Christian Fundamentalists and the Rise of the Radical Right
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 16, 2025 22:02
VIEWED: 9272
PAGE 6 of 15
It takes more than a belief in 'creationism' to be a fundamentalist Christian and it should take more than questioning the theory of evolution to be anti-intellectual. IMO, the major pinciples your source attributes to fundamentalism does not encourage an anti-scientific view or the cherry picking of old testament verse to divide people and spread hatred. Those are human failings, which are no more common to fundamentalist than they are to any group of people.
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Originally posted by RionaEire:
Raptor: I agree with you that currently we see more Islamic extremists out there causing blatent terroristic havoc. But people claiming to be Christians caused such havoc in the past and we can't deny that. But in terms of the last 50 years I agree with you.
No one's trying to paint over the crusades, or the inquisitions, or even the Salem witch trials. It's just those events in the past are so completely a different issue than the islamic terrorism we're dealing with now.
" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "
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Originally posted by BYTEMITE:Quote:
But the issue with fundamentalism and the Christian right is that they push their agenda. They aren't just holding prayer meetings, they're lobbying hard, and they've got deep pockets which they don't mind digging into to support candidates who will support their hardline on the above issues.
Then we're on the same page.
To be excessively ironic - Amen.
See, I got no issue with what someone BELIEVES, it's when they wanna ram it down MY throat on a bayonet, that I start getting all psychotic and hostile about it - and yeah, I can get fairly extreme about it, but why the hell shouldn't I ?
I mean, when someone who's agenda involves downright MURDERING people like me, although they dance around and weasel word it instead of having the honest chops to own up to it, AND they have every intention of subverting government force to that end if at all possible - seriously, can you understand why at that point I feel the world would be a better place if they were worm food ?
The minute you take up arms to violently force your will, your morals, your beliefs, upon me, I consider your right-to-live revoked, in my eyes.
I know that's damn harsh, but is that not exactly what they are saying behind those pikes, that unless you believe as they do, you need to die ?
I'm simply returning unto them what they've offered unto me - and MY beliefs expressly *forbid* forcing them on others, and strongly discourage even persuasion.
(as do some of the very beliefs picking up the pikes, which makes em hypocrites besides)
For most of em, it has jack shit to do with religion anyway, they're just looking for an EXCUSE to hurt people, a "cause" with which to massage their conscience about the harm they want to do, and any "cause" will do.
-Frem
I do not serve the Blind God.
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Oh, you forgot William Krar, Mikey, another classic example.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1229/p02s01-usju.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_poison_gas_plot
Of course, given WHO the intended victims were, I can see some folk around here lauding him as heroic...
Sick, ain't it ?
-Frem
I do not serve the Blind God.
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Quote:
Originally posted by TheHappyTrader:
It takes more than a belief in 'creationism' to be a fundamentalist Christian and it should take more than questioning the theory of evolution to be anti-intellectual. IMO, the major pinciples your source attributes to fundamentalism does not encourage an anti-scientific view or the cherry picking of old testament verse to divide people and spread hatred. Those are human failings, which are no more common to fundamentalist than they are to any group of people.
Frankly that is BS. I described, using a reasonable source, which in turn referenced other sources to describe the beliefs of Fundamentalist Christianity. That is the Fundamentalist Christianity to which the author refers. If you have some other version, please describe it, but do not make out that what I have referenced is anything other than human failings when they are documented beliefs of that set of people.
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Hitler wasn't fighting for Christianity, so that's a non issue.
Um, actually, that one's probably debateable. Now there weren't so much Muslims in the European part of that war, but there were some skirmishes in the north Africa part, over oil, some of which probably did result in the death of Muslims. Definitely Hitler went after Jews, though whether on just religious lines or racial lines it's hard to say, as he arguably attempted to purge them for eugenics. But his concept of Nazism embraced traditional German culture, meaning Christians. Also, Hitler was a bit of a superstitious man, and actually did try to secure religious artifacts that he thought might grant him favour with God and turn the tide of the war. The stories of two of the Indiana Jones movies were based on this interest on the part of Hitler, which is why they had Nazis as antagonists.
Lastly, what Hitler wanted to create was the Third Reich, meaning, he thought his people were the inheritors of the Holy Roman Empire. A Christian Empire.
The Muslims tally up their kill count in brutal regimes and one-shot terrorist attacks, often suicide attacks, of which we can probably name more single events than for Christians. However, the Christians tally up their kill points in officially sanctioned war, meaning we have battles we can name, but we can't name the skirmish that happened outside some village on a crossroads (there's a whole bunch of those!). My impression is that our wars, and indirect fighting through Israel towards Palestine, and our support of brutal dictatorships such as Saddam Hussein at first, and our meddling in the Afghan-Russian war, AND our gun-running (Iran-Contra affair, anyone?), all of these have had some hefty casualties. And that's not counting the accidental deaths, when our intelligence is simply wrong, the actions of the mercenaries we've hired, or the I would like to think RARE cases like that murder squad we brought back to the states for trial.
I'm sorry, but considering how much we've screwed up that region from WWI onwards, the ones that hate us seem to have good reason. You can argue which one has had more casualties, but I think both sides are deplorable.
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I absolutely love how Raptor flees when his loud bloviating gets refute-slammed by Mikey.
Rappy: Fact Fact Fact! Im right I win argument
Kwicko: Provides cites proving Rappy doesn't know wtf he is talking about
Rappy: *Crickets*
this is the kind of comedy I lurk around for, thanks guys!
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Ok, I have a thought.
While there are currently more terrorists that are practicing Muslums than any other major religion (although a fair few argue it's more about Arab Nationalism than just religion, but I digress), I would also say that fundamentalist Christians have caused the deaths of hundreds of innocent people in their pursuit of an entry into Heaven, albiet in a far more subtle and insidious manner: the persecution and eventual suicide of those they deem to be "unclean sinners".
"I really am ruggedly handsome, aren't I?"
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* The inerrancy of the Bible
* The literal nature of the Biblical accounts, especially regarding Christ's miracles, and the Creation account in Genesis.
* The Virgin Birth of Christ
* The bodily resurrection and physical return of Christ
* The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross
This is a set of beliefs/principles. I don't believe they necessitate an anti-intellectual mindset.
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Fundamentalists in the 1920s devoted themselves to fighting the teaching of evolution in the nation's schools and colleges.
Things like these I consider to be more human in nature.
I know you said you've bolded what you felt applies, but nothing is showing bold from my screen, so it's difficult to tell what out of all of that you felt was pertinent. I figured the bullets were most important cause they were bulleted.
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It occurs to be that AURaptor really can't lose posting in a thread like this. If he really is as hateful as we are lead to believe, many of you re simply spreading his hatred. Rappy argues Muslims are the suck, and the response is an attack on Christians... another faith that Raptor doesn't believe in and probably hates.
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