Reading the Bible Belt Before Coming of Super Tuesday

Yes, it's true. A weird hermit, writing about his visions in a cave one hundred years after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, will sway a lot of Republican voters in the upcoming Super Tuesday primary elections 2008. An astonishing number of Christian evangelicals take Bible prophecy so seriously that it shapes the way they will vote this year. But that's not the problem.

There are millions of Christian evangelicals who read Biblical prophecy in a way that encourages them to vote to feed the poor, protect the environment, support ethics in government, provide adequate health care, housing, and education--even vote against the war in Iraq. These are all moral values for many Christians.

There are many other millions of Christian evangelicals, overwhelmingly White and conservative, who read Biblical prophecy in quite a different way. So on Tuesday keep an eye on Republican voters in those southern states in what is traditionally called "The Bible Belt." This will determine how the split between "pragmatists" and "purists" among conservative White evangelicals is playing out. Pragmatists may divide their votes between Mitt Romney and John McCain. Purists are likely to vote for Mike Huckabee, especially in Arkansas, where he was governor. But also scope out Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.

There's a good article explaining this in the here.">Boston Globe

Pundits over the next few days are likely to talk about the splits in the Christian Right, or even predict its demise. Don't bite on that baloney. Does anyone seriously think most conservative Christian evangelicals will bolt the Republican Party and vote Democratic in November? I think not.

This does not mean that Democrats or progressive movement activists should treat Christian evangelicals or other people of faith in a disrespectful way--millions of us are already Democrats and progressive movement activists (and we don't think they are the same thing, either, Matt Bai).

So as a Christian, what is it that bothers me about how many people in the Christian Right view Biblical prophecy?

It's how they read it.

The last book of the Christian New Testament is "Revelation," written by John of Patmos. It was originally thought to have been written by the same John who was a disciple of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). It most likely was not.

John of Patmos was a hermit who lived in a cave on an island off the coast of what is now Turkey. He had visions and wrote them down. Standard stuff for prophets. The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches urge their followers to read "Revelation" as a metaphor, as do most "mainline" Protestant denominations such as the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Episcopalians.

Here is how Jong]">Erica Jong described things here on Huffington Post:

In the older Christianity--the one Jesus the Jew actually practiced--women were revered for their wisdom and spirituality. But that didn't suit St. Paul nor apocalyptic St. John the Evangelist who was doing LSD on Patmos (I visited his cave) where he wrote about the four horsemen and the blazing fires in the sky. (It could have been the Patmos sunset seen by a stoner emerging from a cave--or the Patmos sunrise--equally bewitching).

God, I wish I could write like that. (Fat chance.)

Anyway, the Christian Bible's book of Revelation describes in graphic terms what will happen when an angry God finally intervenes in human affairs at the end of time. The prophetic narrative describes the End Times as a period of widespread sinfulness, moral depravity, and crass materialism. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride in bringing God's wrath in the form of wars, disease, civil strife, and natural disasters. Satan's chief henchman appears in human form as the Antichrist, a popular world leader who secretly harbors sympathy for the Devil. He promises peace and unity of all nations under one world government--but it's a conspiracy. His agents are tracking down and punishing Christians who refuse to abandon their faith. Satan's allies receive a mark--the Mark of the Beast--represented by the number 666.

This period of hard times are called "the Tribulations" and culminate in a final cataclysmic doomsday confrontation of massed armies in the Middle East, at a place named Armageddon. Good triumphs over evil at the battle of Armageddon, ushering in a millennium of Christian rule.

The book of Revelation (and other prophetic verses in the Bible) provides important clues for understanding the rhetoric and actions of devout Christians who are influenced by apocalypticism and millennialism. Among Christians, belief in an actual coming apocalypse is particularly strong among those Fundamentalists who not only read the Bible literally, but also consider prophetic Biblical text to be a coded timetable or script revealing the future.

Christians who believe the apocalypse is at hand can act out those theological beliefs in social, cultural, and political arenas. An example might be when believers view current world events as "signs of the End Times" or see those with whom they disagree as agents of the Antichrist.

Here is the really bad news. For a few million Christian Fundamentalists...

...we are the agents of the Antichrist!

You and me. Liberals, secularists, humanists, Muslims, progressives, feminists, everyone in the LGBTQ community, and more. Even Christians who don't think the way they do--like me--are enemies of God and Country in their theological worldview.

We are Satan's scum.

And on Tuesday, some of these Christian Fundamentalists will be voting for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, after which us sinners and Devil's disciples will have our bodies crushed like grapes until our blood runs ankle deep through a valley in the Middle East.

That's how they read the Bible.

So on Tuesday, keep your eyes on the Bible Belt.

I will be posting more "revelations" about the Christian Right and election 2008 over the next few months. But remember, millions of Christian evangelicals already vote for Democrats. Some 95% of Black evangelicals, for example, vote Democratic in Presidential elections. Some White evangelicals are swing voters. There are progressive Christian evangelicals. There are even progressive Christian Fundamentalists. And you know what? None of us spiritual folk can leave our beliefs outside the voting booth. That's just stupid. We don't ask secularists to leave their morality and ideology outside the voting booth. Get over it.

So don't cost Democratic candidates some votes by being an ignorant jerk who goes around saying stuff about Christians and other spiritual people that just is not true.

Stay tuned.

