--- The Fool wrote: > Interesting article: > > http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-420765,00.html > <snip> > So is it all harmless pseudo-theological bunk — > Batman meets Billy > Graham? I am not so sure. The insidious thing about > the Left Behind > novels is that, lurking beneath the thrills and > spills, they promulgate a > distinctly disturbing world view. All international > organisations, from > the UN downwards, are regarded as fronts for secular > humanists who do > “the Devil’s work” (quite literally, of course, in > these novels). Even > the Roman Catholic Church is castigated, which isn’t > surprising since, in > his nonfiction writing, LaHaye has declared > Catholicism to be a “false religion”. > Also lambasted or ridiculed are liberals, > ecumenicals and everyone else > who is “hoodwinked” by the notion of global peace, > harmonious > co-existence or disarmament — all regarded as > con-tricks perpetrated by > the Antichrist. Women in authority are crudely > caricatured as stupid or > sadistic. Europeans generally are unreliable and > untrustworthy. The > message is: it’s up to right-minded Americans to get > out there and show > them, at gunpoint if necessary (and it usually is), > that God is boss.
<shudder> I will never understand how a movement that began with someone who preached love and forgiveness (admittedly I'm ignoring a lot of the Gospel of John, whose author probably would have liked these books) wound up with a bunch of people who truly believe that God orders them to kill other people (for _whose_ good?!). And this 'end-time' mentality is a nightmare for the environment - why care about the polar bear or nene goose if everything is going to be blown up? (Or whatever happens in Revelations - I tried to read it in high school, but found it incomprehensible. I suppose Plague that only affected humans might spare most creatures, but I can't hope for such a grim scenario.) Have you ever tried to talk (not argue, but discuss) with some of these fundamentalists? They won't even _listen_ to an idea that contradicts their world-view. Made The Attempt Maru __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! News - Today's headlines http://news.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
