No Sean Penn: John Rhys-Davies, without Oscar censors.

National Review Online ^ | March 05, 2004 | Andrew Leigh

[Tax-chick]

Dwight Schultz, possibly greatest living TV actor and conservative.

[CharlieOK1]

Ironically, Mortensen's character in the movies is a military leader. And many have drawn parallels between the conflict in The Lord of the Rings with the war on terror. With a twinkle in his eye, Rhys-Davies confides that a friend whispered to him while watching Mortensen in The Return of the King, "Does he realize he's George Bush?"

Best line in the whole article. Dumb Viggo once said that Bush was Sauron. What a maroon!

[Bacon Man]

Gimli ping!

[CharlieOK1]

pinging some of the ringers! ecurbh, you have the full list. add me to it by the way. My old name CharlieOK may still be on the list. Had to add the '1' when I forgot my password.

[FourPeas]

Welsh-born

That explains it.

[FourPeas]

Shogun, ah yes, I remember that, too. Wasn't he also in the TV version of Noble House?

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

[2Jedismom]

'Bout time we got another Okie on the Ring Ping list!

[BobS]

He also was a main charater in 'Sliders', a dimension-spanning series on the Sci-Fi Channel. Always had learned dignity with a humorous sense. I miss him!

[Publius6961]

You know very well that pagans were persecuted and killed for their faith all over Europe from the time Christians became a majority until the witchcraft trials ended in the 18th century.

"For their faith"??? LOL!

No, I do not know any such thing.

I do know that counteless forgeries were invented during the reformation. So my question still stands: can you be more specific? Time and place and circumstances please.

If your memory has taken a flight south, I would be happy with bibliographical references. I could recommend two: A concise History of the Crusades, by Madden, and Inquisition, by Peters. I will reserve the other dozen or so for the future; I would hate to short circuit you with reality. Let's just try to limit a historical discussion or claims to facts, not fiction or fantasy.

[Redcloak]

"Does [Viggo Mortensen] realize he's George Bush?"

BWAAAAHAAAAHAAAAHAAAAAAA!!!!!!

[BobS]

"I can't imagine how -any- Welsh, Irish or Scots could support any "liberal/PC/multicultural" views."

They likely don't! The way it works is the citizens work hard and are highly taxed. So highly taxed that having children isn't a logical choice.

The immigrants arrive and get all sorts of welfare support and multiply like roaches.

[CyberCowboy777]

Christians are the majority in many countries, no killings.

You say that is because they do not need to.......yet the point is that Muslim fundamentalist will rule by the sword, just as they do today, without any apparent need.

The wrongs done by early century so-called Christians do not in any way bring even fundamentalist Christians to par with their Muslim counterparts.

No man can kill for his Christian Faith and actually be a Christian.

[agarrett]

You know very well that pagans were persecuted and killed for their faith all over Europe from the time Christians became a majority until the witchcraft trials ended in the 18th century.

  I didn't know that - let alone very well. From my reading of European history, it appears that most of their religious warfare was dedicated either to the Crusades or to persecuting heresy. Heresy, note, is not the pursuit of pagans - they were generally left alone - but the pursuit of people who claim to follow the same religion, but have different ideas of how to do it.

  The Crusades, well, they were a mix of religious fervor with counter-attacking warfare. Partly political, partly religious. But they didn't last from the time of the Holy Roman Empire until the 18th century...

  So, can we have some details, rather than a blanket statement. Maybe some specific examples of persecution? A specific religion? And, just to make it harder, I'll stipulate that Jews are not pagans (I know you can find several examples of anti-Jewish persecution.)

Drew Garrett

[hosepipe]

[ It was the beginning of his eventual transformation into a conservative. Rhys-Davies's father was a colonial officer, but from a poor "working-class socialist" background, which Rhys-Davies absorbed into his bloodstream. ]

I noticed this, as the unseen evil of socialism...(Communism "IS" socialism)
as "Radical Son" by David Horowitz, testifies.. for one book.

[Servant of the 9]

Heresy, note, is not the pursuit of pagans - they were generally left alone - but the pursuit of people who claim to follow the same religion, but have different ideas of how to do it.

How very convenient.
The Christians redefined the prior religions as 'Devil Worship' and thus heresy, and then started burning them.

So9

[Heyworth]

Dumb Viggo once said that Bush was Sauron. What a maroon!

Sure! It all fits. The Fellowship is actually an Al Qaeda cell, the ring is an airliner, and Mt. Doom is the World Trade Center! It all makes sense!

Okay, I'll stop now.

[agarrett]

The Christians redefined the prior religions as 'Devil Worship' and thus heresy, and then started burning them.

  Well, in my original quote, I was referring to heretics such as the Cathari, the subjects of the Albigensian Crusade. Among their heresies was the idea that Communion was invalid unless the Priest was himself pure - through confession and penance. This does not, to my mind, qualify as a "prior religion" - they were most certainly Catholic. Also, it was this Crusade that gave rise to the well known saying, "Kill 'em all and let God sort it out."

  But, if you have an example of some pagan religion being defined as Devil worship, I'm still open to hearing about it.

Drew Garrett

[Wicket]

No, it doesn't make it right. Some things done in the name of Christianity in the past, and even now, are appalling and shameful. However, they are against Christian teaching. Love your enemy, love your neighbor as yourself, turn the other cheek, every person (no matter their age, mental or physical capacity, race, sex) is equally worthy of your love and care because they are loved by God We believe that all are hopelessly lost and evil without the assistance and redemption of a loving God, through Christ.

That is part of the reason why horrid things done in the name of Christianity are relatively infrequent, and modest in comparison to those done in the name of non-religious political goals - Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung, Stalin, Hitler - and more recently, Saddam Hussein. It doesn't give Christianity a free pass for not intervening more aggressively in eras like Hitler's Germany with the Jews. However,history also shows Christians founding and supporting hospitals and universities, anti-slavery movements, pro-life and anti-euthanasia, assistance to the poor and sick, and so forth because of their faith.

Islam, on the other hand, talks in terms of jihad, of subjugating or killing those who don't believe. No one of the Islamic faith knows how they are viewed by Allah until they die, with one exception. Someone who dies in Jihad immediately goes to heaven.

The differences in these beliefs affects behavior. There are lots of folks in both faith systems that don't particularly live what they think they believe - and just want to be left alone to make their own decisions and raise their families. For Christianity, you might call those folks "Christmas Christians" - who love that baby in a manger story and all the decorations and presents, but it doesn't alter their behavior much. However, those who take their belief seriously between these two faiths would strongly tend toward completely different actions.

[sheik yerbouty]

There are more than you might think; waiting in the wings for their cue..