Why Obama Must Not Work With Republicans

Ever wonder why the Republican Party's foreign "policy" got so off the wall and bellicose? Want to know why we're in two wars? Want to know why so many evangelicals hate Obama for saying he'll negotiate with Muslims? Want to know why President Obama should not try to work with Republicans?

All you need to know is that the Republican/Sara/Palin base of evangelical support is rooting for war, death and killing as a longed for -- even prayed for -- conclusion to human existence. No kidding! Understand what I'm going to tell you here, and you'll understand what went so wrong with America with W. Bush and why we are the most dangerous country on earth. Shorthand: we have nukes and risk being run by kooks. And, until the election of 2008, an evangelical born-again kook was running our country.

Disclosure: I'm the son of one of the evangelical's foremost thinkers, the late Francis Schaeffer. And until I left the fold in the mid 1980s I was intimately involved with the Religious Right and have been (until quite recently) a life-long Republican. I knew Jerry Jenkins' and Tim LaHaye personally and both are followers of my father.

The wild financial success of Jerry Jenkins' and Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series of sixteen novels is about belonging to the winning side. The books have made hundreds of millions of dollars while spawning an "End Times" industry, inclusive of Left Behind wall paper, screen savers, children's books and video games. The evangelicals -- and hence, from the early 1980s until the election of President Obama in 2008, the Religious Right as it informed US policy through the then dominant Republican Party -- are in the grip of an apocalyptic "Rapture" cult centered on revenge and vindication.

This End Times cult is built on a literalistic interpretation of the book of Revelation. The book was the last to be included in the canon of the New Testament. It was only recognized gradually as canonical late in the process -- after the year 400 AD -- of collecting the gospels and various letters included into the New Testament. The historic Church remained so suspicious of the book Revelation that to this day in the Orthodox Church it has never been included as part of the cyclical public readings of scripture. In other words the book of the Bible that the historic Church found (and finds) most problematic and dangerous is the one that American evangelicals have latched on to like flies on spilled jam.

According to Jenkins and LaHaye the "chosen" (in other words born-again evangelicals) will be airlifted to safety in the "Rapture" when the "End" comes. At last evangelical Americans will know "we" were right about everything and "they" were wrong. We'll know that because Spaceship Jesus will come back and take us away leaving everyone else to ponder just how very lost they are because they failed to say the words: "I accept Jesus as my personal savior."

Evangelicals not only wish to be proved right they also want revenge on all other religions and peoples. Not unlike Islamic terrorists who behead their enemies, the evangelicals relish the prospect of God doing the messy killing for them as they watch from on high. It isn't enough for them to cast the individual "apostate" out of their midst, or to denounce the Roman Catholics as the "whore of Babylon," they want revenge on all people not like them. The Left Behind novels provides access to vicarious revenge . No need to wait for the End Times, you can get your violent jollies now!

Jenkins and LaHaye describe various deadly scenarios proceeding and following believers being "snatched away" to safety leaving the infidels to their punishment. The authors cash in on years of evangelical paranoia and imagined victimhood. (A strange belief imbued with losers' self pity by people who have run Congress and the White House until this election!)

Jenkins and LaHaye provide an entertaining book version of a cosmic I-told-you-so from the backward earthly losers (as evangelicals perceive themselves in this the age of science and secularism) to the earthly winners (as evangelicals think of all those clever big city, over-educated progressive secular "elites"). Glory be! As God kills them, including those "secular Jews" running the New York Times who will have to admit we were right all along just before Jesus blasts them!

The promotional copy for one of the books -- Shadowed -- promises plenty of we-told-you-so entertainment; "After God intervenes with a miracle of global proportions, the tide is turned on international atheism!"

God Is Great! Kill them God! Kill those "international atheists!" They made fun of us because we refused to believe in evolution and built a creationist theme park! They laughed at us for opening our Friday night football games with prayer! They even laughed at Billy Graham, our one and only saint, when his son Franklin raised 28 million dollars to build the Graham theme park! Strike them Lord!

Jenkins and LaHaye are End Times revenge pornographers. Reading about violence against unbelievers is the evangelical Viagra. Take this passage from Glorious Appearing in which Jesus slaughters unbelievers;

The riders not thrown leaped from their horses and tried to control them with the reins, but even as they struggled, their own flesh dissolved, their eyes melted, and their tongues disintegrated... the soldiers stood briefly as skeletons in now-baggy uniforms, then dropped in heaps of bones as the blinded horses continued to fume and rant and rave. Seconds later the same plague afflicted the horses, their flesh and eyes and tongues melting away, leaving grotesque skeletons standing, before they too rattled to the pavement.

