The Christian Humanist

Now that we have looked at religious fundamentalism in its Christian, Moslem and Jewish forms, we come back once again to the Christian Fundamentalists, who are much too sure they know the will of god for American society.  We note with concern that they are oddly untroubled by the means they use to get to their goals and often among their ranks we hear variations of the contention that the end justifies the means, whether in elections, in politics, in international relations or in war. 

The fundamentalist Christian pressure on President Bush to support Israeli right wing extremists and their Zionist political allies in Israel against Israeli moderates who want an end to political conflict and are willing to find a peaceful compromise with the Palestinians may make the current effort at a peaceful solution impossible to achieve. 

Many of these Christian Fundamentalists who are supporting the extremists Israelis against the Palestinians believe in a theological doctrine known as the 'Second Coming of Christ.'  They believe that Jesus as the Christ will come back to earth to take his followers to heaven with him.  This will only occur, according to those who believe the Bible foretells the future, after the Jews have returned to the Promised Land and after a cataclysmic battle between the forces of righteousness and the forces of evil that will occur at a place in Israel called Armageddon. 

As odd and unbelievable as it may seem to those of us not familiar with these fundamentalist views, many in the Fundamentalist Christian right take this Second Coming concept seriously and literally.  They have been pressuring George Bush, who they see as one of their allies, to support the extreme right-wing Israelis because they believe that an aggressive position by Israel will provoke war between Israelis and Arabs that will result in a cataclysmic world war and nuclear catastrophe, the very conditions that will set the stage for the end of the world and bring Jesus back to earth to take his people to heaven.  This is an extreme position, but people who believe this occupy some of the top positions in the Pentagon and they are advising George Bush on political and military strategy. That is a very scary concept because these people are not afraid to unleash a catastrophic war.

This is precisely what troubles me about George Bush's “base” of political support among right-wing Christian fundamentalists. These political extremists have hijacked Christianity for their political purposes, they have wrapped their political ideology in Christian language to justify their ends, and they have no qualms about building public policy on the base of their religious belief.  The absurdity of these views and the fervency with which they are held constitute a clear and present danger to our democracy.