Preaching Water, Drinking Wine

WWJD in Government?

A horribly prescient 1994 quote from the late US Senator Barry Goldwater:

"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."

Too true.

The Real Al Jazeera and Ahmadinejad on the Web

Having heard a lot about Al Jazeera's supposed anti-Western and pro-Al Qaida bent, imagine my surprise when I found out the names of the people behind the network. According to the Daily Nation, Al Jazeera's Managing Director is a Mr. Nigel Parsons and the Director of News is a Mr. Steve Clark. One of their bureau chiefs is called Andrew Simons. Hardly the sort of names one would associate with radical Islam!

By the way, the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has his own personal blog (Hat Tip: Abdurahman Warsame). You can find it here.

In Jesus' Name

Evangelical Christian fanatics (Savedies) are really starting to scare me. In this ABC News report (Hat Tip: Andrew Sullivan), US kids are openly taught to worship before an image of the Great Leader, George Bush. The extreme right looks intent on breeding its own bunch of suicide-bombers and even seems to admire the teachings of the madrasas in Pakistan from which came the Taliban and Al Qaida. Pastor Becky Fisher, whose "Bible Camp" is featured here and who is actively promoting the "Jesus Camp" documentary, says she wants "to see [the kids] as radically laying down their lives for the Gospel as they do in Pakistan and Palestine."
These are the very "Christians" who, under the pretext of fighting terror, support Bush's attempt to legalize torture, his attempts to subvert the US constitution and set up an imperial messianic presidency. They sound much like the Muslim extremists they claim to oppose. Both groups seek to impose their religion through the tactics of terror, indoctrination and manipulation of the instruments of State.