Hal Lindsey’s The Late, Great Planet Earth, the best-selling nonfiction book of the 1970s. At the same time evangelicals, although scorning Hollywood, turned to modern technology to preach Armageddon. The result was the cult phenomenon A Thief in the Night, an Armageddon-themed film that popularized one of the first pop Christian hits, Larry Norman’s “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.” The movie scared countless teenagers (and probably an equal number of adults) into preparing for the rapture.
And who can forget the Clinton administration:
Millennial fervor swept evangelicals again in the late 1990s on the heels of the two-term Clinton presidency. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins published Left Behind, the first in a series of novels that grew into the best-selling series of the past decade (until they were finally overtaken by the true prince of darkness himself, Harry Potter). Films, music, and even a line of kids’ books turned Left-Behind apocalypticism into a billion dollar business. Evangelicals were well prepared then to view the terrorist attacks on 9/11 as evidence of God’s judgment for the Clinton years.
Now with Obama, apocalyptic fervor is at an all-time high it seems. Already there's conservative Internet buzz suggesting that Obama is indeed the antichrist (Cable news happens to employ one of those who believe this...cough, cough, Glenn Beck, cough cough). And as Sutton puts it, most of Obama's legislative agenda - at least as it was set out during his campaign and during the first 200 days of his administration - only reaffirms for some conservative religious folks that Armageddon might be here as soon as next Tuesday. Here's Sutton's take on Obama's viewpoint among deeply conservative evangelical Christians:
Obama is caught in a classic catch-22. The Antichrist, the Bible explains, is going to masquerade as an angel of light. This means that the more Obama accomplishes as president and the more he improves America’s image abroad, the more suspicious evangelicals will become; they don’t want to be duped by the devil. Obama’s talk of more cooperation with other nations, the possibility of a national health care plan, his move to nationalize some private businesses, and his goal of expanding protection of the rights of gays and lesbians will drive evangelicals to one certain conclusion: the End of Days are upon us.
Of course, seen from the lens of U.S. history, it's really clear that the End of Days has less to do with anything Biblical, and more to do with right-wing religious hysteria over Democratic Presidents who might mention the word "gay" or "lesbian" once in a while. Obama has certainly done a great job of reaching across the political football field and engaging religious conservatives (sometimes to the detriment of support within his own base).
But for people who want to believe that progressive social values are the highway to the apocalypse, there's very little Obama can do to simmer down the hysteria. Given that, hopefully there will come a time soon where the Obama administration worries less about what the 700 club thinks of him, and more about what progressives believe about his tenure in Washington.
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Comments (50)
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Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.
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This article is incorrect in stating that Obama supports LGBT rights. In fact, despite Obama stating that he "unequivocally" supported same sex marriage in two high profile Chicago interviews in 1996 and 2000, by the time he ran for president he only supported civil unions for same sex couples. Despite the fact that Obama stated we should repeal the Defense of Marriage act as a campaign promise, recently he instructed the department of justice to fight to keep the issue from the Supreme Court. Obama recently stated that same sex marriage would be too expensive for the federal government. Obama is another business as usual politician and despite his color does not appear to understand or care about the bigotry and hatred towards the LGBT community. We would have been better off with Ron Paul as president or David Kucinich.
Posted by Jeff Evans on 07/21/2009 @ 01:02PM PT
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Just one correction, Dennis Kucinich. :)
Posted by Dave Hershey on 07/21/2009 @ 01:12PM PT
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Spot on.
Posted by Fred Frankenberg on 07/21/2009 @ 01:28PM PT
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I agree! Both Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel are in favor of gay rights and marriage. I had hopes for Obama, but he has let us down. But, I will also think the alternative to Obama would have been a total disaster!
Posted by gilbert barrett on 07/27/2009 @ 04:28PM PT
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Only Dennis; Ron Paul also misrepresented himself (a 'free-market' extremist) but that's another subject.
The irrational religious right leaders learned from the cold war propaganda years. You need to whip up hysteria and a big showdown looming to sustain the big funding machine and the support of clueless sheep.
Since the election created at least an illusion of significant evolution in our nation, greater efforts will be generated to revive the good old days of panic, fear, and delusion.
