Are Mainstream Churches Finally Standing Up To GOP'S Hateful "Christian"

[babsbunny]

Blitzkrieg? www.freepress.org
Election Issues

Are mainstream churches finally standing up to the GOP’s hateful “Christian” blitzkrieg?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
April 9, 2006

Right-wing church movements have been a staple of American politics since well before the 1692 witch trials at Salem. But only in the past few decades has the extremist church served as the grassroots base for a new breed of corporate totalitarianism. That unholy union has been nowhere more powerful than here in Ohio, and it has finally provoked a response from the state’s mainstream churches.

With huge torrents of cash from Richard Mellon Scaife, the Ahmanson family and other super-rich ultra-rightists, the fundamentalist church has formed the popular network that has spawned the Bush catastrophe. The totalitarian alliance between pulpit, corporation and military is unique in U.S. history.

With contempt for the Constitution, and unholy opposition to separation of church and state, ultra-rich ultra-right preachers like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, self-proclaimed messiahs like Rev. Moon, and sanctimonious errand boys like Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist, have turned America into a “Christo-fascist” empire whose twice-unelected executive claims Divine right to rule. When it comes to their views on violence, empire, greed and intolerance, these are the most un-Christian men in America. It’s no accident that George W. Bush’s first words about the war to follow 9/11 had to do with a “Christian Crusade” against Islam. And, instead of consulting his father, a former President, W. chose to consult “a higher father.”

That this evil network of mega- churches, cults and electronic Elmer Gantrys would prove profoundly corrupt should also come as no surprise. These are the moneychangers that Christ kicked out of the temple. The ultra-orthodox cash flow from Jack Abramoff to “godly” legislators like Tom DeLay and Ohio’s Bob Ney has suffered not the slightest diversion toward true spirituality. The movement even has its own sex symbol in Ann Coulter, the “Harlot of Hate” who reaps huge sums in places like Ohio’s World Harvest Church for talking nasty while dressed in mini-skirts that would get minors arrested off urban street corners.

The real mystery in all this has been an almost total silence from the religious mainstream. In recent months a number of statements have finally come from interdenominational organizations worrying deeply about global warming. The desecration of God’s Creation is pretty far along. But the liberal denominations finally seem to see the curse of CO2.

The liberal United Church of Christ is also finally questioning the theft of Christ’s legacy for ungodly GOP purposes. The idea that Jesus would hate gays, not want them to marry, love the death penalty and sanction wholesale slaughter in oil-rich nations has always stretched the imagination even of the irreligious. Finally, the actually religious seem to be speaking out.

More at link

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Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of HOW THE GOP STOLE AMERICA’S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008, available at www.freepress.org. They are co-editors, with Steve Rosenfeld, of the upcoming WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO?, from the New Press.


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[HockeyMom]

1. Mainstream Protestant Churches, you mean

I would not put the Catholic Church in with that group. The Vatican seems to be on board with these Fundie groups.

Just look at how many Catholic Prayer Breakfasts Bush has attended.

[The Blue Flower]

2. Fundamentalists are not mainstream

They are the noisiest and most obnoxious and have the ear of the media, but they are not mainstream. The Methodist Church, to which bush and the dick claim membership, have opposed the war from day one. During this past holiday season, the Methodist Council of Bishops put out a very strongly worded letter reiterating that opposition and calling for an immediate end to the war and for the US to spend time in grieving and repentance for what it has done to the nation of Iraq and its people.

[dusty64]

3. It can't happen soon

enough. I do expect a major backlash against these pushy and hateful groups who will not stop forcing their backward taliban agenda on the vast majority of the People who do NOT agree w/ it. Its coming, I just hope its not too late.