03/21/2008
Haaretz.com,
the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel
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Shattering a 'national mythology'
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By Ofri Ilani
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Of all the national heroes who have arisen from among the Jewish people over the generations, fate has not been kind to Dahia al-Kahina, a leader of the Berbers in the Aures Mountains. Although she was a proud Jewess, few Israelis have ever heard the name of this warrior-queen who, in the seventh century C.E., united a number of Berber tribes and pushed back the Muslim army that invaded North Africa. It is possible that the reason for this is that al-Kahina was the daughter of a Berber tribe that had converted to Judaism, apparently several generations before she was born, sometime around the 6th century C.E.
According to the Tel Aviv University historian, Prof. Shlomo Sand, author of "Matai ve'ech humtza ha'am hayehudi?" ("When and How the Jewish People Was Invented?"; Resling, in Hebrew), the queen's tribe and other local tribes that converted to Judaism are the main sources from which Spanish Jewry sprang. This claim that the Jews of North Africa originated in indigenous tribes that became Jewish - and not in communities exiled from Jerusalem - is just one element of the far- reaching argument set forth in Sand's new book.
In this work, the author attempts to prove that the Jews now living in Israel and other places in the world are not at all descendants of the ancient people who inhabited the Kingdom of Judea during the First and Second Temple period. Their origins, according to him, are in varied peoples that converted to Judaism during the course of history, in different corners of the Mediterranean Basin and the adjacent regions. Not only are the North African Jews for the most part descendants of pagans who converted to Judaism, but so are the Jews of Yemen (remnants of the Himyar Kingdom in the Arab Peninsula, who converted to Judaism in the fourth century) and the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe (refugees from the Kingdom of the Khazars, who converted in the eighth century).
Unlike other "new historians" who have tried to undermine the assumptions of Zionist historiography, Sand does not content himself with going back to 1948 or to the beginnings of Zionism, but rather goes back thousands of years. He tries to prove that the Jewish people never existed as a "nation-race" with a common origin, but rather is a colorful mix of groups that at various stages in history adopted the Jewish religion. He argues that for a number of Zionist ideologues, the mythical perception of the Jews as an ancient people led to truly racist thinking: "There were times when if anyone argued that the Jews belong to a people that has gentile origins, he would be classified as an anti-Semite on the spot. Today, if anyone dares to suggest that those who are considered Jews in the world ... have never constituted and still do not constitute a people or a nation - he is immediately condemned as a hater of Israel."
According to Sand, the description of the Jews as a wandering and self-isolating nation of exiles, "who wandered across seas and continents, reached the ends of the earth and finally, with the advent of Zionism, made a U-turn and returned en masse to their orphaned homeland," is nothing but "national mythology." Like other national movements in Europe, which sought out a splendid Golden Age, through which they invented a heroic past - for example, classical Greece or the Teutonic tribes - to prove they have existed since the beginnings of history, "so, too, the first buds of Jewish nationalism blossomed in the direction of the strong light that has its source in the mythical Kingdom of David."
So when, in fact, was the Jewish people invented, in Sand's view? At a certain stage in the 19th century, intellectuals of Jewish origin in Germany, influenced by the folk character of German nationalism, took upon themselves the task of inventing a people "retrospectively," out of a thirst to create a modern Jewish people. From historian Heinrich Graetz on, Jewish historians began to draw the history of Judaism as the history of a nation that had been a kingdom, became a wandering people and ultimately turned around and went back to its birthplace.
Actually, most of your book does not deal with the invention of the Jewish people by modern Jewish nationalism, but rather with the question of where the Jews come from.
Sand: "My initial intention was to take certain kinds of modern historiographic materials and examine how they invented the 'figment' of the Jewish people. But when I began to confront the historiographic sources, I suddenly found contradictions. And then that urged me on: I started to work, without knowing where I would end up. I took primary sources and I tried to examine authors' references in the ancient period - what they wrote about conversion."
Sand, an expert on 20th-century history, has until now researched the intellectual history of modern France (in "Ha'intelektual, ha'emet vehakoah: miparashat dreyfus ve'ad milhemet hamifrats" - "Intellectuals, Truth and Power, From the Dreyfus Affair to the Gulf War"; Am Oved, in Hebrew). Unusually, for a professional historian, in his new book he deals with periods that he had never researched before, usually relying on studies that present unorthodox views of the origins of the Jews.
Experts on the history of the Jewish people say you are dealing with subjects about which you have no understanding and are basing yourself on works that you can't read in the original.
"It is true that I am an historian of France and Europe, and not of the ancient period. I knew that the moment I would start dealing with early periods like these, I would be exposed to scathing criticism by historians who specialize in those areas. But I said to myself that I can't stay just with modern historiographic material without examining the facts it describes. Had I not done this myself, it would have been necessary to have waited for an entire generation. Had I continued to deal with France, perhaps I would have been given chairs at the university and provincial glory. But I decided to relinquish the glory."
Inventing the Diaspora
"After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people remained faithful to it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom" - thus states the preamble to the Israeli Declaration of Independence. This is also the quotation that opens the third chapter of Sand's book, entitled "The Invention of the Diaspora." Sand argues that the Jewish people's exile from its land never happened.
"The supreme paradigm of exile was needed in order to construct a long-range memory in which an imagined and exiled nation-race was posited as the direct continuation of 'the people of the Bible' that preceded it," Sand explains. Under the influence of other historians who have dealt with the same issue in recent years, he argues that the exile of the Jewish people is originally a Christian myth that depicted that event as divine punishment imposed on the Jews for having rejected the Christian gospel.
"I started looking in research studies about the exile from the land - a constitutive event in Jewish history, almost like the Holocaust. But to my astonishment I discovered that it has no literature. The reason is that no one exiled the people of the country. The Romans did not exile peoples and they could not have done so even if they had wanted to. They did not have trains and trucks to deport entire populations. That kind of logistics did not exist until the 20th century. From this, in effect, the whole book was born: in the realization that Judaic society was not dispersed and was not exiled."
If the people was not exiled, are you saying that in fact the real descendants of the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Judah are the Palestinians?
"No population remains pure over a period of thousands of years. But the chances that the Palestinians are descendants of the ancient Judaic people are much greater than the chances that you or I are its descendents. The first Zionists, up until the Arab Revolt [1936-9], knew that there had been no exiling, and that the Palestinians were descended from the inhabitants of the land. They knew that farmers don't leave until they are expelled. Even Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, the second president of the State of Israel, wrote in 1929 that, 'the vast majority of the peasant farmers do not have their origins in the Arab conquerors, but rather, before then, in the Jewish farmers who were numerous and a majority in the building of the land.'"
And how did millions of Jews appear around the Mediterranean Sea?
"The people did not spread, but the Jewish religion spread. Judaism was a converting religion. Contrary to popular opinion, in early Judaism there was a great thirst to convert others. The Hasmoneans were the first to begin to produce large numbers of Jews through mass conversion, under the influence of Hellenism. The conversions between the Hasmonean Revolt and Bar Kochba's rebellion are what prepared the ground for the subsequent, wide-spread dissemination of Christianity. After the victory of Christianity in the fourth century, the momentum of conversion was stopped in the Christian world, and there was a steep drop in the number of Jews. Presumably many of the Jews who appeared around the Mediterranean became Christians. But then Judaism started to permeate other regions - pagan regions, for example, such as Yemen and North Africa. Had Judaism not continued to advance at that stage and had it not continued to convert people in the pagan world, we would have remained a completely marginal religion, if we survived at all."
How did you come to the conclusion that the Jews of North Africa were originally Berbers who converted?
"I asked myself how such large Jewish communities appeared in Spain. And then I saw that Tariq ibn Ziyad, the supreme commander of the Muslims who conquered Spain, was a Berber, and most of his soldiers were Berbers. Dahia al-Kahina's Jewish Berber kingdom had been defeated only 15 years earlier. And the truth is there are a number of Christian sources that say many of the conquerors of Spain were Jewish converts. The deep-rooted source of the large Jewish community in Spain was those Berber soldiers who converted to Judaism."
Sand argues that the most crucial demographic addition to the Jewish population of the world came in the wake of the conversion of the kingdom of Khazaria - a huge empire that arose in the Middle Ages on the steppes along the Volga River, which at its height ruled over an area that stretched from the Georgia of today to Kiev. In the eighth century, the kings of the Khazars adopted the Jewish religion and made Hebrew the written language of the kingdom. From the 10th century the kingdom weakened; in the 13th century is was utterly defeated by Mongol invaders, and the fate of its Jewish inhabitants remains unclear.
Sand revives the hypothesis, which was already suggested by historians in the 19th and 20th centuries, according to which the Judaized Khazars constituted the main origins of the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe.
"At the beginning of the 20th century there is a tremendous concentration of Jews in Eastern Europe - three million Jews in Poland alone," he says. "The Zionist historiography claims that their origins are in the earlier Jewish community in Germany, but they do not succeed in explaining how a small number of Jews who came from Mainz and Worms could have founded the Yiddish people of Eastern Europe. The Jews of Eastern Europe are a mixture of Khazars and Slavs who were pushed eastward."
'Degree of perversion'
If the Jews of Eastern Europe did not come from Germany, why did they speak Yiddish, which is a Germanic language?
"The Jews were a class of people dependent on the German bourgeoisie in the East, and thus they adopted German words. Here I base myself on the research of linguist Paul Wechsler of Tel Aviv University, who has demonstrated that there is no etymological connection between the German Jewish language of the Middle Ages and Yiddish. As far back as 1828, the Ribal (Rabbi Isaac Ber Levinson) said that the ancient language of the Jews was not Yiddish. Even Ben Zion Dinur, the father of Israeli historiography, was not hesitant about describing the Khazars as the origin of the Jews in Eastern Europe, and describes Khazaria as 'the mother of the diasporas' in Eastern Europe. But more or less since 1967, anyone who talks about the Khazars as the ancestors of the Jews of Eastern Europe is considered naive and moonstruck."
Why do you think the idea of the Khazar origins is so threatening?