I will never support censorship or the use of silly warning labels as a response to social ills. But if I did, I would put a warning label on the covers of bibles: Warning! This product has produced mass-murder, torture, slavery, colonialism, empires, expansionism, poverty, bigotry, rape, abuse, domination (non-consensual), and stupidity in government. Please keep this away from children. Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta
Posted by Rev Bookburn on 07/29/2009 @ 04:11PM PT
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ron paul 2012
legal marriage, cannabis & hemp throughout americas. lets move forward rationally people! NOW IS THE TIME!
Posted by jeffrey C oldman on 07/31/2009 @ 10:53PM PT
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Ron Paul I think had the same integrity as Dennis Kucinich, but some of his ideas implemented would be a complete disaster. Kucinich, I agree, was the only one running who has the intergity and the convictions we needed. But America isn't ready yet for people with that kind of backbone.
I am glad though, for the interruption of white men in the white house, and I do think Obama is at least one of the best we've had so far and a step in the right direction if he doesn't keep watering himself down.
However, it's a mistake to equate ALL people who identify with scripture and jesus christ with war, oppression, nationalism, sexism, racism, homophobia, etc.. It's those with the biggest mouths and the most hysteria that get noticed and hijack religious representation, but it's a misrepresentation. There are plenty of people who use their faith to push them forward - people like Cornel West, who y'all should look up if you don't know about him already.
Posted by Cameron Orr on 08/02/2009 @ 11:37AM PT
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Most modern academic biblical scholars agree that the Book of Revelation is a veiled criticism of the Holy Roman Empire that was contemporary at the time it was written. Metaphorically veiled so as to offer some protection from religious/political persecution to it's writer(s), it conforms to patterns found in many apocalyptic writings, such as Nostradamus. The wording is intentionally vague and more conceptual than concrete.
The Bible, Koran, Talmud or whichever flavor of religious text one prefers - all possess the exact same inherent flaw - our interpretation.
Posted by Fred Frankenberg on 07/21/2009 @ 01:16PM PT
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Oh, yeah... forgot my final thought...
The clear evidence of America's decline and failure lies not in what the religious right claim as 'immorality', but in the fact that our nation was founded by people (willing to suffer in ways we can't realistically relate to) by fleeing the religious and political persecution experienced in Europe - only to have their descendants perpetrate that same unacceptable ignorance.
Posted by Fred Frankenberg on 07/21/2009 @ 01:58PM PT
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It is often overlooked in US history that a great many of those that came over fleeing religious persecution and seeking freedom had every intention of setting up a theocracy here. This included the original pilgrims and the puritans of New England.
Whether we like it or not, a significant portion of our founders had every intention of imposing their beliefs and views on others and were very intolerant.
So it's not just something that happened with the descendants, but is something that came over with some of the earliest colonists.
Posted by William Brown on 07/21/2009 @ 02:46PM PT
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Touché.
Posted by Fred Frankenberg on 07/21/2009 @ 06:48PM PT
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The religious conservatives are spewing nonsense towards President Obama. Although religion is important to the religious conservatives, their interpretation is still nonsense. The advancement of LGBT rights must continue in order to ensure that the LGBT community receives the rights they deserve. Progessive advancements are necessary. While conservatives disagree however, progress and LGBT rights trumps and will always trump intolerance.
Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 07/21/2009 @ 01:47PM PT
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I'm a religious conservative and I don't feel that way about Obama. It would be good to bear in mind that it is always the extremes in any group or movement that get the most attention in a debate. There a many more of us than you might imagine who are not so extreme and are willing to examine this issue more closely.
Posted by William Brown on 07/21/2009 @ 08:19PM PT
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what color is obama? half white as i see it. and what does that do to help him see bigotry more than any one else. nothing ! just like being half black dont help him be better at being president or a better policy maker or anything else part of society keeps deifying him for. the word antichrist is not in the book of revelations at all. my personal opinion is if hes anything hes the lesser beast which rose from the ocean and prepared the way for the beast demanding all to serve the beast, thought by many to be a super-computer which monitors all people of earth under a one world government in which all people have the mark of the beast or in modern terms a microchip containing gps, all medical and financial info as it will be a moneyless society dealing with credits in a world bank. sorry , i'm rambling
Posted by william dean on 07/21/2009 @ 01:57PM PT
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And just how would Obama be responsible for all these horrors?