Evangelicals can't get enough of this trash. The video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces was developed by a publicly traded company, Left Behind Games. The player controls a "Tribulation Forces" team and allows the player to "use the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." The game blesses and encourages religious violence.

Guided by a literal reading of the prophetic sections of the Bible the expanding Left Behind entertainment empire also feeds the delusions of Christian Zionists who are convinced that the world is heading to a final Battle of Armageddon. Christian Zionists led by the likes of John McCain's Jabba the Hutt lookalike and big fan -- the Reverend John Hagee -- believe that war in the Middle East is God's will. Hagee predicts in his book, Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World, that Russia and the Arabs will invade Israel and then will be destroyed by God. This will cause the Antichrist -- the head of the European Union -- to stir up a confrontation over Israel between China and the West. Armageddon will ensue and the Second Coming of Christ.

This would all be a joke except for the fact that sixty million Americans identify themselves as evangelicals. That's a lot of crazy voters -- as McCain proved he recognized when he nominated the religious Right's pet evangelical goof Sara Palin to be his running mate to re-energize the army of goofs who gave us the 8 years of W that brought us to war and economic ruin.

Note to Jews: the evangelicals say they are the State of Israel's friend, love Jews etc., etc. Wake up! In the evangelical "game" Jews are just apocalyptic Jesus fodder! With friends like these you don't need enemies. Friends of Israel -- and I am one -- don't see Israel as nothing more than a pawn in the End Times. Dig under the surface and you'll find Hagee, Jenkins, LaHaye are profoundly and fatally anti-Semitic. Follow their uncompromising "Rapture logic" and Israel will be destroyed. These people will always push the US government to take the hardest line against the Arabs. That is no long term favor to Israel. Eternal war is no answer. Check out the area's demographics. Make peace while there is time!

Christian Zionists support all violent actions by Israel for any reason because in the fevered evangelical mind the nation of Israel is presently standing in for Jesus-the-avenger-on-evildoers everywhere, i.e. Arabs, all of whom (according to the born-again porn peddlers) are soon destined to burn anyway! So, who cares if 10 Israeli deaths from Hamas' rockets fired into southern Israel are avenged by the killing of 1,300 men women and children in Gaza?USA! USA! Go Jesus! Time for another godly session on my Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game! Hurry Jesus come back and kill em' all.

And that is the Republican's base. Good luck to President Obama trying to find bipartisan solutions to our world wide problems with these folks.

Frank Schaeffer is author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back Now in paperback.

Comments

[DasBoot]

Mr. Shaffer,

I agree with everything you say here, and it needs to be repeated over and over again. However, to me this is precisely why Obama needs to keep chiseling at the Republican coalition, breaking away those conservatives who instinctively mistrust liberals (however misguided their beliefs might be) but who are also nervous about their bed fellows from the loony fringe, those people you are describing.

Let's condemn the crazies to the desert and let them play their end times video games.

[JimReed]

I think we should keep in mind this will not end in the end times. We can see how it has led to wars and encouragement of wars, but conservative exercising of political power always leads to a reaction and returns some power to liberal forces for a while so that they can work to clean up the mess. One encouraging thing, we got through the cold war without a total thermo exchange. The terror war has no risk on the same scale, and at worst would only end up nuking a few cities, or a couple minor countries.

Christianity has a backup plan, and it always works. It is based on the various sects. When it becomes clear the damage they have caused, each sect will be able to comprehend the blame that the other sects deserve while maintaining belief in the good intentions of their own sect.

That was an interesting statement you made about evangelicals wanting God to do their messy killing. Talking to them you get the sense that none of them would want to be involved in the killing themselves. But consider Christian history. When they were burning witches it was the same thing. The people wanted to distance themselves, but a few people were raised up to do the job. I think the real problem was it was not condemned from the pulpit. I guess religions always have an easier time seeing the sins of other religions than they do their own.

[Bailey Reynolds]

I somehow came to the understanding that as long as God gives us freewill, it is incumbant upon us to do everything in our power to promote peace and stability wherever we can, most especially with Israel. Jesus himself said He didn't know the hour or day of his return. If He can say that, then who knows when the end will come.

