Faith, Angst and Hate – The American Credo?
Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre, to all present and to come, greeting from the year 1708:
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As Very Catholic Majesty Louis XIV, I consider myself a man of faith. I can’t say that I haven’t sinned in my life – Lord knows I have. But, at least I have read the Bible and I believe in Jesus Christ as he is described in the New Testament: The Son of God, who was born by a poor woman, who walked on earth and preached love and charity, who died for our sins, rose again, ascended into heaven and who will once return to judge the living and the dead for what they did to the least of his brothers and sisters.
However, every time I read about radical “Christians” in the USA, I can’t help thinking that they don’t have the same version of the New Testament. Their version seems to contain passages like this:
But I tell you who hear me: Hate your enemies, do bad to those who hate you, kill those who curse you, torture those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, invade his country, kill his leaders and convert his compatriots to Christianity.
--- Luke 6:27 (American Version)
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a poor man to enter the kingdom of God.
--- Matthew 19:24 (American Version)
Blessed are the warmongers, for they will be called sons of God.
--- Matthew 5:9 (American Version)
"Don’t put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword won’t die by the sword.”
--- Matthew 26:52 (American Version)
You shall serve both God and Money.
--- Matthew 6:24 (American Version)
And now these three remain: faith, angst and hate. But the greatest of these is hate.
--- 1 Corinthians 13:13 (American Version)
Don’t misunderstand me; I have started wars for myself, I’m anything but poor, and I can’t say that I have always loved my enemies. But, I’m not proud of it, and I don’t consider warmongering, wealthiness and hate “Christian values.” However, I’ve the impression that some so-called “Christians” in the U.S. do.
For many, “Christian values” seem to mean things like invading countries, bearing weapons, making money, refusing health care to the poor, dungeoning and torturing people without trial, hating gays, liberals Muslims, Latinos, and anything that isn’t Caucasian, Christian and American.
Look for example at the hate some republicans spread against Barack Obama who isn’t Caucasian (and is supposed by republican propaganda to be neither Christian nor American). Here are two examples of videos which literally claim Obama is the Antichrist:
“According to the Book of Revelations, the anti-christ will be a man, in his 40s, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal….the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything.”
That’s proof enough that Americans don’t have the same version of the Bible as the rest of the world. In the European versions, the word “Antichrist” doesn’t even appear in the Book of Revelations. There is a dragon, there is a beast with seven heads and the horns, there is a second beast who is lamb-like and makes people worship the first beast, and there is the Whore of Babylon –- but none of these Biblical monsters resemble an African American man in his 40s. I don’t know how and when the seven-headed beast or one of its fellows transformed into a “man in his 40s” when the Holy Bible crossed the Atlantic Ocean, but apparently it did.
More disturbing than the anatomical details of the Antichrist is the angst and the hate that these videos relay, and these YouTube examples are not isolated cases. You’ve probably heard about the crowd yelling “Kill Obama” at Republican rallies. But hate is not a privilege of Caucasian right-wing “Christians,” everybody has seen the videos of Rev. Wright’s hate-speech. Not to mention the many Americans who feel it is their patriotic and religious duty to hate all Muslims. I’ve the impression that the American “hardcore” Christianism is a religion of hate.
How can this be? Isn’t religion about love – the love of God and the love of our neighbors? Didn’t Jesus tell us to love even our enemies? Didn’t he say that the peacemakers are blessed? Didn’t he teach us that loving God and loving our neighbor are the two most important commandments?
But according to Ann Coulter, “Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity.“ And some claim that even Jesus might hate Obama:
It's interesting to observe that when these “Christians” quote the Bible to justify hate and war and such, they usually quote the Old Testament, the Epistles or the Book of Revelations and avoid the Gospels. In the above video, the Reverend quotes three passages in the Bible to “prove” that God agrees with hating people :
[Jesus] looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."
This is ridiculous – Jesus was “in anger,” so what? Is anger and hate the same thing? Certainly not! I’m “in anger” with Mme de Maintenon (my wife) every once a while, but this doesn’t mean I don’t love her!
This is clearly the most hateful passage this Reverend can find in the Gospels, which are full of phrases like, “Love your enemies.” What does that mean? I think it means that there is no hate in the words of Jesus, as far as reported by eyewitnesses. It means that love is more than an “incidental tenet” of Christianity. It means that hate has nothing to do with our religion. It means that whoever preaches hate is not a Christian, no matter what he claims to be.
(Of course, I don't claim that every American Christian thinks like this. I'm sure there are many true Christians in the States, people who understand that the Gospel is about love and peace, not about hate and war.)
If only God hit back with a lightning strike or two on those who preach war, hate, and intolerance in His name… But God won’t do that -– because God doesn’t hate anybody.
Given at Versailles in the month of November, in the year of grace 1708, and of our reign the sixty sixth.
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web address: http://suicidegirls.com/news/politics/23390/Faith-Angst-and-Hate--The-American-Credo/