"It is clear that the fear is of an undermining of the historic right to the land. The revelation that the Jews are not from Judea would ostensibly knock the legitimacy for our being here out from under us. Since the beginning of the period of decolonization, settlers have no longer been able to say simply: 'We came, we won and now we are here' the way the Americans, the whites in South Africa and the Australians said. There is a very deep fear that doubt will be cast on our right to exist."
Is there no justification for this fear?
"No. I don't think that the historical myth of the exile and the wanderings is the source of the legitimization for me being here, and therefore I don't mind believing that I am Khazar in my origins. I am not afraid of the undermining of our existence, because I think that the character of the State of Israel undermines it in a much more serious way. What would constitute the basis for our existence here is not mythological historical right, but rather would be for us to start to establish an open society here of all Israeli citizens."
In effect you are saying that there is no such thing as a Jewish people.
"I don't recognize an international people. I recognize 'the Yiddish people' that existed in Eastern Europe, which though it is not a nation can be seen as a Yiddishist civilization with a modern popular culture. I think that Jewish nationalism grew up in the context of this 'Yiddish people.' I also recognize the existence of an Israeli people, and do not deny its right to sovereignty. But Zionism and also Arab nationalism over the years are not prepared to recognize it.
"From the perspective of Zionism, this country does not belong to its citizens, but rather to the Jewish people. I recognize one definition of a nation: a group of people that wants to live in sovereignty over itself. But most of the Jews in the world have no desire to live in the State of Israel, even though nothing is preventing them from doing so. Therefore, they cannot be seen as a nation."
What is so dangerous about Jews imagining that they belong to one people? Why is this bad?
"In the Israeli discourse about roots there is a degree of perversion. This is an ethnocentric, biological, genetic discourse. But Israel has no existence as a Jewish state: If Israel does not develop and become an open, multicultural society we will have a Kosovo in the Galilee. The consciousness concerning the right to this place must be more flexible and varied, and if I have contributed with my book to the likelihood that I and my children will be able to live with the others here in this country in a more egalitarian situation - I will have done my bit.
"We must begin to work hard to transform our place into an Israeli republic where ethnic origin, as well as faith, will not be relevant in the eyes of the law. Anyone who is acquainted with the young elites of the Israeli Arab community can see that they will not agree to live in a country that declares it is not theirs. If I were a Palestinian I would rebel against a state like that, but even as an Israeli I am rebelling against it."
The question is whether for those conclusions you had to go as far as the Kingdom of the Khazars.
"I am not hiding the fact that it is very distressing for me to live in a society in which the nationalist principles that guide it are dangerous, and that this distress has served as a motive in my work. I am a citizen of this country, but I am also a historian and as a historian it is my duty to write history and examine texts. This is what I have done."
If the myth of Zionism is one of the Jewish people that returned to its land from exile, what will be the myth of the country you envision?
"To my mind, a myth about the future is better than introverted mythologies of the past. For the Americans, and today for the Europeans as well, what justifies the existence of the nation is a future promise of an open, progressive and prosperous society. The Israeli materials do exist, but it is necessary to add, for example, pan-Israeli holidays. To decrease the number of memorial days a bit and to add days that are dedicated to the future. But also, for example, to add an hour in memory of the Nakba [literally, the "catastrophe" - the Palestinian term for what happened when Israel was established], between Memorial Day and Independence Day." |
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Ruben Israel, left, of Los Angeles, and Stephen James, right, of Somerset,
Penn., heckle anti-war demonstrators as they march in Washington to protest the
U.S. troops presence in Iraq on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2003. The thousands strong
march, labeled 'Bring the Troops Home Now, End the Occupation of Iraq,' was
organized by the groups A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now To Stop War And Racism)
and United For Peace And Justice. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Holy Bible, Job 34:30: "That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be
ensnared." |
Bush says God chose him to lead
his nation
Book
reveals how President's religious and political beliefs are entwined - and
claims he did pray with Blair
Paul Harris in New York
Sunday November 2, 2003
The Observer
President George W. Bush stood before a
cheering crowd at a Dallas Christian youth centre last week, and told them about
being 'born again' as a Christian.
'If you change their heart, then they change their behaviour. I know,' he
said, referring to his own conversion, which led to him giving up drinking.
Behind Bush were two banners. 'King of Kings', proclaimed one. 'Lord of
Lords', said the other. The symbolism of how fervent Christianity has become
deeply entwined with the most powerful man on the planet could not have been
stronger.
Few US Presidents have been as openly religious as Bush. Now a new book has
lifted the lid on how deep those Christian convictions run. It will stir up
controversy at a time when the administration is keen to portray its 'war on
terror' as non-religious.
The book, which depicts a President who prays each day and believes he is on
a direct mission from God, will give ammunition to critics who claim Bush's
administration is heavily influenced by extremist Christians.
Bush is already under fire for allowing the appointment of General William
Boykin to head the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Boykin, who speaks at evangelical
Christian meetings, once said the war on terror was a fight against Satan, and
also told a Somali warlord that, 'My God was bigger than his. I knew that my God
was a real God and his was an idol.'
Bush has also been accused of a 'creeping Christianisation' of federal
government programmes. In September, the government made more than $60 billion
available for religious charitable groups. Critics say the groups will be able
to use the cash to promote their religion. One group that benefited from
previous grants was an Iowa prison project that entitled inmates to televisions,
private bathrooms and computers - in return for Christian counselling.
Now Bush is likely to face intense scrutiny. The book, The Faith of George W.
Bush, was written by Christian author Stephen Mansfield. It details numerous
incidents where Bush's faith has been shown to be at the centre of his political
thinking.
Among Mansfield's revelations is his insistence that Bush and Tony Blair have
prayed together at a private meeting at Camp David. Blair has previously denied
this.
Mansfield, however, says that, while there were no witnesses, aides were left
in little doubt as to what had happened. He told The Observer: 'There is no
question they have shared scripture and prayed together.'
The book also shows that in the lead-up to announcing his candidacy for the
presidency, Bush told a Texan evangelist that he had had a premonition of some
form of national disaster happening.
Bush said to James Robison: 'I feel like God wants me to run for President.
I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is
going to happen... I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me
to do it.'
In a book by the late Grace Halsell, Prophecy and Politics: Militant Evangelists on the Road to Nuclear War, published in 1986, Ms. Halsell quotes TV evangelist James Robison:
"'There'll be no peace until Jesus comes. Any preaching of peace prior to this return is heresy; it's against the word of God; it's Anti-Christ,' says TV evangelist Jim Robison, who was invited by President Reagan to deliver the opening prayer at the 1984 Republican National Convention."
Their beliefs are bonkers, but
they are at the heart of power
US Christian fundamentalists are driving
Bush's Middle East policy
George Monbiot
Tuesday April 20, 2004
The Guardian
To understand what is happening in the
Middle East, you must first understand what is happening in Texas. To understand
what is happening there, you should read the resolutions passed at the state's
Republican party conventions last month. Take a look, for example, at the
decisions made in Harris County, which covers much of Houston.
The delegates began by nodding through a few uncontroversial matters:
homosexuality is contrary to the truths ordained by God; "any mechanism to
process, license, record, register or monitor the ownership of guns" should be
repealed; income tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and corporation tax
should be abolished; and immigrants should be deterred by electric fences. Thus
fortified, they turned to the real issue: the affairs of a small state 7,000
miles away. It was then, according to a participant, that the "screaming and
near fist fights" began.
I don't know what the original motion said, but apparently it was "watered
down significantly" as a result of the shouting match. The motion they adopted
stated that Israel has an undivided claim to Jerusalem and the West Bank, that
Arab states should be "pressured" to absorb refugees from Palestine, and that
Israel should do whatever it wishes in seeking to eliminate terrorism. Good to
see that the extremists didn't prevail then.
But why should all this be of such pressing interest to the people of a state
which is seldom celebrated for its fascination with foreign affairs? The
explanation is slowly becoming familiar to us, but we still have some difficulty
in taking it seriously.
In the United States, several million people have succumbed to an
extraordinary delusion. In the 19th century, two immigrant preachers cobbled
together a series of unrelated passages from the Bible to create what appears to
be a consistent narrative: Jesus will return to Earth when certain preconditions
have been met. The first of these was the establishment of a state of Israel.
The next involves Israel's occupation of the rest of its "biblical lands" (most
of the Middle East), and the rebuilding of the Third Temple on the site now
occupied by the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques. The legions of the
antichrist will then be deployed against Israel, and their war will lead to a
final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. The Jews will either burn or convert
to Christianity, and the Messiah will return to Earth.
What makes the story so appealing to Christian fundamentalists is that before
the big battle begins, all "true believers" (ie those who believe what they
believe) will be lifted out of their clothes and wafted up to heaven during an
event called the Rapture. Not only do the worthy get to sit at the right hand of
God, but they will be able to watch, from the best seats, their political and
religious opponents being devoured by boils, sores, locusts and frogs, during
the seven years of Tribulation which follow.
The true believers are now seeking to bring all this about. This means
staging confrontations at the old temple site (in 2000, three US Christians were
deported for trying to blow up the mosques there), sponsoring Jewish settlements
in the occupied territories, demanding ever more US support for Israel, and
seeking to provoke a final battle with the Muslim world/Axis of Evil/United
Nations/ European Union/France or whoever the legions of the antichrist turn out
to be.
The believers are convinced that they will soon be rewarded for their
efforts. The antichrist is apparently walking among us, in the guise of Kofi
Annan, Javier Solana, Yasser Arafat or, more plausibly, Silvio Berlusconi. The
Wal-Mart corporation is also a candidate (in my view a very good one), because
it wants to radio-tag its stock, thereby exposing humankind to the Mark of the
Beast.
By clicking on www.raptureready.com, you can discover
how close you might be to flying out of your pyjamas. The infidels among us
should take note that the Rapture Index currently stands at 144, just one point
below the critical threshold, beyond which the sky will be filled with floating
nudists. Beast Government, Wild Weather and Israel are all trading at the
maximum five points (the EU is debat ing its constitution, there was a freak
hurricane in the south Atlantic, Hamas has sworn to avenge the killing of its
leaders), but the second coming is currently being delayed by an unfortunate
decline in drug abuse among teenagers and a weak showing by the antichrist (both
of which score only two).
