Yeah, that was pretty interesting. Even if it reads like a game of Illuminati (http://www.sjgames.com/illuminati/) at the beginning. But that's probably because the game is too accurate.
I suppose if you're going to paint a picture, you might as well imagine a huge canvas. I've generally assumed that the Republican Party got hijacked by some subset of political Fundamentalist Christians. That guy, on the basis of one conversation with his high school teacher, has posited a grand conspiracy by the Republican party to take over Christianity across multiple denominations throughout the country. From a purely logistical standpoint, I find it hard to believe. Particularly since we're largely not talking about the supposedly authoritarian churches, such as the Catholics, who want you to rely on their priests to know what God's will is. The Fundamentalist churches are big on everyone having and reading their own bible. While many people will nod and see the passages that they're told to look at, I can't imagine one could suddenly subvert the message to the degree this guy is talking about without more fuss.
On the scale and timeline this guy is talking about, it was sudden. It could be argued that the Catholic church has spent 2000 years tweaking the message to their political ends. This guy is saying that many of the core messages of the Fundamentalist churches were changed 40 years ago. People in those churches, today, remember when the message was completely different, if that's true. And none of them pointed this out to the others?
I confess I have a tendency to tune out arguments based on Biblical citations, since I don't consider it any more or less holy than any other book, though.
If the message changes gradually, over the course of years, your average not-trained-in-critical-thinking person won't notice. And of those who notice, most won't care. And of those who do care, most do not hold (or have been pushed out of) positions where they have much opportunity to "point it out to others". After that, you're left with people like the author of these articles, who talk a good game, but who have a hard time fighting the established authorities.
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ninetydegrees
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on 8 Dec 2004 09:29 (UTC)no subject
on 8 Dec 2004 10:01 (UTC)no subject
on 8 Dec 2004 11:47 (UTC)no subject
on 8 Dec 2004 13:14 (UTC)no subject
on 8 Dec 2004 13:03 (UTC)no subject
on 8 Dec 2004 14:00 (UTC)I can't imagine one could suddenly subvert the message to the degree this guy is talking about without more fuss.
A) It wasn't sudden.
B) Fuss or not, the subversion has successfully spread pretty damn far.
no subject
on 8 Dec 2004 15:16 (UTC)I confess I have a tendency to tune out arguments based on Biblical citations, since I don't consider it any more or less holy than any other book, though.
no subject
on 9 Dec 2004 14:03 (UTC)