Health care advocates across the spectrum, from Hillary Clinton to Newt Gingrich, all support electronically-accessible health records. It will help doctors properly treat people in ERs, and it will decrease the likelihood of conflicting drug prescriptions, to name just two.
But centralized medical information is about as close as your "thought by many" scenario gets to reality. Have you ever considered in practical terms what would be involved for all of that to happen?
As Fred said further up, the Book of Revelation (not "Revelations") referred to times either unfolding or about to unfold, as is the tradition of prophets. Nobody knows for sure to whom the three evil personages of Rev. 13 refers, but the most commonly accepted view holds that Nero was one of them.
IOW, Revelation's time has come and gone.
Posted by Jenifer Lewis on 07/22/2009 @ 10:53AM PT
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Its sad that the fundemental christians have to rely so much on fear and misrepresentation just to attract those who are prone to being controlled by fear and lies...Sad and pathetic.
By the way michael...Obama's already been called the antichrist, among other things, as far back as when he was running...I just laugh at the ignorance of the easily led.
Posted by Thomas McHugh on 07/21/2009 @ 04:28PM PT
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No, no, no, Thomas -- you've got it all wrong. The Anti-Christ isn't Barack Obama. It's David Hasselhoff: http://www.esquilax.com/baywatch/
Now, doesn't this clear a lot of things up?
;-)
Posted by Jenifer Lewis on 07/22/2009 @ 10:56AM PT
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Well, seriously, if anyone is the antichrist, it's got to be David Hasselhoff....
Or am I thinking of Elizabeth Hasselback....
Well, either way... :) Thanks for the laugh!
Posted by Michael Jones on 07/22/2009 @ 11:05AM PT
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Maybe the two of them should get together! We could make a film about them and call it Hoff-Back Mountain!
Posted by Romy Carver on 07/22/2009 @ 01:42PM PT
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You could be right miss lewis although I was thinking that maybe lush dimbulb was the antichrist...
In any case and on a somewhat more serious note...
Has anyone considered the possibility that fundemental christianity could be of the antichrist and that one of their own will rise up, appearing as an angel of light while only bringing darkness or that the fundemental clique itself could be the antichrist as a multi headed entity ?
Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/08/2009 @ 01:20PM PT
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I have heard this fear tactic used by Christians all my life. Their money coming in must be down that is when they use fear to drum up more money. I am so glad I am Cherokee and feel at one with mother earth. Rather than the hell and brimstone religion people like this represent...
CFJ
Posted by Cherokee Fred Jesus on 07/22/2009 @ 09:10AM PT
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Some Christians, anyway. A lot of us don't subscribe to fear tactics, as I'm sure you know!
Posted by Jenifer Lewis on 07/22/2009 @ 10:58AM PT
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Unfortunately, the reasonable Xtians are drowned out by the fear-mongerers. Same goes for militant atheists as well. The louder they are, the more people think that whole demographic is filled with loons.
And the fundie Xtians almost never close their mouths.
Posted by Clayton Cleverly on 08/04/2009 @ 10:14AM PT
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My biggest fears in Obama's policy making is "too much government" and secondly "loss of freedom of speech". The government is in control of just about everything today, including a 31 yr. old running General Motors from the Whitehouse. If the general manager of GM could not manage the company then how on earth do they expect a 31 year old to get the company back on track. Also, day in and day out I am hearing more news about threats or outright bans on people who wish to express their views. This comes from the religious minorities in America and for that matter around the globe. Religion, whether it is Evangelical Christian, Islamic, or what have you, is the cause of a lot of turmoil in my extimation. Let's all just try to be human beings surviving on a little blue spaceship for a change and quit trying to marry religion with politics. Note: Islamic Sharia Law marries religion with the state. That is a very dangerous propect for a democracy that values its free speech and free enterprise system.
Posted by Kim Bruce on 07/22/2009 @ 02:19PM PT
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hey buddy 12 year olds graduate college while 50 year olds dont have high school diplomas.if your not capable of doing something by 30 you probably never will be.
Posted by cody lee on 07/27/2009 @ 02:28PM PT
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Kim,
What is this about someone running GM from the Whitehouse? Where did you hear, read this please? And who is suppressing free speech? Is this from Fox News? Maybe you mean White Only people are suppressed? Well, I hope they are! And your totally right about mixing politics and religion, it's awful. We have tons of people doing that mixing in our legislature right now. And so many of them want to bring ON the rapture. Imagine, people so unhappy in their lives they want to end the earth!!! I know many have grabbed onto Global Warming as the means to the rapture. Rather than face the fact that we humans have sullied our nest.
