Needing a break from discussing the sleazy world of politics, now seems an opportune time to turn to the sleazy world of Satan.
Always on the lookout for the ploys of the wily one seeking souls for his sulfurous kingdom, Dr. Chaps (a.k.a. Gordon Klingenschmitt) warns us about one of his diabolical stratagems:
Religious fundamentalism of any faith has been responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in this century alone. Bacevich chronicles how Christian fundamentalism has become bonded to the radical rightwing, neoconservatives, and, with them, embedded in the American military. It is now the all but official faith of the US military.
ReplyDeleteFundamentalist Christianity speaks to the Muslim world through Hellfire missiles and 2,000 lb. laser-guided bombs. In Fallujah, enterprising warriors for Christ painted "Jesus Killed Mohammed" in Arabic on the side of their armoured vehicle to incense the Iraqi resistance. http://harpers.org/archive/2009/05/jesus-killed-mohammed/
Radical (fundmentalist) Islam speaks through a Saudi headsman's scimitar or a subway bombing, generously funded groups such as al Qaeda or ISIS. Radical Zionism seeks to ethnically cleanse the West Bank and Gaza to restore Israel to its bibilical state. Even the gentle Buddhists have a fundamentalist strain that periodically resorts to religious violence.
They're all monsters, Lorne, Dr. Chaps included and they're not done with us yet. Not hardly.
While I have a deep respect for spiritual inquiry, Mound, i am with you in your condemnation of the excesses of organized religion. As human constructs, they devolve inevitably into institutions whose main goal seems to be preservation of power - not unlike that other institution we call politics.
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