April 25, 2004 8:35 AM

I never learned this in Sunday School

Laughter of the Gods: In whose name does Bush and the Right really speak?

Creative destruction is our middle name. We do it automatically...It is time once again to export the democratic revolution.... God understands that all men are evil, and the only way to achieve peace is through total war....the sparing of civilian lives cannot be the total war's first priority...The purpose of total war is to permanently force your will onto another people.

- Micheal Ledeen

When I was younger, and my parents forced me to go to Sunday School, I could never quite understand the separation of Church and State. What was the big deal, I though? Wasn't this country founded by those fleeing religious persecution in England?

Sadly, the older I get, the more I'm coming to see the true wisdom of our Founding Fathers. They recognized that religion in the hands of those with weak morals could be used to foster all sorts of evil. The current Administration is a perfect illustration of Georges Santayana's dictum: "Those who do know know history are condemned to repeat it".

Part of the argument, I suppose lies in which version of God you happen to believe in: the loving, caring God (New Testament), or the evil, vindictive, willing-to-destroy-those-who-do-not-believe God (Old Testament). There should be little doubt as to which God George W. Bush worships.

Just who IS this God that chats up brazen hypocrites and zealots in our midst -- whipping them into a frenzy of pharisaic attempts to strangle democracy at home and abroad? This awesome creature is on a murderous rampage in the Middle East, Africa, South America and -- as Donald Rumsfeld would say -- east, west, north and south somewhat. Armed and jackbooted, Bush's flinty-hearted Diety bears no resemblance to the compassionate and forgiving God in whom Christians have put their faith for more than two millenia.

More and more innocents are being herded onto the world's killing fields by the deliberate actions of a Christian nation -- in the name of its Christian God. What blasphemy! If Christians are unable to recognize the difference between good and evil; if they cannot see that those we crush under our heel are also God's creation -- then all those hours spent in Sunday School, church services, summer camp and "all day singing and dinner on the grounds" picnics were a sorry waste of time. The nature of a man is revealed by the company he keeps. Those who preach that maiming and killing terrified men, women and children is "God's will" -- who cover up the slaughter of their own citizens and who topple other regimes by force or farce -- are evil men who cavort with evil gods. And every single Christian in this country knows it.

The Beast may not yet be loosed upon the world, but his minions are having one hell of a good time, and laughing their asses off in the process. By joining forces in a destructive "means justifies the ends" crusade to both control and convert the world, the Neoconservatives and Religious Right have created a playground for wicked gods.

In other words, Christians are the unltimate arbiters of what is Good and Right and Acceptable, and those Who Do Not Believe deserve to be subjugated and/or crushed. Is it just me, or is that just a tad bit arrogant and ethnocentric?

I have nothing personally against Christianity. Although I am a Buddhist, I am married to a committed Christian who does her best to live her beliefs. She is kind, gentle, and forgiving. Her Christianity has nothing to do with anything political. I have never heard her utter an angry, vengeful word against those who do not believe as she does. This is as it should be, no?

The Bush Administration is as much about Christian charity as I am about the evil, blood-sucking Green Bay Packers. Their Old Testament version of Christianity is little more than thinly-veiled lust for power. There are many, both inside and outside of government who feel as they do. They've achieved power by appealing to the fears of the American public. Now that they are in power, they can paint themselves as doing the Lord's work. I had no idea the Lord had sanctioned the invasion of a country who had no demonstrated link to 9.11. Unless, of course, 9.11 was merely used as a pretext for George W. Bush to avenge his father's premature ending of Gulf War I.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on April 25, 2004 8:35 AM.

Coming soon to a supermarket shelf near you was the previous entry in this blog.

Too bad this didn't happen nine hours earlier as Kim was rolling through town is the next entry in this blog.

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