The Gospel According to Saint Bush

Came across this article on a Christian website:

Military Minister Finds Iraqis Open To Christian Message By Chad Groening - May 5, 2004 - (AgapePress) A Navy chaplain who served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom believes the civilian population of that country is ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lieutenant Carey Cash was assigned to the First Battalion of the Fifth Marine Regiment during the opening months of the war. In his book, A Table In the Presence (W Publishing Group, 2004), Cash says the troops were told all kinds of horror stories about how the Iraqi people would react to Christians. The stories he was told suggested that the Iraqis would be leery of Christians, if not downright hostile, but the Christian author and military officer says the troops discovered this was not the case at all. "Every time I had interactions with Iraqi civilians, it was the exact opposite," Cash says, adding that those Iraqis apparently loved and welcomed the Americans. For himself and the Marines he accompanied, the chaplain says, "the specter of Christian-hating Islamic people" was simply not in evidence among the ordinary citizens. Of course, the author notes, anti-American sentiment was palpable among Iraqi insurgents and Saddam loyalists. "Certainly when you talk about the Republican Guard and the Bath party, I think that, yes, that was there," he says. Cash says the Iraqis seem burdened under Islam. He believes this creates an openness to Christianity, he says, "in part because Islam, as a cultural motif, does oppress. And I think that says that one day, perhaps, a new day may dawn in that nation where the gospel can be proclaimed without fear of reprisal, and where it can liberate men, women, and children unlike they've ever known." Despite the influence of Islam in Iraq, Cash says he finds there is great openness to Christianity there now, and he feels that believers currently serving in that country will have an even better opportunity to share their faith in the future.

Of course this makes no rational sense. However, we as sane people must realize that a good portion of the American population strongly agrees with these views and uses them as one justification for supporting the Iraqi invasion/occupation and making sure Bush gets reelected, at any cost. We are really wasting our precious time debating the "who served/didn't serve in Vietnam" issue, or offshoring our jobs, or bitching about Bush making our air and water dirtier, like anyone who really cares enough about that is consequently convinced to rally behind Kerry.

We need to be very concerned about the large and rapidly growing Christian fundamentalist/evangelical (fundagelical) sect of our population that is hell-bent (heaven-bent?) on assuring four more years of Bush. The moderate left and progressives are no match for the determination and passion of this religious sect. Unless we the left come to terms with this fact and set aside our petty, self-destructive debates, we will once again be overwhelmed and dumbstruck come November. Remember folks, these people REALLY DO believe in the prophesies of the rapture and Armageddon, and consider their voting decisions as life-or-death in importance. I've yet to meet a liberal (let alone a moderate Republican) who comes within a thousand miles of such political passion.

Remember this: the combination of the incredibly large portion of the American voting public who STILL think that Iraq was behind 911 (and that there are WMD in Iraq) and the fundagelicals is making the prospect of Bush's reelection a slam dunk. They won't even need Diebold's generous help.

Are you pissing in your pants yet? You should be.

"When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion." ---- Abraham Lincoln