Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio megachurch pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a "war" against the "false religion" of Islam with the aim of destroying it.
Pathetic.
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Pathetic.
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4 comments:
I think I'm missing the point. Are we supposed to be surprised that a leader of one religion hopes that a different religion is abandoned? Given the spectrum of truly scary things Rod Parsley has said, I find it amazing that this article (and a few others like it) have decided to focus on this logical (if not PC) belief. I'm left to conclude that when reporting this story, the first thing to be investigated was which headline would be the most sensationalistic.
Dude, I didn't view that as the "leader of one religion hopes that a different religion is abandoned." Sure, there's no surprise there. Instead, it's the wage "war" against a religion that is different from mine and that I don't agree with, all with the aim of destroying it, that bugs the shit out of me. It's the matter of using religion as an excuse to kill people that I think is pathetic.
But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe that's the whole point of a religion: destroy those that believe differently.
I don't take the "war" rhetoric literally... when talking of such things, it's common for folks to refer to spiritual warfare (e.g., prayer, preaching, etc.) simply as warfare. That's why when I hear of the elimination of Islam thru warfare, that's the context I've usually seen it in. What concerns me more are ideas such as America being an instrument of God, of associating the modern state of Israel with the Biblical Israel, and mostly of the interpretations of the Book of Revelations and their desire to bring the end of days (this is where they usually kick in with the direct references to violence because at that point, conversion is almost irrelevant).
I think history has shown that oftentimes the "war" rhetoric is literal and not just a "spiritual warfare". So, with that said, and being the pessimist that I am, I will take these comments literally.
Even though I do not believe it is correct nor necessary, religion, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. What gets to me is the way it is used by malevolent people in order to manipulate other people to kill and destroy yet other people.
Right now, it's the idea that America is an instrument of God (God Bless America, He's always on our side); Israel is, well Israel. They have the same name so it must be the same Israel as in the Bible. (Whatever.); And, well, it's Revelations! If you read Revelations then you know what the future holds. (A self-fulfilling future it seems to me.)
But these things have been happening since humans embraced religion. The "gods" favor the powerful and the end of days is right around the corner; and malevolent people manipulate other people to kill and destroy yet other people.
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