Apocalyptic visions: Christianity under assault in US from right-wing fundamentalist Protestantism

The driving force of Christian commitment in western civilization aka "Christendom" may not necessarily be Baptist fundamentalism. However, even a hard-shell conservative catholic can enthusiastically support Franklin Grahams statement that "Our God had a Son" and Falwell's pronouncement that Muhammad was a terrorist.

I do.

That being said: from the point of view of a "hard-shell conservative Catholic", or indeed of the majority of orthodox Catholic, Anglican, and Byzantine Christians of the past two millenia, American Evangelicals (especially those of the camp-meeting, TV-preacher sort) are hardly recognizable as Christians at all. To paint with an overly broad brush: they spurn the beliefs of Western Christianity ("Christ, Not Creeds!"), they seem to have no knowledge of nor interest in the historic and traditional foundations of the faith ("Jesus was a Baptist!"), they preach a wealth-and-success based gospel of boosterism (tailor-made wish-fulfillment for the homebound, the unemployed, and those in the lower economic classes) and their theology, exegesis and soteriology are generally based on naïve, homegrown, overly literal and often wildly unorthodox "personal interpretations" of the King James Version of the Bible ("the plain sense of Scripture").

(I leave out liturgy; most of these "churches" have none, relying instead on a non-sacramental, emotion-based feel-good form of "celebration worship" -- "We don't need no pomp 'n' circumstance to praise the Lord!" -- that is baffling to those from orthodox Christian worship traditions.)

In short: it's often difficult to work with Evangelicals because they have little in common with Christianity as it has been known and practiced since the Resurrection.

What many Evangelicals do share with their Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox bretheren is a deep, heartfelt, and sincere love of Christ. Acknowledged, that love could bind us together into a coalition of believers that could form the heart of a movement towards a "new Christendom". The problem as I see it is that most American Evangelicals are taught to believe that those outside their own narrow traditions are not merely "Christians in error", but are actually outside the Faith. Scorn, disdain, and outright hostility towards Catholics ("The world's biggest cult" according to my thoroughly Southern Baptist cousin) and other non-Evangelicals is widespread among the Evangelicals I have known. A quick visit to the FR Religion forum is proof positive that a good many Evangelicals consider us Catholics, Byzantines, and Anglicans to be idolators, slaves to the Whore of Babylon, or even actively in league with the Devil. There is rancor and ill-will to go around as accusations and counter-accustations fly; Christian charity is seldom to be seen; unity, a laughable fantasy.

I admit it: I find TV preachers to be embarassing and offensive. In my view, they do more to harm the faith through their scandals, outrageous behavior, and trailer-park theology than any other single group of Christians. Similarly, I think that the current fad for "Celebration Worship" is leading the spiritually hungry down a false trail of emotionalism, facility-fetishism, and other forms of worshiptainment. Mea culpa; I admit that I'm a preppie snob. Nevertheless, I do not deny that many (if not most) of the devotees of these strange American sects are genuine Christians, possessed of a deep and sincere love of Christ and their fellow men, and I hope that someday we can overcome our differences and join together to overcome the Moslem heretics and other enemies of the Church and begin a reconquista of the world under the banner of Christ.

I just wish they'd acknowledge the same about us occasaionally.

Whoa!! Very, very interesting.

I knew Arafat was actually from Egypt and that he really had a different last name than Arafat.

I didn't realize, at all, what his pedigree was.

He's his grandfather's heir, apparently, ready to expand the family realm.

You're wrong about that. Babtists are protestants. They're just more protestant than anybody else.

As for presbyterians, I'm not sure what they are...

(Just kidding) ;-)

Arafat intentionally obscures his true name (which is about two lines long and almost unrecognizable) to keep his kinship to the Mufti from being known. Arafats parents left then-Palestine in the 1920'2 to live in Cairo. He comes from the Husseini family, which was prominent in Palestinian culture and business, and is the Mufti's grandson.Arafats father was killed fighting against Israel in 1948, as Arafat lore suggests.
Arafat apparently has a fascination with Nazi propaganda techniques as well. Israeli troops have found literature in his now destroyed compound that suggest he is a fanatical adherent of Goebbels propaganda techniques, and reads widely on the topic.
There ya go...the scoop on the old arch terrorist Arafat.

Back to the core matter: Muhammad was a vicious, murdering, charismatic poet. The Koran is the bitter faux-sweet fruit of his soul. Peaceable Muslims of good will are peaceable despite Muhammad and the Koran; murdering, lying, vicious Muslims are murdering, lying, and vicious because of Muhammad and the Koran.

Amen!

Maybe this writer would make a smidgen more sense once the hashish wore off...