I will be on Pacifica radio at 9pm Tuesday evening discussing these issues. Tune in.

Portions of this post were filched from articles I wrote for other folks: href="http://www.publiceye.org/apocalyptic/Dances_with_Devils_1.html">here, and href="http://www.zcommunications.org/zmag/viewArticle/13638">here.

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Election cycle disclaimer. These are my personal essays written on my own time.

Comments

[luziannagirl]

Here are two observations from one steeped in this EvangeliCon world view:

1) If their tele-preachers tell them to, some of these voters would vote for whomever the Republicans nominate because God works in mysterious ways. They'd even vote for a Mormon, if told to from the pulpit.

2) Many will simply stay home, esp if the R's pick McCain.

3) Very few, if any, will vote Democratic, whether it's Obama or Clinton doesn't matter. They think the Democratic Party is the Party of Satan.

Regardless of the EvangeliCons' projected marginalization in the upcoming prezelections, this merger of non-fact-based religious theology with politics and public policy is still VERY dangerous. If allowed to continue, it WILL wreck our democracy.

One way to combat it is using its own twisted logic. Under their own end-times apocolyptic worldview, point out that George W. Bush could just as easily be the charismatic AntiChrist as could anyone on the "left".

After all, regarding Christians, if "ye know them by their fruits", ask them to look at the fruits. Which side has more Congressional sex scandals? Which side promotes and conducts torture? Which side lies a country into war? Which side leaves hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens to drown in their attics and die of thirst on the roadside?

Dick Cheney, Angel of God?

George W. Bush, Divine Leader?

Don't get any farther into it that this, leave them with those points, and I guarantee no matter what they say, they'll go home and think about it, because they've already been thinking about it.

The best we can hope for is their telepreachers all start singing a new song, supporting their exit from politics and public policy and return to the pulpit and things of God, but I'll settle for a split. I'll settle for millions of EvangeliCons to be so convinced that ALL of the candidates are probably agents of Satan that they stay home on election day rather than risk their immortal souls by voting the wrong way.

[charlot]

Anyone who believes we were all created by and are ruled by an omnipotent sky fairy scares me just a little. The ones who use that belief to try and crush the rest of us (i.e., most of the South and Midwest) scare me a LOT.

[martykz]

So how does this affect us rational thinkers? By providing a real, clear and present danger. Here's how: The U.S. has a total unfunded liability approaching $50 trillion with much of it debt owed to people who wish us no good. One day they will call in their markers and catastrophe will ensue. But not to worry: Any conservative evangelical Christian will tell you that is precisely what they are anticipating as it will usher in the Second Coming, Armageddon, the Tribulation and the Rapture and all debts will be canceled by Christ, thus fulfilling their America’s faith-based economic policy. This fantasy is one reason the wall of separation between church and state was built in the first place and why its destruction by the true believers will doom us and our children.

[hontonoshijin]

Appreciate your point that "Christians" and people of faith are not all insanely frothing rightwing haters. I call those people the "Christianoids" to distinguish them from the real followers of Jesus.

Brought up Southern Baptist, I am now much closer to zen. However I feel too many people discredit all faith as a hoax, giving themselves (and our culture) too much credit, assuming we are the first ever to see things clearly. We have "science" after all, and "science" says there is no divinity.

Science is complex and difficult and says no such thing. And it is hubris to assume we are wiser than our forebears.

[MajorKong]

Boy, I'm sure glad our leaders aren't like those crazy apocalyptic muslims who believe in the 12th Imam.

< rolls eyes >

[mommadona]

I knew there was still hope for civilization when

I heard a christian punk rock band.

Karma trumps dogma every time.

[happytrails]

We are all "people of faith" and I protest hijacking that term to be used to signify just one of many different faiths, or just one type of faith. Fundamentalists, of any religion, are not the only "people of faith" as much as they would have us all believe. By using that term to signify specific groups, you are validating their arrogance of the rightness of their beliefs.

So please, call them Evangelicals, or Fundamentalists, or Born Agains, or whatever, but do not call them "people of faith".

[OhgReaTone]

Jesus can be legitimately used - and Jesus can be legitimately abused. The past three decades have seen the Jesus of abuse. Obama inspires us with the hope that the legitimate Jesus can prevail in America.

[Chip Berlet - Huffpost Blogger]

Also see here on OfftheBus a great article with a silly headline:

Evangelical Power Vastly Diminished Headed Into Super Tuesday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-treul/evangelical-power-vastly-_b_84814.html

According to this excellent study:

"After contacting nearly a hundred churches and interviewing more than 20 pastors and evangelical leaders, OffTheBus has uncovered a 'house divided', although that 'house' was never really united in the first place."

And that is the point. Conservative White "born again" and evangelical Christians will still tend to vote Republican in the fall. The Christian Right, only 15% of the elecorate, will tend to vote Republican in the fall. But if you are using the term "evangelical" loosely and you mean church-going Christians in typically "evangelical" churches, then there has always been a significant split between voting Republican or Democratic, as well as many folks who just did not go to the polls. Tuesday's vote will be analyzed by numerous pundits using different definitions.

And remember many evangelical and mainline Protestant, and Roman Catholic, Democrats tell pollsters they are "Values Voters, which as a term to measure partisan political inclinations is meaningless.

The issue tomorrow is "purists" v. "pragmatists."