We can laugh at these people, but we should not dismiss them. That their
beliefs are bonkers does not mean they are marginal. American pollsters believe
that 15-18% of US voters belong to churches or movements which subscribe to
these teachings. A survey in 1999 suggested that this figure included 33% of
Republicans. The best-selling contemporary books in the US are the 12 volumes of
the Left Behind series, which provide what is usually described as a
"fictionalised" account of the Rapture (this, apparently, distinguishes it from
the other one), with plenty of dripping details about what will happen to the
rest of us. The people who believe all this don't believe it just a little; for
them it is a matter of life eternal and death.
And among them are some of the most powerful men in America. John Ashcroft,
the attorney general, is a true believer, so are several prominent senators and
the House majority leader, Tom DeLay. Mr DeLay (who is also the co-author of the
marvellously named DeLay-Doolittle Amendment, postponing campaign finance
reforms) travelled to Israel last year to tell the Knesset that "there is no
middle ground, no moderate position worth taking".
So here we have a major political constituency - representing much of the
current president's core vote - in the most powerful nation on Earth, which is
actively seeking to provoke a new world war. Its members see the invasion of
Iraq as a warm-up act, as Revelation (9:14-15) maintains that four angels "which
are bound in the great river Euphrates" will be released "to slay the third part
of men". They batter down the doors of the White House as soon as its support
for Israel wavers: when Bush asked Ariel Sharon to pull his tanks out of Jenin
in 2002, he received 100,000 angry emails from Christian fundamentalists, and
never mentioned the matter again.
The electoral calculation, crazy as it appears, works like this. Governments
stand or fall on domestic issues. For 85% of the US electorate, the Middle East
is a foreign issue, and therefore of secondary interest when they enter the
polling booth. For 15% of the electorate, the Middle East is not just a domestic
matter, it's a personal one: if the president fails to start a conflagration
there, his core voters don't get to sit at the right hand of God. Bush, in other
words, stands to lose fewer votes by encouraging Israeli aggression than he
stands to lose by restraining it. He would be mad to listen to these people. He
would also be mad not to.
· George Monbiot's book The Age of Consent: a Manifesto for a New
World Order is now published in paperback
www.monbiot.com
Guarded by God, U.S. colonel hunts Iraqi guerrillas
TIKRIT, Iraq, Dec 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. officer leading the hunt for Iraqi guerrillas in Saddam Hussein's home town hones the rifle laser sight before raiding a suspected bombmaker's house.
But Lieutenant Colonel Steven Russell isn't nervous. He believes he has the best protection.
"If God doesn't intend for me to die in Iraq then nothing the enemy can do will make it so," he told Reuters.
"I have a strong belief in Jesus Christ as my lord and saviour."
Meet the man who heads the search for some of Iraq's most dangerous guerrillas in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, a grim place that only has dust and flatlands in common with Russell's native Del City, Oklahoma.
Russell is a deeply religious family man who believes good old-fashioned American discipline and prayers will help lead him to Saddam's hardcore supporters.
"The diehards will just have to die hard," he said in an interview, sitting in one of Saddam's former palaces as American soldiers grunted and lifted weights nearby.
U.S. troops also hope ordinary Iraqis will step forward and hand over information on guerrillas. But that's a daunting task in Tikrit.
FORMIDABLE RESISTANCE
"The amount of resistance that we have from former regime loyalists is just staggering. They do believe that by some miracle or Allah's will or whatever they will return," said Russell.
Even young children are mesmerised by Saddam in Tikrit.
When U.S. troops conduct foot patrols young boys gather around but they are not impressed. Many praise Saddam, not soldiers kicking down doors in house searches that have infuriated Iraqis.
Still, Russell said U.S. troops should "stay the course".
"We will take the fight to the enemy at every turn. We are not going to hand out lollipops to them. You use a bullet for those who can't be convinced," he said.
The Pentagon Unleashes a Holy Warrior
Oct. 16, 2003
The top soldier assigned to track down Bin Laden and Hussein is an evangelical Christian who speaks publicly of 'the army of God.' A Christian extremist in a
high Defense post can only set back the U.S. approach to the Muslim
world.
by William M. Arkin "...[Army Lt. General William G. "Jerry"]
Boykin is also an intolerant extremist who has spoken openly about how
his belief in Christianity has trumped Muslims and other
non-Christians in battle. He has described himself as a warrior in the
kingdom of God and invited others to join with him in fighting for the
United States through repentance, prayer and the exercise of faith in
God. He has praised the leadership of President Bush, whom he
extolled as 'a man who prays in the Oval Office.' 'George Bush was not
elected by a majority of the voters in the United States,' Boykin told
an Oregon congregation. 'He was appointed by God.'"
In this newly created position, Boykin is not just
another Pentagon apparatchik or bureaucratic warrior. He has been
charged with reinvigorating Rumsfeld's 'High Value Target Plan' to
track down Bin Laden, Hussein, Mullah Omar and other leaders in the
terrorism world.
All Americans, including those in uniform, are entitled to their views. But when Boykin publicly spews this intolerant message while wearing the uniform of the U.S. Army, he strongly suggests that this is an official and sanctioned view - and that the U.S. Army is indeed a Christian army.
But that's only part of the problem. Boykin is also in a senior Pentagon policymaking position, and it's a serious mistake to allow a man who believes in a Christian "jihad" to hold such a job.
For one thing, Boykin has made it clear that he takes his orders not from his Army superiors but from God - which is a worrisome line of command. For another, it is both imprudent and dangerous to have a senior officer guiding the war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan who believes that Islam is an idolatrous, sacrilegious religion against which we are waging a holy war.
And judging by his words, that is what he believes.
In a speech at a church in Daytona, Fla., in January, Boykin told the following story:
"There was a man in Mogadishu named Osman Atto," whom Boykin described as a top lieutenant of Mohammed Farah Aidid.
When Boykin's Delta Force commandos went after Atto, they missed him by seconds, he said. "He went on CNN and he laughed at us, and he said, 'They'll never get me because Allah will protect me. Allah will protect me.'
"Well, you know what?" Boykin continued. "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." Atto later was captured.
Other countries, Boykin said last year, "have lost their morals, lost their values. But America is still a Christian nation."
The general has said he has no doubt that our side is the side of the true God. He says he attends prayer services five times a week.
In Iraq, he told the Oregon congregation, special operations forces were victorious precisely because of their faith in God. "Ladies and gentlemen I want to impress upon you that the battle that we're in is a spiritual battle," he said . "Satan wants to destroy this nation, he wants to destroy us as a nation, and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army."
"We are going to watch the Road-map very carefully." - Jerry Falwell
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| Bush has fostered an
alliance with Jewish supporters of Israel and the rapidly-growing ranks of
Christian Zionists |
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| A Very Mixed Marriage |
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| Evangelical Christians lining up to fight for Israel
maybe an unmovable obstacle to Bush’s ‘Roadmap’ |
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By Howard Fineman and Tamara Lipper
NEWSWEEK |
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June 2 issue — It’s a landmark in
the history of strange bedfellows: Tom DeLay says kaddish. It happened last
February, the day the space shuttle Columbia fell apart. Among the dead
astronauts was an Israeli, Ilan Ramon. In Florida, at the Boca Raton Resort,
some big machers had gathered to hear a speech by House Republican leader
DeLay, an evangelical Christian from Sugar Land, Texas. Mixing Churchill and the
Bible, DeLay talked of a destiny shared by America and Israel. He asked for
“divine assistance” in protecting both. In closing, to the astonishment of his
audience, he recited—in Hebrew—the last lines of the Jewish prayer for the dead.
The crowd, many in tears, joined in. (DeLay had been coached by a Jewish former
staffer.) “It was quite a moment,” said Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist who was
there.
Indeed, these bedfellows aren’t strangers anymore, which presents George W. Bush with a new opportunity - and a new risk. Opening another front in his war on terror, the president has launched an effort to coax Israelis and Palestinians toward peace. As Bush prepares for his trip to the G8 summit in France, there is talk he’ll tack on a trip to the Middle East. But the "Roadmap" he wants to pursue there runs not only through the Byzantine byways of the Levant, but along the political freeways of America. If he is at all serious, Bush eventually will hit a potentially impenetrable roadblock at home: the deepening alliance between Jewish supporters of Israel and the growing ranks of Christian Zionists.
Simply put, the administration won’t be able to lean hard on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon without being attacked by two blocs it cares very much about as the 2004 election approaches. Eager to capitalize on Bush’s standing as a war commander and a friend of Israel’s, White House strategists hope to double the size of Bush’s Jewish vote. Still, the numbers there, however pivotal in places such as Florida, are small. Much more is at stake among the nation’s 50 million evangelicals. Pressuring the Israelis also risks incurring the wrath - perhaps expressed in thundering, Biblical terms- of activists who claim to speak for that constituency, which the White House hopes will turn out in record numbers next year. "We are going to watch the Road-map very carefully," Jerry Falwell told NEWSWEEK.
|
Evangelical crusaders prepare to fight Islam with aid and a Bible
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
22 April 2003
Evangelical charities with an overt hostility to Islam are preparing to
distribute food, water, medicine and building materials in Iraq, all in the
name of Jesus.
One of the charities, Samaritan's Purse, is run by Franklin Graham the son
of the evangelist Billy Graham, who declared after the 11 September attacks
that Islam was "a very evil and wicked religion". Another is the Southern
Baptist Convention, whose former president once described the Prophet
Mohamed as "a demon-possessed paedophile". About 800 of SBC's volunteers are
reported to be on their way to Iraq to deliver food packages labelled with a
verse from St John's Gospel, in Arabic, saying that "grace and truth were
realised through Jesus Christ".
Such insensitivity is viewed by some as playing into the hands of those to
whom the "war on terrorism" is a religious crusade. But what really riles
Muslim groups all over the world is that these activities are overtly
supported by the Bush administration. Franklin Graham, a long-standing
friend of the President, was invited to participate in this year's Good
Friday prayer service at the Pentagon, angering many in the Defence
Department. Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said the invitation "sends entirely the wrong message to the
Muslim and Arab world ... This kind of incident can undo any kind of bridges
built by a hundred public affairs officers at the Pentagon."