If we lay down our own responsibility toward mankind and give up; allowing the destruction of this earth by our human hands, then we deserve annhilation. But if we don't give up, and seek peace, who knows, humanity could survive another 10000 years! Its up to us, according to my reading of the good book.

We cannot let the religious crazies anywhere near the seat of power! They truly do seek Armaggeddon.

[JimReed]

Perhaps we shouldn't be concerned with the end, but only with what we can do before then.

[jollyelle]

Religious Fanatics come in all shapes and sizes,
Republican and Democrat,
Jew and Christian.
(we have been fear-fed enough info on Muslim fanatics to last ten lifetimes)
Fanaticism is an equal religion opportunity, let's not overlook what is right before our eyes.
We the People should know who is guiding the policies of the United States-both foreign and domestic.
We must convey to the Obama Administration that we won't stand for fanaticism or divided loyalties and demand our elected officials overturn policies that persecute innocent people in the name of the USA and religion. No lobby which has its' basis in religious persecution should be allowed legislative participation. Religion should not dictate policy. Our elected officials must behave in a manner that acts in the best interest of the PEOPLE of the United States--grouping people in terms of their religion is not in our best interest.

[JimReed]

I think President Obama is too inclusive to understand these things. We should try to save the Christians by helping them understand the horrors that their religion has recently caused. Perhaps we can't save them all, but if the 60 million can be reduced to 50 million, that would be a big help to President Obama and his agenda.

[ProfessorDuh]

There have been honest Republicans — Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Paul O'Neill, John Dean, Hugh Sloan, Kevin Phillips, Paul Craig Roberts, Peter Fitzgerald, among others.
All are either dead now or have been banished by the completely corrupted, stupidity-­worshippin­g party they once served. All the party has left are the theocrats, the kleptocrats, the torture fetishists and the brainless, greedy, honking moose queens.
The party's over, folks. What's left is a political toxic waste dump that's dangerous to America and the world.

[cuchulain]

Interesting that Eisenhower, the former general, was the first president to warn us about the Military-Industrial complex. No president since, Dem or Republican, has heeded his eloquent warning from 1961.

I wonder if most people bother to think about how much greater this nation would be right now if we didn't go to war so often and spend trillions upon trillions on military matters. Shift that money to roads, bridges, clean, green power, education, health care and the environment overall . . . . and life for American citizens would be infinitely better.

[propitiousmoment]

The service that religion performs for people is to create in/out groups. People of my religion are in, people of your religion or none are out. People tend to favor their in-group at the expense of the out-group, and attribute good the the in-group, bad to the out-group. Now enter politicians, who use the Machiavellian (or was it Plato who first noticed it, in the Republic?) tactic of drumming up or inventing an enemy threat to rally the masses behind them and consolidate their power. I don't think it is a coincidence that the right and especially the religious right wants a strong military and even war whether it deteriorates domestic conditions or not, because they already fear the out-groups and that fear has been carefully fostered by the politicians in their power-consolidation ploy. Meanwhile look behind the scenes to see who profits from all this. It's a sick, sick world.

[Bailey Reynolds]

While Ronald Reagan believed that Armageddon would occur ONE day, his main mission as president (whether the media or his so-called followers ever said it or not) was to eliminate ALL nuclear weapons from the earth. He wisely believed that we could determine to a large degree our own fate, according to the gift of freewill.

Folks never talk about the real man or what he was really about. That would be too painful for his so-called followers today. They'd have to acknowledge that he strove for peace, not war.

A book written on Reagan's quest to abolish nukes:
www.amazon.com/Ronald-Reagan-Abolish-Nuclear-Weapons/dp/1400063078

[ThePeacemakers]

And Lincoln warned about the greedy industrialists that threatened the nation as the civil war was coming to a close....

[OtayPanky]

I'm no repub, but I see some reasonable up and comers in the party - people who I wouldn't be terrified of should they somehow come to national prominence and power. Tim Pawlenty comes to mind, as does Bobby Jindal and Charlie Crist. There are several reasonable repub senators, three of whom voted for Obama's stimulus bill. And there are any number of judicious repubs on the bench.

I may disagree with their take on one issue or all issues - but they don't come off like religious crazies.

