Christian Right's Emerging Deadly Worldview: Kill Muslims to Purify the Earth

[babylonsister]

Christian Right's Emerging Deadly Worldview: Kill Muslims to Purify the Earth
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2008-02-13 18:09. Media

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig


Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani are the three stooges of the Christian right. These self-described former Muslim terrorists are regularly trotted out at Christian colleges -- a few days ago they were at the Air Force Academy -- to spew racist filth about Islam on behalf of groups such as Focus on the Family. It is a clever tactic. Curly, Larry and Mo, who all say they are born-again Christians, engage in hate speech and assure us it comes from personal experience. They tell their audiences that the only way to deal with one-fifth of the world's population is by converting or eradicating all Muslims. Their cant is broadcast regularly on Fox News, including the Bill O'Reilly and Neil Cavuto shows, as well as on numerous Christian radio and television programs. Shoebat, who has written a book called Why We Want to Kill You, promises in his lectures to explain the numerous similarities between radical Muslims and the Nazis, how "Muslim terrorists" invaded America 30 years ago and how "perseverance, recruitment and hate" have fueled attacks by Muslims.

These men are frauds, but this is not the point. They are part of a dark and frightening war by the Christian right against tolerance that, in the moment of another catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil, would make it acceptable to target and persecute all Muslims, including the some 6 million Muslims who live in the United States. These men stoke these irrational fears. They defend the perpetual war unleashed by the Bush administration and championed by Sen. John McCain. McCain frequently reminds listeners that "the greatest danger facing the world is Islamic terrorism," as does Mike Huckabee, who says that "Islamofascism" is "the greatest threat this country ever faced." George W. Bush has, in the same vein, assured Americans that terrorists hate us for our freedoms, not, of course, for anything we have done. Bush described the "war on terror" as a war against totalitarian Islamofascism while the Israeli air force was dropping tens of thousands of pounds of iron fragmentation bombs up and down Lebanon, an air campaign that killed 1,300 Lebanese civilians.

The three men tell lurid tales of being recruited as children into Palestinian terrorist organizations, murdering hundreds of civilians and blowing up a bank in Israel. Saleem says that as a child he infiltrated Israel to plant bombs via a network of tunnels underneath the Golan Heights, although no incident of this type was ever reported in Israel. He claims he is descended from the "grand wazir" of Islam, a title and a position that do not exist in the Arab world. They assure audiences that the Palestinians are interested not in a peaceful two-state solution but rather the destruction of Israel, the murder of all Jews and the death of America. Shoebat claims he first came to the United States as part of an extremist "sleeper cell."

"These three jokers are as much former Islamic terrorists as 'Star Trek's' Capt. James T. Kirk was a real Starship captain," said Mikey Weinstein, the head of the watchdog group The Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The group has challenged Christian proselytizing in the military and denounced the visit by the men to the Air Force Academy.

The speakers include in their talks the superior virtues of Christianity. Saleem, for example, says his world "turned upside down when he was seriously injured in an automobile accident."

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/31000

[gateley]

1. This pretty much sums it up:

"They are part of a dark and frightening war by the Christian right against tolerance ..." It's not restricted to intolerance against Islam.

Chilling.

Recommend.

[Blue State Bandit]

2. K-n-R for truth!

[DFW]

3. There must be some kind of contest on

Fanatic Christians and Muslims locked in some fight to the finish to see
who can be the most intolerant, while 95% of the adherents to each religion
watch in bewilderment wondering what all the loonies are screaming about.

[Iris]

6. maybe the ones who feel this way should volunteer to go off somewhere and have a death match

jeez. this shit is getting so old. I know it's been going on since human beings have existed, but you'd think we'd have received some enlightenment by now. Or at least we'd have evolved.

[FiveGoodMen]

7. It's two separate contests

The fundies in each camp (Christian and Muslim) are trying to impress their god with how much they hate sin.

The two groups are not competing with each other, they're each trying to be the most intolerant within their own group.

"Look God/Allah, I hate sinners more than the rest. Don't you love me for it?"

[TrogL]

10. They're all authoritarians quibbling over who's right

They have common targets - gays, women, anybody who's not an authoritarian.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Look, Darlin'...

My respect for you cannot be counted, because there just ain't a number big enough. That said, Chris Hedges is a blind pig looking for a truffle. Sometimes he's successful, sometimes he's just rootin' around and leaving a lot of dug earth behind.

He gets a little too overheated sometimes. That said, our eyes must never be taken off these putative "Christians", who never seem to anything from The New Testament and only Levitican Tribal Law from The Old Testament. I have always wondered why the line "I bring to you a New Covenant" has escaped them, these self-described scholars of The Bible.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. as 'Star Trek's' Capt. James T. Kirk was a real Starship captain,"

Um, we don't have any real starships yet. I get the point, but...

[L. Coyote]

8. Are they "others"? I heard Huckabee use that term. Reminded me of Hitler.

[robertpaulsen]

9. Kill to purify. Well, Hitler called himself a Christian too. n/t