Franklin Graham has a record of hostility to Islam and unabashed
proselytising, even where it is illegal. After the 1991 Gulf War, he
infuriated Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of Operation Desert Storm, by
shipping tens of thousands of Arabic-language New Testaments to Saudi Arabia
in defiance of Saudi law and the US-Saudi military alliance.
In his most recent book, he says that Christianity and Islam are "as
different as lightness and darkness" and that the two religions are destined
to fight each other until the second coming of Christ, which he says is
imminent. During a book tour last year, he said Islam posed "a greater
threat than anyone's willing to speak". He has toned down the rhetoric
recently to pacify his critics but few believe him when he says "we don't
have to preach to be a Christian relief organisation".
Samaritan's Purse has worked in many countries, including Rwanda, Somalia,
southern Sudan, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Mr Graham flies in his some
of his relief planes, especially when they are in danger. Such gusto has won
him many friends in the Republican Party, including Bill Frist, the Senate
majority leader, who has joined him on missions in Sudan. And he is a
popular figure on the fundamentalist right - an important Bush constituency
that loves the idea of good versus evil and a president ordained by God to
lead America in tough times.
That is also why the Iraqis are likely to oppose his presence. As Michelle
Cottle writes in this week's New Republic magazine: "At this point, Graham's
ugly disquisitions on the nature of Islam have made him so radioactive that,
even if he doesn't utter one word about Jesus while in Iraq, his mere
presence in the region could be considered a provocation."
U.N. Human Rights Body Criticizes Israel
April 15, 2003
GENEVA - The United Nations' top human rights body overwhelmingly condemned Israel's human rights record on Tuesday, accusing the country of "mass killings of Palestinians" and a host of other violations.
The United States, Israel's main ally, was alone in voting against all four resolutions. The American delegate said the criticism was one-sided and unfair.
The resolutions came after impassioned arguments earlier in the commission's annual session, during which Palestinian delegate Nabil Ramlawi claimed Israel used methods of killing and torture that "were worse than the practices of Nazism." The comments sparked an outcry among Jewish groups.
By a 50-1 vote, the commission passed a resolution put forward by European countries voicing "grave concern" because Israel has not halted settlements of Palestinian territory. It criticized restrictions on the movements of Palestinians and a barrier Israel is building to separate it from the Palestinian territories.
Agence France Presse
March 10, 2002
According to Jerusalem police spokesman Kobi Zarhad, Salah was 'wearing an explosive belt on his stomach and detonator to his chest,' AFP said. Neither the belt nor the detonator could be seen in the pictures.
According to the initial version given by the Israeli police, Salah was wearing a large overcoat and policemen opened fire when he refused to take it off, although the pictures clearly show that Salah was shot after being stripped of his clothes.
Mohammed Salah was executed in the street without going on trial. His alleged crime was never proven and no evidence was submitted for any wrongdoing.
4 Israeli Police Held in Youth's Death
Friday Apr 18, 2003
JERUSALEM (REUTERS) - In a case that prompted an outcry from human rights groups and Palestinians, four Israeli border police accused of killing a detained Palestinian youth were arrested Friday after a four-month investigation into the killing.
The police allegedly detained 18-year-old Imran Abu Hamdia in the West Bank city of Hebron on Dec. 30 and dumped his body about an hour later, the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said.
An autopsy concluded he died from a sharp blow to the skull, the Haaretz newspaper said.
Police spokesman Gil Kleiman confirmed arrests had been made.
On the eve of war, military brass listened
intently as Michael Drosnin expounded the Bible code
Decoding Bible's 'cryptogram'
Will Saddam Hussein be overthrown? Where is Osama bin
Laden hiding? For answers, see the Good Book
"Ron Csillag, National Post
Among the hundreds of meetings and briefings that took place in the Pentagons
bowels in the months leading up to Operation Iraqi Freedom, one earned the
fleeting disdain of The New York Times, whose columnist, Bill Keller, sniffed
that "several man-hours of valuable intelligence-crunching time" had been
"consumed [by a writer] who claims -- I am not making this up -- that messages
encoded in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament provide clues to the whereabouts
of Osama bin Laden.
"Maybe were all a little too desperate these days for a simple formula to
explain how our safe world came unhinged," Keller said.
The gathering, which reportedly took place Feb. 21, was said to have been
convened by Paul Wolfowitz, the hawkish U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defence, and
attended by 10 top military intelligence officials, including Vice Admiral
Lowell "Jake" Jacoby, director of the massive Defense Intelligence Agency, and
Wolfowitz's deputy, Linton Wells, who is in charge of the Pentagon's nerve
centre, known as 3CI (Command, Control, Communications).
On the eve of war, the military brass listened intently for a full hour as
Michael Drosnin expounded on his two brisk-selling volumes on the Bible
code.
Drosnin argues the Hebrew Torah -- the first five books of the Old Testament
-- were intentionally encrypted, by a higher power, with prophetic warnings that
have accurately predicted the Great Depression, the Second World War, the
Kennedy assassinations, the moon landing, Watergate, and 9/11 -- and foretell
the fall of Saddam Hussein and the precise location of bin Laden.
The Americans "took it very seriously," Drosnin says. "They're practical
people and I wanted to give them something of practical use."
As a result of the meeting, Drosnin says U.S. and Israeli intelligence forces
are hot on bin Laden's trail in that very place the Bible mentions, "right as we
speak." Of course, he would not divulge where that place is.
As for Saddam Hussein, the Bible's embedded code ponders, "Who is destroyed?"
and then, in the same matrix, answers, "Hussein," with the following number
crossing his name: 5763, the Jewish year that corresponds to 2003. "That
foretells the outcome of this conflict," Drosnin says confidently. "It might be
obvious now, but it wasn't when I told them."
It could be that the U.S. defence establishment is grasping at straws, or
that more and more people in Washington are motivated by a White House that
frequently invokes God and religious imagery. Drosnin discounts the religious
angle.
"This is not based on faith. This is based on experience. The code keeps
coming true."
Drosnin is a secular Jew, a former police reporter for the Washington Post
and former writer for The Wall Street Journal. To be sure, his books, The Bible
Code (1997) and last year's sequel, Bible Code II: The Countdown have been used
by various fundamentalists, prophets of doom and supermarket tabloids as sure
signs the Good Book knows all and that the end is nigh. Detractors point out the
code violates the Bible's own ban on soothsaying.
Bush puts God on his side
Sunday, 6 April, 2003
By Tom Carver
BBC
Washington correspondent
Before September 11, President George W
Bush kept his evangelical Christian beliefs largely to himself.
He had turned to God at the
age of 40 as a way of kicking alcoholism, and his faith had kept him on the
straight and narrow ever since, giving him the drive to reach the White House.
But all that changed on the day of the attacks on the Pentagon and World
Trade Center.
Those close to Mr Bush say that day he discovered his life's mission.
He became convinced that God was calling him to engage the forces of evil in
battle, and this one time baseball-team owner from Texas did not shrink from the
task.
'Angels' country'
"We are in a conflict between good and evil. And America will call evil by
its name," Mr Bush told West Point graduates in a speech last year.
In this battle, he placed his country firmly on the side of the angels.
"There is wonder-working power in the goodness and idealism of the American
people," he said in this year's State of the Union address.
This concept of placing America in God's camp sticks in the throat of a lot
of American clergy.
"It is by no means certain that we are as pure as the driven snow or that our
international policy is so pure," says Fritz Ritsch, Presbyterian minister in
Bethesda, Maryland.
The Reverend Ritsch says it also makes their job as clerics harder by giving
Christians in America an easy way out.
They do not need to examine their souls because their president has told them
they are on the side of good.
"There is an opportunity here for spiritual enrichment in this country that
is just getting missed."
Battle with anti-Christ
In fact, nearly all the mainland churches in America oppose this war,
including Mr Bush's own church, the United Methodists.
Mr Bush is
certainly not the first president to invoke God in time of war, but his approach
is markedly different from his predecessors.
During America's Civil War, Abraham Lincoln did not claim that God was on his
side.
In fact, in his famous second inaugural address, he said the war was a curse
on both armies: "He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe
due to those by whom the offence came."
Yet Mr Bush's rhetoric does have a huge audience.
One in three American Christians call themselves evangelicals and many
evangelicals believe the second coming of Christ will occur in the Middle East
after a titanic battle with the anti-Christ.
Does the president believe he is playing a part in the final events of
Armageddon?
If true, it is an alarming thought.
But he would not be alone, as 59% of all Americans believe that what is
written in the Bible's Book of Revelations will come to pass.
Winning formula
Tim LeHaye is an evangelical minister who has written 10 best-selling novels
based on the Book of Revelations.
With exquisite timing, his 11th, called Armageddon, will be published next
week.
By combining the apocalypse with a Tom Clancy style, Mr LeHaye has found a
winning formula.
After the attacks on the World Trade Center, the minister became America's
best-selling novelist in 2001, beating even John Grisham.
In his latest novel we see the anti-Christ, armed with nuclear weapons,
setting up camp at New Babylon in Iraq.
The millions of Americans who believe in the biblical prophecies see this war
in a very particular way and among them, George Bush's stark talk of good versus
evil plays very well.
If America prevails, millions will say it was divinely ordained.
But many others will suspect that it had more to do with the power of
American weaponry than the active intervention of the Almighty.
Army chaplain offers baptisms, baths
The Miami Herald, 4/5/03
CAMP BUSHMASTER, Iraq -
In this dry desert world near Najaf, where the Army V Corps combat
support system sprawls across miles of scabrous dust, there's an oasis
of sorts: a 500-gallon pool of pristine, cool water.
It belongs to Army chaplain Josh Llano of Houston, who sees the water
shortage, which has kept thousands of filthy soldiers from bathing for
weeks, as an opportunity.
''It's simple. They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to
get baptized,'' he said.
