Jesus Made Me Puke (Taibbi, Rolling Stone)

[MountainLaurel]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20278737/jesus_made_me_puke

Incredible article on the fundangelical movement, from inside. This one is particularly relevant because it features Pastor John Hagee's church. A few highlights:

I had been attending the Cornerstone Church for weeks, but this was really my first day of school. I had joined Cornerstone — a megachurch in the Texas Hill Country — to get a look inside the evangelical mind-set that gave the country eight years of George W. Bush. The church's pastor, John Hagee, is one of the most influential evangelical preachers in the country — not because his ministry is so very large (although he claims up to 4.5 million viewers a week for his Sunday sermons) but because of his near-absolute conquest of a very trendy niche in the market: Christian Zionism.

The whole idea behind Christian Zionism is to align America with the nation of Israel so as to "hurry God up" in his efforts to bring about Armageddon. As Hagee tells it, only after Israel is involved in a final showdown involving a satanic army (in most interpretations, a force of Arabs led by Russians) will Christ reappear. On that happy day, Hagee and his True Believers will be whisked up to Heaven by God, while the rest of us nonbelievers are left behind on Earth to suck eggs and generally suffer various tortures.

snip

True, I could see some other angles to what was going on as well. Virtually all of the participants of the Encounter identified either one or both of their parents as their "offender," and much of what Fortenberry was talking about in his instructional sessions was how to replace the godless atmosphere of abuse or neglect that the offenders had provided us with God and the church. He was taking broken people and giving them a road map to a new set of parents, a new family — your basic cultist bait-and-switch formula for cutting old emotional ties and redirecting that psychic energy toward the desired new destination. That connection would become more overt later in the weekend, but early on, this ur-father propaganda was the only thing I could see that separated Encounter Weekend from the typical self-help dreck of the secular world.

snip

Afterward, a frightening thought shot through my head. It occurred to me that over the past decades, any number of our prominent political leaders (from Jimmy Carter to Chuck Colson to W himself) had boasted publicly of their born-again experiences, broadcasting to Middle America an understanding of their personal relationships with God. But whereas once these conversions were humble things — Billy Graham whispering and putting his hand on W's shoulder in Kennebunkport, or even (in the case of Tom DeLay) a flash of recognition while watching a televangelist program — the modern version might very easily be this completely batshit holy-vomitus/demon-exorcism deal. The thought that any politician could claim this kind of experience and not be immediately disqualified from public service seemed utterly terrifying.

We were called back to chapel, and this time the drill was speaking in tongues. We were asked to come up to the front of the chapel and let a life coach anoint us with oil, hold our heads and speak to us in tongues. Fortenberry instructed us to "just let it out. Just let it out and it'll come out."

[Initech]

1. "Hagee and his True Believers" - sounds like a great name for a rock band!

But seriously, that whole article represents why I feel that Hagee and his followers are the most dangerous group of people on the planet. :nuke:

[BonnieJW]

3. Actually, I think the Moonies hold that title.

[MountainLaurel]

4. I agree completely

I grew up attending a fundamentalist church, and these folks would have been considered out there. However, I am so glad to see MSM publications like Rolling Stone really paying attention. One thing that really resonated with me was this:

Afterward, a frightening thought shot through my head. It occurred to me that over the past decades, any number of our prominent political leaders (from Jimmy Carter to Chuck Colson to W himself) had boasted publicly of their born-again experiences, broadcasting to Middle America an understanding of their personal relationships with God. But whereas once these conversions were humble things — Billy Graham whispering and putting his hand on W's shoulder in Kennebunkport, or even (in the case of Tom DeLay) a flash of recognition while watching a televangelist program — the modern version might very easily be this completely batshit holy-vomitus/demon-exorcism deal. The thought that any politician could claim this kind of experience and not be immediately disqualified from public service seemed utterly terrifying.

