really, really interesting

[winterbadger]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/wayfairer/456769.html

It's a bit long, but it's worth the read.

What it doesn't explain to me maybe the many, many pages of discussion do, but I have to do *some* work), is... OK, if that's the way people think and they see Bush as a Christian man fighting the forces of evil, then I can see why they would vote for him. But what I still don't get is *why* they would see Bush as a good Christian man. Surely not just because he says so. And if it were just based on his actiosn, that would be entirely circular: we support him because he's X, eveen if he does what might seem like bad things, but we think he's X because he does good things... Is it because of who endorses him? I'm still missing something.

Comments

[robbysmom.livejournal.com]

"I still don't get is *why* they would see Bush as a good Christian man"

a) he speaks in the "right language" to the local audience and at times, also, to the national audience. (There is a religious language; there is a religious evangelical language, as you know)

b) His likening of the WOT to a battle against evil fits right into the SBC mindset she describes. (CF #1)

c) The way liberals make fun of him amkes him the persecuted Christians described in the post.

What confounded me wasn't the view of Bush, but the persecution theme. That is powerful and to me extremely scary-- in a very deep spiritual way.

[kathygnome.livejournal.com]

I think you're having trouble really believing exactly how insane a large portion of the American public is.

They're not as crazy as this article makes out. They're actually far worse.

[winterbadger]

See, and IMO if one keeps just thinking of them as crazy and dismissing them, things will get worse, not better.

[kathygnome.livejournal.com]

Oh I don't dismiss them, I think our entire civilization is in danger from religious fundamentalism. But crazy? They are and that's really the issue. It's not possible to reason with them because they base their decisions on things that are mythical in origin. Since Saddam planned 9/11 and had the WMDs ready to attack again, how can you argue with them that the war wasn't a great idea? And of course if you try to prove those things aren't true, they simply deny that reality exists.

[beckon.livejournal.com]

This reinforces my belief that most religions should be banned and preachers hunted down like the dogs they are.

[robbysmom.livejournal.com]

Now, see, that scares me, too. My partner is a minister (deacon of the Episcopal church), and she preaches-- and that would make her a preacher you suggest hunting down like a dog. (Not that I think dogs should be hunted per se, either.)

I can assure you that the religious left is no danger to anyone but perhaps themselves, because we are liked neither by the secular nor the religious right.

[beckon.livejournal.com]

It's easy sometimes to forget that what you write on the internet can easily go beyond your intended target and it's also easy to forget to moderate your language.

I don't have a particular issue with people of faith, nor the individuals who act as tenders of any particular faith.

But the type of people that are described in that posting. Scare the hell out of me and are by far the worse threat that I believe America faces as a nation. Because they will tear it apart in the absolute conviction of their own righteousness.

[robbysmom.livejournal.com]

I agree that the "religious right" that seeks (and clearly is seeking) political power is a great danger to the unity of the nation and, frankly, to the concept of "a church under God" itself. Historicaly, small communities of faith (focused on livign out their faith) have not been a particlaur problem for and with others; but powerful communtites and religious states or non-state actors who seek doctinaire religious unity within states (a number of popes, Holy Roman Emperors, AQ-- just to name a few off the top of my head. . .) clearly are and have been.

[redactrice.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for posting that link. I found the opening post in that journal a lucid and fascinating aid to understanding a mindset that I don't share but that is having a growing effect on U.S. society. I also found the range of comments fascinating. (If you haven't read it, you might appreciate the thread about Jewish perspectives on the first page of comments.) I avidly read three pages of comments before deciding that I, too, need to go back and earn my taxpayer-funding salary. But I plan to go back to that link after hours and read more comments.

Thanks for digging up something useful. After all, that's what badgers do best!