From The Australian Broadcasting System, 3/30/03:
US soldiers in Iraq asked to pray for Bush
They may be the ones facing danger on the battlefield, but US soldiers
in Iraq are being asked to pray for President George W Bush.
Thousands of marines have been given a pamphlet called "A Christian's
Duty," a mini prayer book which includes a tear-out section to be
mailed to the White House pledging the soldier who sends it in has
been praying for Bush.
"I have committed to pray for you, your family, your staff and our
troops during this time of uncertainty and tumult. May God's peace be
your guide," says the pledge, according to a journalist embedded with
coalition forces.
The pamphlet, produced by a group called In Touch Ministries, offers a
daily prayer to be made for the US president, a born-again Christian
who likes to invoke his God in speeches.
Sunday's is "Pray that the President and his advisers will seek God
and his wisdom daily and not rely on their own understanding".
Monday's reads "Pray that the President and his advisers will be
strong and courageous to do what is right regardless of critics".
Plans Under Way for Christianizing the Enemy
Newhouse News Service
Two leading evangelical Christian missionary organizations said
Tuesday, March 25 that they have teams of workers poised to enter Iraq to
address the physical and spiritual needs of a large Muslim
population.
The Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant
denomination, and the Rev. Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse
said workers are near the Iraq border in Jordan and are ready to
go in as soon as it is safe. The relief and missionary work is
certain to be closely watched because both Graham and the
Southern Baptist Convention have been at the heart of
controversial evangelical denunciations of Islam, the world's
second largest religion.
Graham, the son of legendary evangelist Billy Graham, has been
less diplomatic about Islam than his father has been. Two months
after the Sept. 11 attacks, Franklin Graham called Islam "a very
evil and wicked religion" during an interview on NBC, the
television network. In his book published last year, "The Name,"
Graham wrote that "The God of Islam is not the God of the
Christian faith." He went on to say that "the two are different
as lightness and darkness."
On the eve of the Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis last
year, the Rev. Jerry Vines, a former denomination president, told
several thousand delegates that Islam's Allah is not the same as
the God worshipped by Christians. "And I will tell you Allah is
not Jehovah, either. Jehovah's not going to turn you into a
terrorist," Vines said.
[President] Bush, an evangelical Christian himself, has close
ties to both Franklin Graham, who gave a prayer at his
inauguration, and Southern Baptists, who are among his most loyal
political supporters.
San Francisco Pro-War Rally, "God is on our side"
Sat Mar 29, 2003
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Carrying American flags and stepping to the sounds of country music, a small but determined group of people rallied in San Francisco on Saturday to show support for U.S. troops in Iraq in a city that has been home to perhaps the most active U.S. anti-war movement.
"We all support our troops and our president to dethrone the oppressive Iraqi regime. We are all patriots here and we have God on our side," said Les Erekson, a San Franciscan native and former U.S. Navy sailor.
"For weeks all we have seen here are the protests from liberals who don't give a damn about America. What we're doing is something the rest of America supports," added Erekson, waving a giant American flag.
Bush backer sponsoring pro-war rallies
Oliver Burkeman in Washington
Wednesday March 26, 2003
The Guardian
They look like spontaneous expressions of pro-war sentiment, "patriotic
rallies" drawing crowds of tens of thousands across the American heartland.
In a counterpoint to anti-war demonstrations, supporters of war in Iraq have
descended on cities from Fort Wayne to Cleveland, and Atlanta to
Philadelphia. They wave flags, messages of support for the troops - and also
banners attacking liberals, excoriating the UN, and in one case, advising:
"Bomb France Now."
But many of the rallies, it turns out, have been organised and paid for by
Clear Channel Inc - the country's largest radio conglomerate, owning 1,200
stations - which is not only reporting on the war at the same time, but
whose close links with President Bush stretch back to his earliest,
much-criticised financial dealings as governor of Texas. The company has
paid advertising costs and for the hire of musicians for the rallies.
Tom Hicks, Clear Channel's vice-chairman, is a past donor to Bush's
political campaigning. The two were at the centre of a scandal when Mr Bush
was governor and when Mr Hicks chaired a University of Texas investment
board that awarded large investment-management contracts to several
companies close to the Bush family - including the Carlyle Group, on whose
payroll Mr Bush had been until weeks previously, and which still retains his
father.
"Should this be happening? No," said Dante Chinni, a senior associate with
the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a Columbia University programme
based in Washington. "What kind of company is Clear Channel? What's their
mission? Are they a media company, a promotional company? For some people,
Clear Channel's reporting, for want of a better word, may be the reporting
that they're getting on the war in Iraq."
I suspected the often quoted UPI story below about a human shield "pastor" who "was shocked back to reality", was a lie:
By Arnaud de Borchgrave
UPI Editor at Large
From the International
Desk
AMMAN, Jordan, March 21 (UPI) --
A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese
human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of
uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth
Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI
the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on
camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They
were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's
bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which
the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick
sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put
in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their
screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."
I contacted the Assyrian Church of the East, asking for confirmation. I received this reply from Bishop Soro:
From: ABSoro@aol.com
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 08:17:47 EST
Subject: Re: Can you confirm this story?
Johnny:
The only thing that I can confirm is that Kenneth Joseph, IS NOT a pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East nor has he been associated with the Assyrian Church in any shape or form.
Bishop Soro
Secretary General of Interchurch Relations
Assyrian Church of the East
Check out this story from Democrats.com
UPI Now Owned By Bush/GOP Benefactor Reverend Moon
03-Apr-01
From Brill's Content: "Some UPI employees, such as the doyenne of the White House press corps, Helen Thomas, who had stuck with the service through its decline, resigned to protest the purchase [by Moon's News World]." Check out the Moonie background of UPI's head Arnaud de Borchgrave, especially as former editor-in-chief of the Washington Times. De Borchgrave also worked at the Richard Mellon Scaife-financed right wing think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). UPI now provides news items for such Scaife-linked outfits as Chris Ruddy's NewsMax and the Drudge Report. "De Borchgrave's replacement, at least for now, is News World CEO Douglas Joo, probably not a good omen to those concerned about UPI's editorial independence." At the Washington Times, reporters and editors resigned over Moon's editorial interference. The article also mentions how Moon has donated $1 million to the Bush Library, and Bush Sr.'s speeches at Moonie events.
China readies for future U.S. fight
By CNN Senior China Analyst Willy Wo-Lap Lam
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- The Iraqi war has convinced the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) leadership that some form of confrontation
with the U.S. could come earlier than expected.
Bush Urges Prayer During 'Testing Time'
Thu Feb 6, 2003
WASHINGTON -AP - President Bush and members of his war council prayed Thursday for God's guidance through "a testing time for our country".
"This is a testing time for our country," Bush said at the 51st annual National Prayer Breakfast, which brings together lawmakers, foreign leaders and spiritual leaders in prayer.
"God teaches us to be resolute in the face of evil using all of the weapons and armor that the word of God supplies," CIA Director George Tenet told the breakfast.
Bush Links Faith and Agenda In Speech to
Broadcast Group
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post
Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 11, 2003; Page A02
NASHVILLE, Feb. 10 -- President Bush has addressed countless audiences as
commander in chief. Today, he was introduced as "our friend and brother in
Christ."
Appearing at the National Religious Broadcasters convention, before a
backdrop that read "Advancing Christian Communications," the president was
hailed as a man who "unapologetically proclaims his faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ." Bush, in a strikingly religious address even for a president long
comfortable with such speech, cast the full range of his agenda -- foreign,
domestic and economic -- in spiritual terms.
"I welcome faith," Bush said after he was greeted with rock star adulation.
"I welcome faith to help solve the nation's deepest problems." Attendees called
out "amen" as Bush spoke, and some waved rhythmically as they did during the
hymns that preceded his speech.
About the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Bush said: "We're being
challenged. We're meeting those challenges because of our faith. . . . We
carried our grief to the Lord Almighty in prayer." Bush assigned religion a role
in the economy ("There are some needs that prosperity can never meet"), in a
possible attack on Iraq ("Liberty is God's gift to every human being in the
world"), and in coping with the Columbia space shuttle accident ("Faith assures
us that death and suffering are not the final word").
Statements of faith are standard for presidents, and Bush, who found religion
in the 1980s after a struggle with excessive drinking, thanked Jesus during the
presidential primaries for changing his life. Still, the nation's modern secular
leaders have generally been understated in their public expressions of faith, a
tone set by Jimmy Carter, a born-again Christian. And Bush, through much of his
presidency, has spoken of his faith subtly.
But with war in Iraq looming, and much of the world opposed to his position,
the president in recent weeks has adopted a strongly devotional tone. In a
series of speeches -- a pair of remembrances for the Columbia victims, last
week's National Prayer Breakfast and today's address to the religious
broadcasters -- Bush has far more openly embraced Christian theology. Today's
speech brought the most thorough linkage yet between Bush's worldly policies and
Christian faith -- including a pronouncement that an American attack on Iraq
would be "in the highest moral traditions of our country."
On poverty programs, Bush observed that "welfare policy will not solve the
deepest problems of the spirit. . . . You don't fix the crack on the wall until
you fix the foundation." On justice programs, he said, "building more prisons
will not substitute for responsibility and order in our souls. . . . That
happens when someone puts an arm around a neighbor and says, 'God loves you, I
love you, and you can count on us both.' " Turning to matters overseas, the
president said America's enemies "hate the thought [that] . . . we can worship
the Almighty God the way we see fit."
Bush advocated vouchers for drug addicts, "especially" for programs of a
spiritual nature. He said religious charities should not "compromise their
prophetic role." He addressed the faith of the religious broadcasters in the
hall. "I am honored to be with so many of you all who have dedicated your lives
to sharing the Good News," he said.
The gratitude was mutual. "We pray for you -- in fact, we pray for you
daily," Glenn Plummer, the broadcasters' chairman, said in his introduction.
"The United States of America has been blessed by God Himself to have George W.
Bush as president."
