Why right-wing Xtian fundies are not pacifists

I read a really good (IMO) explanation for why the religious right is so gung-ho about war. You can read it at:

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.display&issue=040512#3

The title of the piece is "Are liberal Christians phony" and it's author is David Batstone.

It is more about what social conventions are suitible for transmitting the surviving ideas. Propogation methodology is what determines the spread of a belief. For this reason texts can be picked over to support whatever dominant paradigm exists within a particular culture or subculture.

To this effect the bible is a very rich source for nearly anything you want it to convey. Even Jesus speaks of bringing hatred and death to those that do not support him.

From Matt 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

The bible is quite full of god being vengeful and ordering his followers to destroy entire nations. The idea of god being angry at people for disobedience transfers to many of his followers. If anger is what resonates with a people then that is what they will find in the bible.

There is much talk of love in the bible but there is an equal amount of killing. And some even more gruesome that what we have witnessed the past few days.
Hosea 13:16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

IMO, that's one of the most misinterpreted lines in the Bible. I agree with MLK's interpretation of that line, "Peace requires sacrifice"

He even tells his followers to sell their every posession and buy a sword.

During my debating days this imagery of a sword carried through in the opposition in the form of nearly every other fundimentalist used something to do with a sword as a screen name.

There is an undercurrent of anger and vengence that some pick up on in the bible. The very idea of Hell carries this with it. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been told by a loving Christian that they would be in heaven laughing at me suffering in hell. This is the religion they spread.

and I scanned all the Gospels. It's odd that in Luke he says "...whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one" but in Matthew he tell his followers "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword."

It is that you can find whatever story you want to within the work. Particularly if you pick and choose.


Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

If you turn to the OT you can find destruction and vengence everywhere. Its really more a question of what a person wants to find in it. Look in the bible for justification for your hatred and you can find it. Look in it for a system of peace, understanding and tolerance and you can find that too.

you know. almost word for word. take out your enemy by any means.

steal lie pretend............kill kill kill

The right-wing fundie views in that article are NOT David Batstone's--he's merely sharing the views of a winger who wrote to him. Sojourners is a decidedly lefty organization, dedicated to social justice issues (you know, the kind of things that Jesus actually preached).

Christian Identity is the cover church for Arian Nation and the White Supremacist movement. They actually claim that the Aryans are the only true Jews and descended from the lost tribe. They further claim that those that claim to be Jews today are actually a tainted race that mixed with blacks and other races.

definitely is, but there are quite a few African-American Christian Fundamentalists. Just watch the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Bishop T.D. Jakes comes to mind.

I know that those three are about as Christain fundamentalist as you can get.