Armageddon Now!

Anyone who doesn't think American evangelicals have gone off the deep end should listen to Terry Gross interviewing Pastor John Hagee on National Public Radio.  Hagee is pastor of a Megachurch in San Antonio, Texas and founder of Christians United for Israel,  This group of influential Christians support Israel in its battle with the Devil (Islam), and is praying that the current ceasefire will fail so that the final cataclysmic battle will commence that will bring about the return of Jesus (and, incidentally, kill off most of the Jews). 

Now, what is interesting is that a recent meeting of these fundamentalist zealots was addressed by Ken Mehlman (chairman of the Republican Party - and a Jew)and by Republican Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania - surely the dumbest member of the US Senate.

If you listen to the radio interview mentioned above, at about 18 minutes into it Pastor Hagee speaks about how the Bible describes the Final Battle as "like a woman giving birth", and "the contractions will produce a new baby."  So now we know that Condoleezza Rice was speaking in code to President Bush's evangelical base when she spoke about the recent destruction of Lebanon as "the birth-pangs of a new Middle East."

At the end of the interview, Pastor Hagee explains that Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans as punishment by God for a "homosexual parade" that was to have taken place on that day. Why the hurricane killed mostly poor black residents rather than the "Sodomites" is something that Pastor Hagee cannot explain - just the mysterious workings of the Lord, I guess.

Comments

[Fry]

I'm constantly struck by the absurdity of it all. Half the planet is willing to die for badly interpreted versions of the beliefs passed down to us by an inconsequential band of wandering Semites. Idiotic.

The only way to fix this nonsense is education. Sadly, there's precious little of that going on around the world.

[ludwig]

It's baffling how little attention Hagee's antics recieve in the mainstream media. Every Sunday, his hatefull antics reach a nationwide audience, and he profits handsomely from the terror of his audience. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Hagee and Mehlmann have developed some kind of financial relationship whereby Hagee gets cash not only from his doners but from Israeli groups who also profit from Hagee's sermons.