In 1995, the group announced that President Bill Clinton was not invited to
its meetings because of his views on abortion and homosexuality. By contrast,
many attendees today said Bush was divinely chosen to lead the country during
its trials. "At certain times and at certain hours in our country, God has had a
certain man to hear his testimony," said Steve Clark, of Faith Baptist
Tabernacle in Jamestown, Tenn.
Bush noted that the Christian pianist who performed for the broadcasters,
Michael W. Smith, had played at the White House days earlier. During the
program, which began with a Bush speech blending into Christian hymns, Karl
Rove, Bush's top political aide, worked the crowd.
In recent speeches, Bush has read passages from Isaiah and from the hymn "How
Great Thou Art." At last week's prayer breakfast, he said that when he is told
by citizens that they are praying for him, he tells them "it is the greatest
gift you can give anybody, is to pray on their behalf." Today, Bush thanked his
listeners for their prayers, suggesting he would need them in the days ahead.
"Let us pray for strength equal to our tasks," he said.
J. Mark Horst, who has a radio ministry in Breezewood, Pa., said faith is
what makes Bush propose seemingly unreachable goals and defy odds to reach them.
"As Christians, we're commanded to be of strong courage," Horst said. "He's
taking what he reads in the Word and saying, 'This is what I believe, and I'm
going to go for it.' "
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
January 4,
2003
Mine Eyes Have Seen the
Glory
Bush's Armageddon Obsession,
Revisited
by MICHAEL ORTIZ HILL
"We are lived by forces we scarcely understand," wrote
W.H. Auden. What forces live us now as America again torques toward
war?
George W. Bush is certainly the plaything of such forces
as the geopolitics of oil but it seems that he is susceptible to other even
darker archetypal concerns. Let me be blunt. The man is delusional and the shape
of his delusion is specifically apocalyptic in belief and intent. That Bush
would attack so many vital systems on so many fronts from foreign policy to the
environment may seem confusing from the point of view of realpolitik but becomes
transparent in terms of the apocalyptic worldview to which he subscribes. All
systems are supposed to go down so the Messiah can come and Bush, seemingly, has
taken on the role of the one who brings this to pass.
The Reverend Billy Graham taught Bush to live in
anticipation of the Second Coming but it was his friendship with Dr. Tony Evans
that shaped Bush's political understanding of how to deport
himself in an apocalyptic era. Dr. Evans, the pastor of a large Dallas church
and a founder of the Promise Keepers movement taught Bush about "how the world
should be seen from a divine viewpoint," according to Dr. Martin Hawkins, Evans
assistant pastor.
S.R. Shearer of Antipas Ministries writes, "Most of the
leaders of the Promise Keepers embrace a doctrine of 'end time' (eschatology),
known as 'dominionim.' Dominionism pictures the seizure of earthly (temporal)
power by the 'people of God' as the only means through which the world can be
rescued.... It is the eschatology that Bush has imbibed; an eschatology through
which he has gradually (and easily) come to see himself as an agent of God who
has been called by him to 'restore the earth to God's control', a 'chosen
vessel', so to speak, to bring in the Restoration of All Thingss." Shearer calls
this delusion, "Messianic leadership"-- that is to say usurping the role usually
ascribed to the Messiah.
In Bush at War Bob Woodward writes, "Most presidents have
high hopes. Some have grandiose visions of what they will achieve, and he was
firmly in that camp."
"To answer these attacks and rid the world of evil," says
Bush. And again, "We will export death and violence to the four corners of the
earth in defense of this great nation." Grandiose visions. Woodward comments,
"The president was casting his mission and that of the country in the grand
vision of Gods Master Plan."
In dominionism we can see the theological source of Bush's
monomania. Not to be distracted by the fact that he lost the popular election by
a half a million votes, that the Joint Chief of Staff at the Pentagon were so
concerned about his plans to invade Iraq that they leaked their unanimous
objection, that he has systematically alienated much of the world, that roughly
seventy percent of Americans remain unconvinced of the imminent threat of Saddam
Hussein and the same percentage object to war if there will be significant
American casualties--none of this is in the least relevant. He believes his
mandate toward action is from God.
As humans we live within stories. Some stories, like
apocalypse are thousands of years old. The scriptured text that informs Bush
understanding of and enactment of the End of Days (Revelations 19) depicts
Christ returning as the Heavenly Avenger. Revelations is the only New Testament
book that justifies violence of any kind, and this it takes to the limit: Christ
himself the agent of mass murder.
"I saw heaven open and there before me was a white horse
who is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war...He is
dressed in a robe dipped in blood and his name is the word of God...Out of his
mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the Nations. And I saw an
angel standing in the sun who cried in a low voice to all the birds flying in
midair--come gather together for the great supper of God, so you may eat the
flesh of kings, generals and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the
flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great."
Such is "the glory of the coming of the Lord." Truth,
carnage, and the ecstasy of vultures. In a ruined world the Messiah slays the
antichrist and creates "a new heaven and a new earth." The dead are judged, the
Christians saved and the rest damned to eternal torment. The New Jerusalem is
established and the Lord rules it "with an iron scepter."
It is not inconceivable that Bush is literally and
determinedly drawn, consciously and unconsciously, toward the enactment of such
a scenario, as he believes, for God's sake. Indeed the stark relentlessness of
his policy in the Middle East suggests as much.
It dishonors the profundity of the Christian tradition if
one doesn't note that Revelations has always been a rogue text. Because of its
association with the Montanist heresy (which like contemporary fundamentalists
took it to be literal rather than allegorical) it was with great reluctance that
it was made scripture three centuries after the death of Christ. Traditionally
attributed to St. John, most Biblical scholars now recognize its literary style
and its theology has little in common with John's gospel or his epistles and was
likely written after his death. Martin Luther found the vindictive God of
Revelations incompatible with the gospels and relegated it to the appendix of
his German translation of the New Testament instead of the body of scripture.
All the Protestant reformers except Calvin regarded apocalyptic millenialism to
be heresy.
But Revelations is also a rogue text because it is
unmoored from its origins, which are far from Christian. It is a late variant on
a story that was pervasive in the ancient world: the defeat of the wild and the
uncivilized by a superior order upon which a New World would be established. Two
thousand years before Revelations depicted Christ slaying the antichrist and
laying out the New Jerusalem, Marduk slayed Tiamat and founded
Babylon.
This pagan myth recycled as a suspiciously unchristian
Biblical test found new credence in the 19th century when John Darby virtually
revived the Montanist heresy of investing it with a passionate literalism. Given
to visions (he saw the British as one of the ten tribes of Israel) Darby left
the priesthood of the Church of Ireland and preached Revelations as both
prophecy and imminent history. In this he inaugurated a lineage in which Bush's
mentors, the Reverend Billy Graham and Dr. Tony Evans are recent heirs.
Revelations is much beloved by Muslim fundamentalists and like their Christian
compatriots they also thrill to redemption through apocalypse. Jewish
fundamentalists of course do not believe in Revelations but have nonetheless
made common cause with the Christian Right. "It's a very tragic situation in
which Christian fundamentalists, certain groups of them that focus on Armageddon
and the Rapture and the role of a war between Muslims and Jews in bringing about
the Second Coming, are involved in a folie a deux with extremist Jews," said Ian
Lustick, the author of For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in
Israel. The Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition (and yes it is a single tradition)
is being led by its fringe into the abyss and the rest of us with it.
The world has been readied for the fire but the critical
element is the Bush Administration. Never in the history of Christendom has
there been a moment when this rogue element has carried anything like the
credibility and political power that it carries now.
Michael Ortiz Hill is the
author of Dreaming
the End of the World (Spring 1994) and, (with Augustine Kandemwa) Gathering
in the Names (Spring Journal books, 2002). The companion to this essay,
The Looking Glass War, is posted at http://www.gatheringin.com/.
President draws on the Bible to comfort a grieving nation
Mon Feb 3, 2003
Cathy Lynn Grossman USA TODAY
President Bush's speech Saturday resounded in biblical poetry, God images and an invitation to pray. It came into millions of homes like a homily from a national pulpit.
He drew on Isaiah 40:26, one of the most beautiful passages in the Hebrew scriptures: ''Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.''
The choice likely reflected the hand of his lead speechwriter, Michael Gerson, who studied theology at evangelical Wheaton College in Illinois. Bush, a born-again Christian who became a Methodist when he married Laura, is at home with scripture in a way that Ronald Reagan , who rarely attended church, was not.
''President Bush sounded more like a preacher than a politician -- and a good one,'' said the Rev. Rod Loy of the First Assembly of God, a megachurch in North Little Rock, Ark. In his Sunday sermon, Loy quoted Bush. ''I thought Bush did such a wonderful job of acknowledging grief and loss but pointing us to the fact that there is a God of all.''
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
By Ann McFeatters, Post-Gazette National Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Is President Bush using inappropriately religious language as
he talks daily about the possibility of war with Iraq?
Some religious leaders say they are becoming uncomfortable with the strongly
religious tone of Bush's rhetoric, worried that he is usurping the role of
preacher or possibly inciting Islamic fundamentalists with his good-versus-evil
references.
In two recent speeches, at the annual convention Monday of the National
Religious Broadcasters and at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Bush
said he welcomed faith to solve the nations' deepest problems and was greeted on
both occasions with "amens." To some, however, he sounded more like an
evangelical Christian minister than an elected political leader.
In discussing a likely war in Iraq with Australian Prime Minister John Howard
this week, Bush said freedom for the Iraqi people is not a gift the United
States can provide, but instead "liberty is God's gift to every human being in
the world." To some, his word's implied that a war against Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein would be a divinely endorsed act of liberation.
Going beyond religious references even of such presidents as Abraham Lincoln
-- who once said he hoped that the nation during the Civil War was on God's side
-- Bush told the religious broadcasters this week: "We're being challenged.
We're meeting those challenges because of our faith."
The White House defends the president's language as expressions of his
personal beliefs and says he has every right to speak with fervor about his
faith.
But the Rev. William Gaddy, a Baptist minister who heads the Interfaith
Alliance Foundation in Washington, disagrees. "The president of this nation has
as his job to promote the common good. It's not his job to promote sectarian
beliefs," he said.