Posted by Canary Burton on 07/22/2009 @ 03:16PM PT
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Brian Deese is now in charge of General Motors.
He is only 31 years old and has had no automotive experience or ever run a company.
Link here:http://americanglob.com/2009/06/03/obamas-gm-car-czar-has-no-experience-in-the-car-business-or-the-private-sector/
Posted by Kim Bruce on 07/22/2009 @ 06:35PM PT
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Brian Deese is not "in charge of General Motors." He's on the National Economic Council, and at the present time his job description is "special assistant to the president for economic policy."
So what if he lacks automotive experience? As anyone who has been paying even the slightest attention over the last decade or so, GM's highly experienced chief decision-makers (like many corporate executives) ran their company into the ground while making sure their bonuses kept flowing as much and as long as possible.
They acted as if gasoline would flow forever and nobody would ever take climate change seriously. Every week my husband and I would peruse his latest issue of "Auto Week" and ask each other, "What are they thinking? Don't they have the ability to see past their own noses?"
So no, I don't think "experience" is everything. Can you point to any errors he has committed, or are you just throwing rocks?
Posted by Jenifer Lewis on 07/23/2009 @ 09:40AM PT
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I beg to differ...Deese is Obama's "Car Czar" and he is in charge of dismantling GM.
http://www.examiner.com/x-9044-Exotic-Car-Examiner~y2009m7d3-President-Obamas-Auto-Task-Force-leader-Brian-Deese-does-not-drive-American-luxury-or-exotic
I agree that GM, Ford, Chrysler, or anyone, except maybe the Japs and Koreans, could see what was coming as far as oil prices. They did figure that oil was going to keep flowing. Actually, it is my belief that there are plenty of reserves in the world. It is just a huge money grab by greedy people making huge dollars from the oil companies. You see it happen every weekend or holiday...the prices always jump just prior. Tell me it's just coincidence.
Posted by Kim Bruce on 07/23/2009 @ 12:33PM PT
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Your assessment of the "greedy people making huge dollars from the oil companies" is well-founded.
Unfortunately your "belief that there are plenty of reserves in the world" is not. Is this just something you want to believe, or do you have hard evidence to support a claim not even the greediest oil baron would make?
Your link calls Deese the "so-called" car czar, and again, he is not "in charge" of GM. His expertise is financial, not automotive, and he is the first one to say so.
He is making sure GM emerges from bankruptcy healthier than it went in, something that will (one hopes) turn a profit for the taxpayer money that was used to keep GM from collapsing.
But "in charge" of GM? Hardly. That's like saying CFOs are in charge of corporations.
Posted by Jenifer Lewis on 07/23/2009 @ 12:52PM PT
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Oh dear!!! If you reeaally want to know what the fundamentalist (extremist) right wing christians are really thinking, there is an excellent book out called, "The Family" by Jeff Sharlet. It's about the C-Street house in Washington DC, and it documents their suspect ideology. Members of the C-Street consist of about 25 political Republican leaders, including Senator John Ensign and Governor Mark Sanford, both of recent sex scandal notoriety; this book explains that member loyalties must be exclusive and come first and are above their own families and their constituents. They also refer to Hitler as a positive role model. They meet secretly and discuss policy, yet this "House" has tax-exempt status and claims that it is a "church". This is absolutely unbelievable, if not abhorrent!
The right wing is famous for playing the "fear" card and many people actually believe the lies. It is not the purpose of our elected officials to do or say anything they please to enforce legislation that is neither fair nor socially irresponsible, yet they are doing it all the time. They are hiding behind their religion and claiming their 'divine right' to do whatever they please. I really have to wonder if this group connected with the C Street house may be infiltrating other various groups and setting self-serving unethical standards within their legislative boundaries.
There is a very good reason why we MUST have the separation of Church and State and why it must be strictly enforced. The very existence of the C-Street house makes this point very clear!
Posted by Barbara McNamara on 07/22/2009 @ 05:33PM PT
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You really don't need to know much about fundamentalist's views and why they think the what they do to understand where they are coming from. Have you noticed, they start griping when "big government" wants to push a progressive agenda that helps even the socio-economic playing field in the country. Could it be this group really has a problem with sharing and caring? Could it be this group's real problem has more to do with what Christ saw as mankind's greatest evil....greed and hate. Seems to me like they are the one's with the moral weakness.