[zoozey]

You might ought to take a better look at Bobby Jindal, though I agree with you on the others. Jindal is trying to promote himself by turning down stimulus for his own constituents that need it. He also is a believer in exorcisms--he is a real fundamentalist, too.

[jennysez]

Thank you for this article, I've been saying this for years!

I try to tell people that the only reason the evangilicals support Israel is because they can't have their Rapture Party without the Temple being rebuilt and for all the other "prophecies" in the Book of Revelation to be fulfilled. They think I'm crazy but it's absolutely true. These people, and W proudly proclaims to be one of them, Believe that they are living in the End Times, that what's going on in the Middle East and around the world are literally prophecy coming true and will do anything to help that process along so they can be proven Right.

And Frank is right, they have the potential to be just as dangerous to humanity as the islamic extremist. Fanaticism leaves no room for tolerance of opposing views/life­styles/dog­mas. For too long they've been allowed to push legislation through based on their religious beliefs, politicians give in to them because they're seen as a too powerful voter base to "anger". Now we're stuck with creationism being taught in biology, rising teen pregnancy rates, fertilized eggs being given full "human rights" in ND, and rape victims being denied the morning after pill because the ER doc booked his passage on Spaceship Jesus. This needs to stop!

Time to see them for what thay are and

[dogstar7]

Frank Schaeffer has the pedigree and the knowledge to put this "End Times" theology into a crystal-clear perspective.

The question should not be 'how do we appease them?' It should be 'how do we bankrupt this theocratic philosophy once and for all'!

[Bailey Reynolds]

That's easy; the old fashioned way; by IGNORING them.

[SVANDUSEN]

The theocratic philosophy is bankrupting itself. Its principle points are becoming harder to defend in rational discourse before general audiences. While much of the public IS dumbing down, much of the public IS smartening up. This is hopeful. On the other hand, as many fundamentalists perceive their influence over our culture to be slipping away, and themselves to be increasingly marginalized, it is possible, perhaps even likely, that some of the adherents to these views will become desperate to cling to their hold on the mechanisms of power and policy. It is NOT outside the realm of possibility that some will even resort to acts of violence and terrorism.

What can we do? Well (sorry, Bailey Reynolds, but 'ignoring them' is only effective in limited circumstances), we can do the following:

1. Insure that the Internet remains free and open to all and NOT subject to corporate or undue government control.

2. Use the Internet and any other viable resource; libraries, schools, colleges and universities, bookstores, and so forth, to educate and inform ourselves and develop reasoned arguments for our positions, whatever they might be.

3. Exchange our views with our peers to reinforce a sense of broad, reasoned community (commenting on Mr. Schaeffer's article for example).

4. Challenge and confront efforts to impose theocratic control whenever and wherever they occur.

5. Insist that all levels of government maintain the principle of separation between church and state and insure our safety from acts of theocratically inspired violence and terrorism..

[LarBear]

Who says the only "correct" Belief in, of and about GOD is the Biblical GOD???

Instead, I choose to believe in what I call.... godly nature... A godliness of ALL that is natural... Rather than a Biblical GOD, doing some kind of Intelligent Design-Creationism and imposing "IT's" rules/control through Organized Religion..... instead.... Intelligent nature Creating... and, NOT, "ONE GOD", but instead, one Holistic - Intelligent nature...

Evangelicals, Neo Cons, Religious Fanatics, ETC, use the ONE GOD Model to impose their Beliefs onto others, starting with their children, just as their GOD/ Model does to them... But I asked.... What GOD would Torture their children if they disobeyed??? What GOD would create all Life as male and/or female, yet with Humans, suddenly forgot to create females??? Then, not create them from scratch??? Command "Thou shall NOT Kill," then do a massive "flood" KILL on IT's Children???

I much prefer... WE are ALL of godly nature, creating within "Eternity"... There is no throw away children, or throw away Life and Love... So yes, what I, godly nature, do to any part of ME, I do to ME... To give is to receive, as there is but one Holistic nature... Separation is a Belief created Reality, not a natural "Fact" so to speak.. Godly nature is a creation of Love, Life and Light...

Organized Religion talks about Love, but is Prime creator of FEAR... Love inspires, Fear is about Control...