Elaine Pagels, of Princeton University's Department of Religion, argues that
Bush is betraying the religious diversity of the nation when he speaks of war in
absolutist terms. "This is not political discourse," Pagels said. "This is the
language of religious zealots, Christian and Muslim. When he speaks of the 'axis
of evil,' he is placing those who disagree with him in the realm of evil."
The effect of injecting religion into a debate about war, Pagels said, is to
halt discourse and to provoke one's target (in this case, mainly Iraq but also
North Korea and Iran) into a shouting match about who is more evil. She said
that while she believes it is appropriate to label some acts (such as the
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001) as evil, much of the rest of the world is appalled by
the way Bush has been branding countries and certain peoples as evil.
Responding to such criticism, Bush said Monday he will increasingly stress
that his quarrel is with Saddam Hussein, not the Iraqi civilian population.
Gaddy accuses the president of going beyond acceptable limits of generalizing
about religious beliefs, moving instead to active proselytizing. In analyzing
the president's rhetoric in the last few years, Gaddy said: "You see a growing
feeling he [believes] he is, in fact, a divinely chosen leader in this moment of
history. It's as if he discovered the power of religion late in life and thinks
the nation needs to [do the same]."
Such groups as the nondenominational National Council of Churches have been
expressing uneasiness over Bush's faith-based initiative -- permitting more
flexibility with federal funds to expand the ministries of synagogues, mosques
and other religious groups to assist the needy. When these groups lobbied
Congress to block Bush's proposed law that would allow such flexibility, the
president instead issued an executive order forbidding the federal government
from discriminating against religious institutions when dispensing funds. But he
is still asking Congress to approve it.
After the Columbia shuttle disaster, Bush invoked "the Creator who names the
stars" and quoted the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, saying, "Lift your eyes and
look to the heavens ... ," as a way to comfort the nation.
Religious leaders such as Gaddy do not contest the use of religious
references in such a context. But they do fault his citation of his Christian
faith in justifying a war.
The White House has countered, though, that the president will continue to
use such references because it is how he thinks and because a majority of
Americans agree with him.
Tony
Blair's crusade
By Dr. W. Andy Knight
January 31, 2003 – British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been
the most articulate spokesperson for the American administration on the issue of
the need to disarm Iraq. His high moralizing tone and tough talk on the issue at
times give the impression that he has become the lapdog of the U.S. President
George W. Bush. For his loyal support Bush has laid out the red carpet for him
whenever he visits the U.S.
However, this siding with Bush has begun to
cost Blair loss of popular support at home. In recent United Kingdom opinion
polls, the majority of the British public (around 65 to 68 per cent) appears to
be questioning Blair's apparent subservience to the U.S. There is now an
impression that the U.K. Prime Minister is so distracted by the war on terrorism
and the pending attack on Iraq that he has been ignoring the domestic economy
and social conditions in Britain.
When one listens to Blair these days, one gets the distinct impression that he
is on a crusade to save the world from the 'bad' forces of extremism. He seems
genuine in his belief that the U.S. and the U.K. share trans-Atlantic
'Christian' values and are being a force for good in this fight against
terrorism and the autocratic Saddam. Blair is too smart to be simply written off
as Bush's 'obedient lapdog', as some in the media have pronounced. If anything,
Blair has presented the case against Saddam in more rational and articulate
terms than has George Bush. It would appear that there is a genuine meeting of
hearts between these two leaders that is linked to strongly held Christian
religious beliefs. In other words, both Blair and Bush appear to be on a
righteous campaign that pits fundamentalist Christianity and so-called western
civilization against extremist Islam.
More than anything else, this
unites the two leaders. And one should not be too surprised if this
'like-minded' crusading spirit causes both Bush and Blair to suffer the same
fate at the hands of their respective electorates, should things go badly in
Iraq.
Dr. W. Andy Knight is professor of International Relations at
the University of Alberta and editor of Global Governance journal. This article
originally appeared in the Nov. 21 edition of the Vancouver Province.
|
Diagnosing Dubya
by CAROL WOLMAN, M.D.
Many people, inside and especially outside this country, believe that the
American president is nuts, and is taking the world on a suicidal path. As a
board-certified psychiatrist, I feel it's my duty to share my understanding of
his psychopathology.
From a Jungian point of view:
Dubya may be identifying with an archetype (as Hitler did with the
ubermensch)--something out of Revelations, perhaps, whereby he sees himself
as an instrument of God's will to bring about Armageddon.
Dr. Carol Wolman is a board certified psychiatrist. More of Dr.
Wolman's differential diagnosis. |
|
Poll: Anti-American Sentiment Building Overseas
Dec. 4, 2002 -- A new poll by the Pew Research Center for
the People and the Press suggests a significant negative shift in perceptions of
the United States among people in 44 nations, including many in the Muslim
world.
"Despite an initial outpouring of public sympathy for America
following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks," the report reads, "discontent
with the United States has grown around the world over the past two
years."
A potential war with Iraq, according to the survey results,
could further stain America's tarnished image overseas. Again, however, there
are contradictions: many acknowledge the threat Iraq poses to peace in the
Mideast, yet the majority of those polled were suspicious of America's motives.
Read the complete poll results, plus the summary of
highlights.
The God-Awful Truth About Christian Zionism
"I really believe that the pagans, and the
abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays
and the lesbians who are actively trying to
make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU,
People For the American Way, all of them who
have tried to secularize America. I point the
finger in their face and say 'you helped this
happen'. -
Jerry Falwell, 9/13/01, appearing with Pat Robertson, explaining the reasons for the attacks on 9/11.
"Our goal has been achieved. The Religious Right is solidly in place,
and religious conservatives in America are now in for the duration"
- Jerry Falwell
Louise Witt, Salon, January 3, 2003
One can't blame Jerry Falwell for feeling invincible these days.
Religious conservatives fasted and prayed that antiabortion
candidates would win in November; Falwell believes their prayers were
answered when the Republicans won control of the 108th Congress.
Christian conservatives believe they tipped the close Senate elections
to the GOP in Georgia, Minnesota and Missouri (though they lost a
heated run-off in Louisiana). And Falwell gives much of the credit to
fierce campaigning by President Bush, himself a born-again Christian,
in the final days before the election. "His work brought out the
religious conservative vote, which elected the people we want to have
in office," Falwell says. "No one in the world would deny that the
religious conservatives certainly played a major role in regaining
Republican control of the Senate. It's encouraging to think that if we
get people out, we can make a difference every time, just like in the
election of Ronald Reagan."
Former President Bill Clinton and other Democrats may blame voters'
preoccupation with terrorism and the impending war with Iraq for their
party's midterm loss, but the Christian fundamentalists weren't
distracted. With messianic zeal, they focused on a plan to control the
nation's political agenda by securing the Senate. Many give credit to
political strategist Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian
Coalition who is now chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. Now, as
the 108th Congress readies to begin its work, it's clear that the
religious right will press the most conservative agenda in recent
American history -- and it's clear, too, that Falwell and other
conservatives have faith they will achieve their goals.
The agenda is so controversial that it has created deep divisions even
in Bush's White House. Though such internal dissent is usually hidden,
it flared into the open late last year when John DiIulio, a top policy
adviser who departed in frustration, ripped the influence of the
religious right on Bush. Thus far, however, the president has done
little to discourage the troops of the religious right from their
radical mission to make the government and judiciary agents for the
moral cleansing of America. In their vision, churches would be given
government funds to carry out social services. Prayer would be allowed
-- and encouraged -- in public schools. Israel would be backed
virtually without question in its conflict with the Palestinians
because that would fulfill a prophecy portending the second coming of
Christ. Foreign countries would have to pass a moral litmus test to
receive U.S. aid.
Jerry Falwell, appearing on CNN, claimed, "global warming is a myth. .. I can tell you, our grandchildren will laugh at those who predicted global warming. We’ll be cooler by then, if the Lord hasn’t returned..."
At the end of the spot, Falwell said, "I urge everyone to go out and
buy an SUV today."
The conservative Baptist minister Jerry Falwell said "I think Muhammad was a terrorist" in an interview broadcast Sunday, October 6, 2002 on the CBS' "60 Minutes." Falwell was widely criticized after 9/11 when he said on Pat Robertson's TV show that pagans, abortionists, feminists, homosexuals and civil liberties groups had secularized the nation and helped the Sept. 11 attacks happen. (AP Photo/Jerry Laizure)
Lebanon Cleric Attacks Falwell's Slur of Mohammad
Sat Oct 12, 2002
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A leading Shi'ite Muslim religious authority urged Muslims on Saturday to confront what he called an attack on Islam in U.S. preacher Jerry Falwell's reference to the prophet Mohammad as a "terrorist."
In a statement, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said Falwell's remarks reflected the thinking of President Bush and his backers among the staunchly pro-Israeli U.S. Christian Right.
"All Muslims must make a stand against this attack on Islam, its prophet and Muslims themselves," Fadlallah said. He stopped short of urging a violent reaction: "We do not desire physical violence against this person and those who share his views, including President Bush, who belongs to Zionized Christianity, but...to stand up to this oppressive campaign against Islam and Muslims."
Falwell drew condemnation from Britain and Iran by telling CBS News this week in an interview: "I think Mohammad was a terrorist."
"If a preacher, or anyone else, spoke about Judaism and Zionist massacres in Palestine,... would the U.S. administration permit this? If one mentioned the crimes of Zionism and Judaism, they would accuse him of anti-Semitism," he said.
Falwell Remarks Prompt India Riots
Friday Oct 11, 2002
By RAMOLA TALWAR, Associated Press Writer
BOMBAY, India (AP) - Five people were killed Friday in Hindu-Muslim rioting and police gunfire after riots broke out during a general strike to protest the Rev. Jerry Falwell calling the founder of Islam a terrorist.
Falwell's remarks had triggered street protests in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday.
The key leaders of the fundamentalist religious right
in America are counted among President Bush's closest political allies.