If the world is coming to an end and if Christ is coming back, these folks better watch out because according to what I learned about Jesus, he will be pissed. Christ did not support the money handlers. Christ fed the poor and cared for the sick. Christ said, "Let he who is without fault, cast the first stone." Christ deplored violence and certainly wouldn't support war.
Christian folk who want to be good christians should rely on their own senses and just follow Christ's words. When you let someone else tell you what something means, you start down the slippery slope... why not just get a lobotomy?? When those in power use religion to control the masses, gee isn't that what put Christ down?
Let's face it, these groups are giving Christians a bad name. Christ was about love, generosity, and compassion; traits sorely lacking among the Christian right.
WWJD? I think he'd have a thing or two to say about hate mongers.
Posted by Lauren Serven on 07/22/2009 @ 08:26PM PT
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Amen, Lauren!
Posted by gilbert barrett on 07/27/2009 @ 04:39PM PT
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I am continually amazed that people still fall for the stories the religious zealots spew. I was raised catholic and now believe in humanity, not in stories written in the year 1 and sound like a cross between fairy tales and nightmares. I'm so sick of the religious right and the people that believe in the stories they keep feeding them to keep everyone off balance, I would like to tell them to wake up and think for themselves. If jesus were alive today, he'd be called an "old hippie." And we know what the right thinks of hippies, old or young. It's really kind of funny if you look at it like that. Or maybe the right would call jesus the anti-christ, cause I doubt they'd be able to figure him out, so brand everyone who doesn't think like them another anti-christ. I'm kind of sick of religion, it seems to breed hatred and it's getting tired.
Posted by kimberly velasquez on 07/24/2009 @ 04:43PM PT
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Why don't these " fundamental christians" realize that the old testament used the laws of Moses, which aren't used anymore! Otherwise, we'd all be going to the synagogue, on Saturday, and be stoned to death if we worked on that day! Also, women would be property, not their own people. It's amazing that they conveniently forget that.
Posted by gilbert barrett on 07/27/2009 @ 04:46PM PT
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the meaning of life is what you make of it!
we're here to grow old & die as any other animal on the planet...if we are so lucky! a fucking wave could take you out on vacation! did ur god, or whatever god the guy next to you caught up in that tsunami wave, have a plan there? then you'll have someone a mile up the coast saying thank god that wave didn't get me! HAH! how can any of them be right or wrong? why waste every sunday of your life going to get roughly the same message with at the end a plea for a donation. do something else on a sunday and read a new book. a book about the world and all of the crazy unique brilliant @ the same time cultures out there.
the old testament is a translation of a translation of the jewish book. now christians basically ignore that one cause the new testamant came along, again words words and more boring words in the end, much less violent though! they must have loved the old testament while conquering central & south america those spanish catholics must have!
Posted by jeffrey C oldman on 07/29/2009 @ 12:10PM PT
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Have you read the book ‘ IT IS TIME WE TRULY KNOW WHY JESUS WEPT” by N.K.DAVID?
Yes, must Americans do not approve gay right but
It is truly hard to expect everyone to accept gay right because nothing started without serious opposition, even end to slavery, racism, independent of nations among others were opposed. Therefore, we do not have to deny people their right, when we do not want our right to be denied. All we can do is to teach what we belief to be right but not to fight or stop others from following the “harmless” acts. Remember those that oppressed other in the past were always right, yet later they realized their mistakes.
Posted by faith ounha on 07/25/2009 @ 05:55AM PT
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Actually...the polls say Americans support gay rights by about 70%. But your right, all oppressed groups start with lots of opposition, work themselves up until "they" were considered normal. I live in a place where that has already happened. Massachusetts.
I hear you Faith, That the Christians teach what they believe.know and if that resonates with some people and converts are made, well congratualtions.
Posted by Canary Burton on 07/25/2009 @ 06:14AM PT
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we all should have equal right, just do what you think is right and let others do what the belief for as long as they do not affect your own right, then why bother when God will judge all?