[Hope Lives]

Dear Frank, Thank you so much. You are doing no less than trying to save America. I tell my old George Will type Republican friends about this and they just can't comprehend how bad it really is. They think "Republican, lower taxes", that's all they want to know and then they vote. If they win back the Senate in 2010 it could really be all over for America. It just amazes me that the mainstream media just shows a McCain or his ilk making a statement every 15 minutes. They are making some people question everything President Obama does. Gee, even he thinks, they're a church, how bad can they be? This needs organization. We must educate people. We must have 60 million people by 2010 who understand that these people are a cult. America has been controlled by a cult for the last 8 years. And a few people made a very lot of money off of it and that was the whole point for the leadership. Power and money. We need a website where we can go to join together. Please keep trying.

[Hope Lives]

I am afraid of one thing every day. It is that so many people see evangelicals as Christians and therefore harmless. So many families have been ruined by this "religion". If you google "evangelical and cult" you begin to get a drift of the problem. If you google "evangelical and registered offender" you begin to see the danger evangelicals put their children in. I have a few tests... if someone tells you that "if you don't believe in the rapture you are going to hell" they, not God, are choosing who does and doesn't go to heaven. But the worst is the "preacher as rock star" syndrome. I am a Presbyterian. My minister is quiet, reverent, humble, kind and a genius (seriously). If you told him that he had to get "up" for the "show" of his sermon he would laugh. In the evangelical church the preacher is like a rock star. HE is the focus, not God, not Christ, they are just the backdrop for his power. They have a rock band and sexy female singers. Please keep writing. Please tell as many people as you can. Thank you for trying so hard.

[blue ocean55]

You are right. It's time for more mainstream Christians to speak out about what seperates "Evangelicals" from historical Christianity. I know so many well intentioned people who truly believe, but they have no knowledge of theology and end up being exploited by charlatans posing as men of God. I don't understand how anyone could give money to a church whose minister earns enough to buy luxury cars, exclusive real estate, top brand clothing, expensive jewelry for their wife and then use church funds to hire PR firms to help them sell their books.

[OtayPanky]

blueocean55: It's time for more mainstream Christians to speak out about what seperates "Evangelicals" from historical Christianity.

===

If you bother to really read up on "historic" Christianity, you'd have nightmares so bad you wouldn't sleep for a week.

The worst thoughts, deeds and acts of the evangelical church - as miserable as they might seem to you and me - pale in comparison with what was approved of and blessed by the leaders in the church for CENTURIES - ever since the Christians lost their underdog status and began ruling the world, a mere three centuries after the death of Christ.

Torturing, plundering and pillaging - officially sanctioned and blessed - all done on a scale you cannot imagine. Done by one sect to another, and done to those outside "the kingdom" with equal vigor.

The earth cries out from untold rivers of blood spilled in the name of Jehovah.

Good times! Or maybe not. But truly the HISTORIC times of church life either way.

[Bailey Reynolds]

I've been listening to a preacher on the radio off and on for over 20 years now. His name is Charles Swindoll and he leads the ministry Insight for Living. I can't tell you how much I've learned from him. He's been a true spiritual father to me, breaking down the mysteries and complexities of scripture unlike anyone I've ever heard. Its nice that there's one guy out there who hasn't disappointed me and sold out (F. Graham, Dobson, Jenkins, LaHaye, etc.). Unlike so many of his peers, he does not seek earthly glory and political power. He's a humble, joyous man, who unlike so many of his peers, truly values history and knowledge alongside his love of scripture. He's also got the warmest, friendliest voice I've ever heard.

I've never heard Swindoll talk politics, never seen his name associated with so many of today's known religious frauds and I've never heard him preach for war or partisanship. He preaches a message of self responsibility which is grounded in Jesus' Doctrine of Grace. If you want to hear a real man of God preach the word (which is SANE), I highly recommend him.
http://www.insight.org/site/PageServer

[4real]

Thank you Frank for explaining the mindset behind all this mindless talk and behavior. It actually all sounds funny if it weren't for the deadly consequences this type of thinking causes.

I wish all the so called religious people (from every religion)who hate each other would meet up somewhere and finish each other off so the rest of us can live in peace.

[DasBoot]

This blog needs to be read in conjunction with Alex Pelosi's latest HBO movie about the Palin crowds at the last campaign. These people are unhinged. They don't live in the same universe as the rest of us.

[sawdustinhershoes]

Great article and great comments Thoughtful.

If more people from these groups find their sanity and stand up, we'd see a mass exodus from these hate-filled realms.