Their reactionary views are a noxious mix of religious bigotry, intolerance, and anti-Muslim demagoguery,
Fundamentalist religious conservative leaders count Mr. Bush as
one of their own. There is the Rev. Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son and
successor and a participant in the president's inauguration, who has
declared Islam a "very evil and wicked religion."And there is Christian
Coalition founder and television evangelist Pat Robertson, who said that "to
think that [Islam] is a peaceful religion is fraudulent." Robertson, in
full attack mode, called the prophet Muhammad "an absolute wild-eyed
fanatic . . . a robber and brigand . . . a killer." And, in an appearance on
the CBS program "60 Minutes", the Rev. Jerry Falwell
completes the demonization of a religion by smearing the prophet of Islam as
"a terrorist."
These are not just the words of a fringe movement. The speakers are leaders
among the religious right in America, a movement close to a president who
speaks their language. Their embrace is mutual. It therefore falls to the
president to break his silence on their gross distortion and to put some
distance between their rhetoric and his own professions of tolerance. To
avert his gaze from their actions is to permit the Falwells, Robertsons and
Grahams to legitimize their own perverse teachings through their association
with the president of the United States.
Franklin Graham, playboy-turned-preacher son of the Reverend Billy Graham was quoted in an interview saying, the
war on terrorism should not be limited to the battlefield. He says it needs to
expand to include a war on Islam, the religion. Franklin Graham was chosen to
deliver the invocation sermon at George W. Bush Inaugural Prayer Service , and selected to lead
the first officially declared National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving, declared by Dubya.
Graham's comments, coming on the first day of Ramadan, caused quite a stir, especially among American Muslims
"We're not attacking Islam but Islam has attacked us," Graham said. "The God
of Islam is not the same God. He's not the Son of God of the Christian or
Judeo-Christian faith. It's a different God and I believe it is a very evil and
wicked religion."
Graham says his beliefs are based on what he has read in the Kur'an, the
Islamic holy book, and suggests that America's war on terrorism is also a war on
Islam.
"I think we better take a hard look, though, at Islam. I don't believe this
is this wonderful, peaceful religion."
The addled clerics' remarks were broadcast all across America on
NBC TV on Friday, Nov. 16, 2001. By some weird coincidence, that was the first
day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. By another weird concidence, the U.S.
accidentally bombed a mosque on that same day:
November 16, 2001
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A bomb damaged a mosque in Khowst, Afghanistan, U.S.
Central Command officials said.
Way back in the 1950's when I first tasted politics and journalism,
Republicans briefly controlled the White House and Congress. With the
exception of Joseph McCarthy and his vicious ilk, they were a reasonable
lot, presided over by that giant war hero, Dwight Eisenhower, who was
conservative by temperament and moderate in the use of power.
That brand of Republican is gone. And for the first time in the memory of
anyone alive, the entire federal government - the Congress, the Executive,
the Judiciary - is united behind a right-wing agenda for which George W.
Bush believes he now has a mandate.
That mandate includes the power of the state to force pregnant women to give
up control over their own lives.
It includes using the taxing power to transfer wealth from working people to
the rich.
It includes giving corporations a free hand to eviscerate the environment
and control the regulatory agencies meant to hold them accountable.
And it includes secrecy on a scale you cannot imagine. Above all, it means
judges with a political agenda appointed for life. If you liked the Supreme
Court that put George W. Bush in the White House, you will swoon over what's
coming.
And if you like God in government, get ready for the Rapture. These folks
don't even mind you referring to the GOP as the party of God. Why else would
the new House Majority Leader say that the Almighty is using him to promote
'a Biblical worldview' in American politics?
So it is a heady time in Washington - a heady time for piety, profits, and
military power, all joined at the hip by ideology and money.
Don't forget the money. It came pouring into this election, to both parties,
from corporate America and others who expect the payback. Republicans
outraised Democrats by $184 million dollars. And came up with the big
prize - monopoly control of the American government, and the power of the
state to turn their ideology into the law of the land. Quite a bargain at
any price.
Commentary: "Chosen By God To Lead America"
|
Tel Aviv -- The largest contingent of American Jewish immigrants in years stepped off the El Al charter flight at Ben Gurion International Airport on Tuesday, overjoyed at the chance to begin their new lives in Israel.
Forgotten amid all the excitement was the fact that many of the 371 newcomers had been bankrolled by grants from U.S. evangelical Christians, who regard the return of Jews to the Holy Land as part of an apocalyptic prophecy foretold in the Bible.
"What I'm seeing is the Scriptures being fulfilled right before our very eyes," said Bishop Huey Harris, whose First Pentecostal Tabernacle Church in Elkton, Md., raised $2,500 from its congregation to help finance the American Jews' journey.
"This is the time to show we are behind Israel," Gary Bauer, former GOP presidential candidate and prominent member of the religious right, said during his first trip to Israel this month.
Fundamentalist Christian support for the Jewish people is not new, especially among an evangelical subset known as Christian Zionists, who make up an estimated 3 million of America's 98 million evangelicals. Religious experts believe that some 30 million Christians have some Zionist beliefs.
While pro-Israel advocates once looked to liberal Democrats for their main support, they are increasingly warming to conservative Republicans, whose pet causes such as school prayer have long been anathema to many Jews.
Manifestations of the growing relationship are being seen increasingly on both sides of the Atlantic -- including a recent speech by House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference,
an invitation to Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak to the Anti- Defamation League.
Last month, Earl G. Cox, a longtime Republican activist who served in four presidential administrations, announced that he was buying a series of commercials on Israel's Channel Two television to "announce to the people of Israel that the vast majority of American Christians recognize Israel as their friend and ally."
"Enemies of Israel must clearly understand that when they attack the Jewish state they take on millions of American Christians who passionately embrace the Jewish people," Cox told reporters.
Eckstein, who as head of the Jerusalem Friendship Fund for the past eight years claims to have collected some $60 million in donations from the evangelical community to assist Jewish immigration, has joined forces with former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed, now a leading GOP consultant, as part of the effort. Their plans include an Internet site for supporters of Israel to write their congressional representatives.
Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza have been among the most significant beneficiaries of the Christian support.
"We've seen financial support . . . to the settlements double during the past 21 months," said Sondra Oster Baras, an Orthodox Jew and director of the Israel office of the Colorado-based Christian Friends of Israeli Communities, which runs an "Adopt-a-Settlement Program."
Jewish settlements benefiting from Christian contributions include Itamar and Hebron. One of the largest settlements, Ariel, has had close relations with the evangelical Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada, Colo., which "adopted" Ariel before the intifada -- one of about 40 such relationships established by the Christian Friends of Israel Communities.
American evangelicals' closer political relationship with Israel began when the conservative Likud party first came to power in 1977. Prime Minister Menachem Begin found common ground with such leaders as Falwell and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson.
U.S. evangelical leaders have frequently met with Likud members, including Sharon, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert and ex-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told an evangelical audience in Washington in 1998 that "we have no greater friends and allies than the people sitting in this room."
Other Jews are less sure, fearing that fundamentalist Christians are religious wolves in sheep's clothing, extending the hand of friendship in the present while believing in an eventual endgame of conversion or death for Jews upon Jesus' return.
In February, Dov Lior, the chief rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, said he had blocked settlements in Gaza from accepting bulletproof vests from evangelicals.
On the face of it, the love affair between conservative Christians and
Israel’s hawkish head of state seems unlikely, but mutual interests notoriously
make for strange bedfellows. Many fundamentalist Christians embrace the state of
Israel because of its role in their own end-of-time theology. For its part, the
right wing in Israel welcomes the economic and political support it receives
from conservative Christians around the world and particularly in the United
States.
Religion and politics. It’s an incendiary combination anywhere, and
particularly in the Middle East where Christian fundamentalists, often working
in tandem with Jewish Messianic settlers, promote the formation of a Greater
Israel that they believe will usher in Armageddon itself. Many of this country’s
most ardent Christian supporters of Israel welcome that prospect. Others who
don’t subscribe to the end-of-time theology of “dispensational premillennialism”
worry that the agenda pushed by the tactical alliance between Jewish and
Christian fundamentalists will transform the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a
battle between two nationalities into a war of civilizations that will engulf
the world.
“It’s a very tragic situation in which Christian fundamentalists, certain
groups of them that focus on Armageddon and the Rapture and the role of a war
between Muslims and Jews in bringing about the Second Coming, are involved in a
folie à deux with extremist Jews,” said Ian Lustick, a professor of political
science at the University of Pennsylvania, a consultant on the Middle East to
the last four presidential administrations and the author of the book For the
Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel.
Whether the Bush administration is reflecting the views of the Christian
right or responding to them is difficult to say, but some Mideast analysts are
convinced they are seeing their effect played out in U.S. support for Sharon’s
hard-line policies. “I think in general it’s safe to say Christian
fundamentalism has an influence on the administration and specifically with
regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said Kathleen Christison, a former
CIA political analyst and the author of Perceptions of Palestine: Their
Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy.
“There is a group of people in the Defense Department and in the vice
president’s office who are very, very pro-Israeli and very pro the Likud Party
in Israel,” said Christison, who named Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz;
Undersecretary of Policy in the Defense Department Douglas Feith; adviser to the
Defense Department Richard Perle; Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff Lewis
Libby Jr.; and Elliot Abrams on the National Security Council staff.
The United States’ current and exclusive focus on Islamic fundamentalism is a
case of what some argue is selective blindness.
“We pay a lot of attention to Islamic extremism, but we don’t pay a lot of
attention to Christian extremism or the extremism in the Jewish religion that is
being used to justify what is going on today,” said James Zogby, founder and
president of the Arab American Institute in Washington, speaking about the
turmoil in the Middle East. Zogby argues that despite disclaimers to the
contrary the United States is waging a war on Islam at home and abroad even as
it tacitly supports extremist settlers in the occupied territories Israel
controls.
Since Sept. 11, suspected Muslim charities have been shut down by the U.S.
government without the government offering any evidence that these charities
have links to terrorists, Zogby said. At the same time, a known terrorist
organization such as the Jewish Defense League is not placed on the government’s
list of terrorist organizations, he said.
“Without question, we are subsidizing those settlements. Money is money,”
said Zogby, noting that Israel is not only the largest recipient of U.S. foreign
aid but the only c