Posted by faith ounha on 07/27/2009 @ 05:24AM PT
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I'm confused. Why would these evengelical christians be against national healthcare? Jesus was a healer. He helped the sick and the poor. I'm sure Jesus would be appalled at our healthcare system where profits are placed before people.
Posted by Melissa Latessa on 07/27/2009 @ 04:02PM PT
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Your still trying to think of the evangelicals as rational! At this point they are against Barak Obama. That horrible talk show host,I forget his name, seems to be the voice of the Republicans who seem to be clinging to a past that never was. And the Far Right is Republican. They pulled out the weak Brady bill, or at least the banning of assault rifles and all rushed out to buy up the bullets as well as trying to buy up all the guns. They say it's their "right". Of course that "right" was made in a time when this country had no standing army and must rely on it's citizens in times of crisis. There was some talk back then that if the government didn't suit us we could overthrow it with those guns. But you know what that brings.
The Evangelicals have gotten themselves elected to congress and brought along their secretaries and others of the same mind. Of course that is fine in a democracy, but it's pretty thorny. They have Prayer Breakfasts where what and how they talk would not sound like any other congress persons breakfast talk. They make giant leaps in logic, tell each other out and out lies and vow to bring this government to it's knees. I suggest you go out to their websites and read that stuff. Sort of like a KKK, Nazi, Jesus thing. Weird and sad.
Posted by Canary Burton on 07/27/2009 @ 04:32PM PT
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See Barbara McNamera's post above.
Posted by Canary Burton on 07/27/2009 @ 04:35PM PT
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the meaning of life is what you make of it!
we're here to grow old & die as any other animal on the planet...if we are so lucky! a fucking wave could take you out on vacation! did ur god, or whatever god the guy next to you caught up in that tsunami wave, have a plan there? then you'll have someone a mile up the coast saying thank god that wave didn't get me! HAH! how can any of them be right or wrong? why waste every sunday of your life going to get roughly the same message with at the end a plea for a donation. do something else on a sunday and read a new book. a book about the world and all of the crazy unique brilliant @ the same time cultures out there.
the old testament is a translation of a translation of the jewish book. now christians basically ignore that one cause the new testamant came along, again words words and more boring words in the end, much less violent though! they must have loved the old testament while conquering central & south america those spanish catholics must have!
end the prohibition on cannabis & hemp and allow marriage equality for all throughout the americas. MAKE IT HAPPEN OBAMA.
Posted by jeffrey C oldman on 07/29/2009 @ 12:05PM PT
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GO JEFF!
I thought to say this but thought I'd get literately stomped.
Posted by Canary Burton on 07/29/2009 @ 02:17PM PT
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I enjoyed that post too! Here's some others weighing in:
"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty."
Albert Einstein
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Gandhi
"It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui."
Helen Keller
"No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means."
George Bernard Show
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."
Thomas Jefferson
"The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad."
Friedrich Nietzsche
"When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land."
Desmond Tutu
"You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."
Anne Lamott
and my all-time favorite:
"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."
Dalai Lama
Isn't that what it's really all about, rather than "bashing" people who are different than ourselves? People seem to be able to justify anything to themselves if they can find a bible verse to twist hard enough, rather than just being kind to others.
Posted by Romy Carver on 07/29/2009 @ 02:57PM PT
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Brava!!
Posted by Canary Burton on 07/29/2009 @ 03:40PM PT
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Good post. I have been hearing that Obama is the antichrist since he was elected, but no one ever explained the reason. Now I know.
Posted by S B on 07/30/2009 @ 04:06PM PT
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This discussion is very interesting. I've never posted on a blog before. It occured to me as I was signing the petition about the conference that the Nazi's get used by some far right people in both directions at once. On one hand many just love Hitler and spout it all over. Another faction think WE are like Hitler! It doesn't really matter but I thought it was skitsophrinic if I could just spell it.
Posted by Canary Burton on 07/30/2009 @ 05:19PM PT
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In fact, if you don't want to find a book about the religious right I suggest to go to my website: http://www.seabirdstudio.com/DeptOfGovt.html there is an article written by Bill Moyers that is excellent.
Posted by Canary Burton on 08/04/2009 @ 04:47PM PT
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In fact, it's http://www.seabirdstudio.com/DeptOfGovt2.html
Not only do I have tow identical posts, but I wrote the url wrong. Sorry.
Posted by Canary Burton on 08/04/2009 @ 04:54PM PT
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