We were called back to chapel, and this time the drill was speaking in tongues. We were asked to come up to the front of the chapel and let a life coach anoint us with oil, hold our heads and speak to us in tongues. Fortenberry instructed us to "just let it out. Just let it out and it'll come out."

I've long thought that so many people underestimate the religious right because they haven't taken the time to understand what kind of power and control these churches have, and just how extreme they are. I once got jumped on because I expressed the opinion that Fred Phelps is simply the ugly face of what a whole lot of pretty, old white-steepled churches teach every Sunday. I grew up with it, so I know what you'll hear. But because so many people in the national media are from the upper classes (you can't get the big unpaid or barely paid internships that lead to those jobs if you've got to work during the summers and don't have the right connections), they either don't pay attention or you only hear about these churches as entertainment value, like stories about snake handlers.

[madrchsod]

2. jesus ain`t got nothing to do with these guys.....

[KamaAina]

5. Punk'd!

"Hello," I said, taking a deep breath. "My name is Matt. My father was an alcoholic circus clown who used to beat me with his oversize shoes."

The group twittered noticeably. Morgan's eyes opened to tea-saucer size.

I closed my own eyes and kept going, immediately realizing what a mistake I'd made. There was no way this story was going to fly. But there was no turning back.

"He'd be sitting there in his costume, sucking down a beer and watching television," I heard myself saying. "And then sometimes, even if I just walked in front of the TV, he'd pull off one of those big shoes and just, you know — whap!"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Disturbed]

8. McSame admires Hagee.

McSame sought Hagee's endorsement.

[KamaAina]

6. Hagee is a filthy rat's-ass piece of garbage

actually, I take that back. It might be offensive to filthy, rat's-ass pieces of garbage.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3196878&mesg_id=3196878

On September 18, 2006, Pastor John Hagee — whose endorsement Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said this past Sunday he was “glad to have” — told NPR’s Terry Gross that “Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” “New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God,” Hagee said, because “there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came.”

On his radio show yesterday, right-wing talker Dennis Prager asked Hagee to respond to “the various charges made against him” in a fact sheet put out by the Democratic National Committee. Asked about his comments on Hurricane Katrina, Hagee said “the topic of that day was cursing and blessing”:

HAGEE: Yes. The topic of that day was cursing and blessing. … What happened in New Orleans looked like the curse of God, in time if New Orleans recovers and becomes the pristine city it can become it may in time be called a blessing. But at this time it’s called a curse.

Prager followed up by asking if all natural disasters are a result of “the divine hand” and if there is “any natural disaster that is not the result of sin?” Hagee responded by saying “it’s a result of God’s permissible will” and “that there was going to be a massive homosexual rally there the following Monday,” which he said “was sin”:

:grr: :banghead: :nuke:

[MountainLaurel]

7. Pretty much n/t

[Initech]

12. Most dangerous man in America? I think so.

Fitting that John "More War" McCain wants his endorsement since Hagee's goal is to kill us all. :nuke:

[ProgressiveFool]

9. K & R

[Harry Monroe]

10. If these "Christian Zionists" want to experience the Rapture

May I suggest a well insulated garage, an automobile and a piece of garden hose?? "Self Rapture" and be gone!!

[MountainLaurel]

13. Nah, we'd be stuck cleaning up their mess, once again n/t

[knitter4democracy]

11. After reading it all, I have to say that's never happened to me.

I grew up in the Church of the Nazarene, a conservative evangelical church, and I even went to one of their colleges. I've been to countless revivals, been to Pentecostals churches with my cousins and heard speaking in tongues, and even done mission work. I've never seen anything like that. Senior High Camp had its bizarre moments, but we weren't worked over like that. Not even at Nazarene Youth Congress (which started feeling like a re-education camp by the fourth day).

Still, he's right about turning off your brain. I've seen that happen and even felt it happen myself. That part's pretty spot-on. Oh, and the preaching style of the pastor guy. That's pretty similar.