Soldiers of Christ Revisited

I often couch my criticisms of people who label themselves “Christian” because I abhor stereotyping and prejudice. I understand that there are many “Christians” who are genuinely committed to the teachings of Jesus Christ, and those people have my respect. Sadly, as time marches on, I meet less and less of them and more and more of the people who are “Christians” in name only. After 9/11, many people called upon the peaceful Muslims of the world to renounce terrorism and hatred, and to condemn the acts of violence of the militant fundamentalists. I think it is time for the “true” Christians to do the same regarding their own fundamentalist wing.

One of the most dangerous trends in modern American Christianity is the rise in Dominionism. Basically, this term describes a movement which seeks to force Christianity upon all peoples of the world, to dominate all aspects of human existence based on their own twisted interpretation of a book of allegories and fairytales. It is patently un-American and ironically, anti-Christian.

Fundamentalist, evangilical Christians want all of us to live according to their whim. They want us to ignore the biological and scientific evidence of evolution in favor of a fairytale that was written centuries ago. They want to force women into carrying unwanted pregnancies to term, even in cases of rape. They want to deny women the right to pharmaceuticals that could block fertilization in the 72 hours after un-protected sex, thereby forcing the agonizing decision to have an abortion instead of preventing one. They want to deny people the right to die with dignity, forcing them to be kept alive by artificial means when their bodies can no longer sustain life themselves. They are intolerant of homosexuals and would condemn them to a life of loneliness. They insist that their faith is the one true faith, even though all faiths have exactly the same amount of evidence as to their own veracity, which is zero. That is why it is called “faith.” Millions of them believe that Christ will return soon and will visit destruction upon the planet. They use this as an excuse to ignore the warnings of the scientists regarding energy conservation, global warming, air and water pollution and the mass extinction of species of both plants an animals due to the negligence and recklessness of mankind.

They want to do all this based not upon any rational methodology or thought process, not upon scientific evidence or analysis of available data, but based upon one book of myths and legends written almost 2,000 years ago. A book that tells stories of talking serpents, virgin births, and angels and demons.

A major factor in the rise of dominionism is the exploitation of these individuals by the Republican party. The Republicans have only one agenda to the exclusion of all else and to the peril of all of us, themselves included, and that is the acquisition of wealth and power for a few individuals. They have cultivated the support of religious fanatics because their thirst for power and wealth requires votes, and mobilizing these people behind a few wedge issues enables them to win elections.

I don’t know about anybody else, but I for one do not wish to sit idly by while these misguided self-righteous fools attempt to hijack our nation and potentially our world. We must vote in the all upcoming elections, and we must vote Democratic, not because they deserve our votes, not because they have all the answers, and not because they are paragons of virtue as none of those things are true. We must vote Democratic as they are our only chance today in defeating the Republicans.

Related Posts:
How Can We Win?
Soldiers of Christ. (Updated with a link to Jill Sobule's chilling song.)
Thoughts on Religion.

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