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WASHINGTON CLERIC SLAMS BUSH CHRISTIANITY |
Current rating: 0 |
by Rosalinda
(No verified email address) |
09 Mar 2003
|
Washington Cleric Slams Bush “Christianity”
as “Triumphalism” singling out for attack
the code hymn/references, phrases, and End/time constructs
used by the President, for example in his State of the Union speech. |
Washington Post op-ed, March 2, 2003
Fritz Ritsch, pastor of
Bethesda Presbyterian Church, in a Washington suburb, notes that
the President will not meet with representatives of mainstream
Christian denominations, while he uses the "bully pulpit," acting
like "theologian in chief."
Ritsch's column, titled, "Of God, and Man, in the Oval
Office," gives a detailed and theological critique of Bush's
rhetoric, and that of the so-called religious drive for war and empire.
While Ritsch does not take up explicitly, the matter of
the role of Bush's lead speech-writer, Michael J. Gerson, the
Elmer Gantry-type who wrote the President's Oct. 7, 2002,
Cincinnati speech on Iraq, Ritsch does specify and denounce
specific words and phrases, which are the typical
"secret-meaning" fundamentalist clap-trap Gerson specializes in.
Ritsch writes, ``Contrary to popular opinion, the religion
that this group [Bush's religious supporters] espouses is
Triumphalism, not Christianity. Theirs is a zealous form of
nationalism, baptized with Christian language. The German
theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred by the Nazis,
foresaw the rise of a similar view in his country, which he
labeled, `joyous secularism.' .... f, as I believe, this
worldview is really American triumphalism, Christianity has taken
a backseat to joyous secularism [i.e. Nazism]''
Bush, Ritsch says, ``asserts a worldview that most Christian
denominations reject outright as heresy: the myth of redemptive
violence, which posits a war between good and evil ... God
[versus] ... Satan.... Christians have held this view to be
heretical since at least the third century.... In contrast [to
the ``fundamentalists''], the Judeo-Christian worldview is that
of redemption...."
Ritsch points to ways that the ignorant Bush misuses
received religion. For example, ``The President used the words of
a hymn `There's Power in the Blood,' to strengthen the religious
rhetoric of his State of the Union speech.
He spoke of the
`power, wonder-working power'
of `the goodness and idealism and
faith of the American people.'
The original words of the hymn
refer to the `wonder-working power' of `the precious blood of the
lamb' -- Jesus Christ. The unspoken but apparently deliberate
parallel between Americans and Jesus is disturbing, to say the least.''
[source: New York Times, by Thomas Friedman, March 2]
"DON'T BELIEVE THE POLLS," says New York Times columnist
Thomas Friedman column. "I've been to nearly 20 states recently,
and I've found that 95% of the country wants to see Iraq dealt
with without a war. But President Bush is a man on a mission...."
Friedman's report is notable, because he himself supports going
to war, but he thinks Bush has screwed up the preparations
diplomatically and otherwise.
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BUSH'S DRIVE FOR IRAQ WAR BASED ON ARMAGEDDON PROPHESIES? |
by Rosalinda
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
10 Mar 2003
|
[Source: BusinessWeek Online, Friday, March 7, 2003,
"Bush, the Bible, and Iraq," by Stan Crock.]
March 7--{BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE} WARNS THAT BUSH'S DRIVE
FOR IRAQ WAR IS BASED ON ARMAGEDDON PROPHESIES.
Considering that {BusinessWeek} is one of the most mainstream of
the popular business journals, the story is likely to have a
strong impact on Middle America's business community.
The article reviewed the Darbyite belief in a final battle
of Armageddon, leading to the return of Christ and a
thousand-year reign of peace, and noted that Bush's campaign
speeches, written by fundie Michael Gerson, are peppered with
secret messages to his fundamentalist constituents.
"It's true that a President sending political messages to a key constituency
isn't the same as a President basing a strategy on a messianic
vision," author Stan Crock wrote. "But European geopolitical
strategists with long ties to the U.S.--people who can't be
dismissed as nut jobs--are convinced that religious beliefs are
the primary motivation for the Bush Administration."
While not fully agreeing with this assessment, Crock warned,
"The problem is that even as the President's words strengthen his
ties to his political base at home, they corrode relations with
important elites and publics abroad. Unless you understand the
religious undercurrents at work in the current crisis," he
concluded, "you can't fully appreciate the resistance of
America's allies as the U.S. tries to build a consensus for
attacking a devilishly clever leader in Iraq."
[Source: NYT/WaPO, 3/7/2003]
BUSH HAS HIS CHICKENHAWKS,
BUT DEM LEADERS ARE JUST PLAIN CHICKEN!
In statements made on March 6, Sen. Nancy Pelosi said
the case for war has not been made to the American people, the UN
Security Council, nor to the world community, but neither Pelosi
nor Sen. Tom Daschle want debate reopened on a war resolution.
Instead, Sens. Daschle and Frist agreed to floor time today for
Senators to speak on Iraq.
The Congressional Black Caucus wrote to Bush asking to meet
to discuss Iraq, while Sens. Corzine and Levin sought
postponement of entire budget consideration until the
Administration provides an estimate of the cost of war.
Similarly, the {Washington Post} says that Democrats are
afraid of a repeat of the political penalty they paid for Gulf
War I, where they were seen to oppose what appeared to be a
successful military campaign, so they are pointing to the war
beyond Iraq, such as North Korea--them's dumb clucks.
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