It appears that this form of religion may be so popular because they, like Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, are satisfying people's urge to fear and hate others. They make it OK for people to have these hateful feeling and know that there ae so many who feel as they do and who say it"s OK to hate others to the point of visualizing their horrible deaths.

It is a religion of fear. I'd imagine many of the ringleaders know it's hokum and laugh as they count their money and their power.

How can people think like this and call themselves Americans? I guess their schools don't teach history or anything about our founding fathers.

What's really ironic is that though I'm not christian, I live by the teachings of Christ because he was right. These people, who profess to be christians practice the opposite of Christ's teachings. What did they do? Throw out the New Testament when they added their version of Revelation?

OK, OK, what's REALLY IRONIC is that they'll burn in hell for their behaviors, I mean according to the Bible. Right?

[oldschoolmarm]

Fundementalist and evangelical "christianity" is based on fear, fear of anything different or unknown, just like all other belief systems that are born from ignorance.
I remember the fear as a little child. It affected me greatly. Everything seemed threatening. Fortunately, I began to read.
We all know what fear begets.

[PlaceboStudman]

Religion of any sort, evangelical or not simply does not make any sense to me. It is nothing more than an excuse to remain ignorant and ensure that "the meek shall inherit the earth". Frankly, I don't want to be a part of an Earth where the meek are the rulers. I want to be a part of an Earth where the strong and intelligent and educated are the ones who control everything and help to make the decisions that the meek simply can't make

And I'm still waiiting, though President Obama does give me hope that some day....

[Wendy Johnson]

I grew up in a fundamentalist church. I can remember sitting at Hal Lindsey's feet when he came to speak at our church, and going away afterward, terrified to watch Bewitched on TV, or read any books with witches in them.

As the wife of a Methodist pastor in rural Indiana, I was introduced to the Left Behind books when one of my husband's parishioners pressed the first one into my hands and said I should read it.

Fundamentalist dogma = lunacy, I am with you on that Frank.

I think there are plenty of fundamentalist (aka "Bible-believing") Christians out there who will go their entire lives without advocating or participating in an intolerant or lunatic act. The risk though, is that they will vote for people who are less controlled.

[ProfessorDuh]

The Republican Party leader Alan Keyes, who has never been and will never be elected to run even a drainage district, opines that President Obama is A) a radical communist who intends to destroy the United States and B) not the president.
Let’s hear you right-wing loons expand on Keyes' patriotic, godly themes. Go to it, GOP assorted nuts.

[sandpiper1]

Frank,
As a Canadian, I only became aware of this group of religionist? during Bush's era of terror and error.
I am still puzzled by all this, as it doesn't reflect the teachings of Christ that I have read in the Bible, ie love of each other, kindness, tolerance, thou shalt not kill, beware of false prophets who speak in My Name, we're are our brother's keeper, judge not, lest ye be judged, etc., etc.
I once asked one of my brothers who live in Houston, Tx., if these people use a Bible that's different from mainstream Christians and he said no, they just pick out words, sentences from passages that conform to their message they agree with and/or want to impart.
Your articles have helped me to better understand these people who in no way reflect the Jesus I have come to know but, but, I'm still puzzled by these people and their beliefs. I especially can't understand how they can so distort, manipulate the words of Jesus and call themselves Christians. Do you have an answer, Frank? I know there's money to be made from this madness, their preachers have made millions preaching their brand of Christianity but is that all there is to it? Money?

[pjburke]

"Alan Keyes... opines that President Obama is A) a radical communist who intends to destroy the United States and B) not the president."

Proof positive that religious fundamentalism is a 'gateway silliness' which leads to ever stronger forms of silliness.

[ProfessorDuh]

Well put.

[Indedave]

Thank you for the rock-solid post, Frank. My religious inculcation and yours are the same, except that my old man wasn't nearly as successful and I chose atheism at 19. The parallel universe of the Rapturists you so masterly illustrated has been, is and will continue to be our own American jihad. The gallingly tragic element that differentiates its practitioners from islamic jihadists is that, in theory, Americans are able to choose their own religion without being put to the sword for denouncing xtianity. This is folly. I would guess that 90+ percent of religious adherents in the U.S. practice the same faith as their parents -- very few of us undergo any type of conversion. Add to this the balkanization of public schooling wrought largely by the religious right to ensure their propagation -- a human hedge fund, as it were -- and all I can see is more of the same nonsense dominating the political lanscape for generations to come.