Comments on: Dressing Up Intelligence Briefings with Religion

By: NYCartist

NYCartist — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:26:24 +0000

Some of us in the US are not Christians, who are not/have not been thrilled.
Where are all those generals now? How many are still working in this Admin.?

By: egregious

egregious — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:19:42 +0000

Thanks William, that passage from Matthew 25 guided me to work overseas. It was kind of a to-do list.

By: Mauimom

Mauimom — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:07:04 +0000

plain as the noonday son.

Was your turn of that phrase intended or unintended?

By: WilliamOckham

WilliamOckham — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:13:59 +0000

Allow me to quote an ancient warning that seems particularly applicable to Bush crowd:

They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

And what should be considered “good fruit”?

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

I’m not asking anybody here to believe any of this, but the next you get ahold of one of those wingnut Christians, ask them to compare those Enhanced Interrogation Techniques to Matthew 25.

By: shekissesfrogs

shekissesfrogs — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:09:10 +0000

This isn’t the only time that Republicans have weaponized Christianisty.
The Reagan Administration was helped into office by the Guatemalan far-right through illegal campaign contributions.
Israel taught them how to kill and oppress the Mayans, loaded em up with helicopters and setup an ammunitions factory. Republicans funnelled them money through USAID, although congress denied funding for weapons.
…
Meanwhile, Rios Montt surrounded himself with advisers, both North American and Guatemalan, from his Verbo church, and what appeared to be a loose coalition of right-wing fundamentalist organizations, most notably Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network, began an extensive fundraising drive and also started sending volunteers to Ixil Triangle villages under military control. Rios Montt chose Love Lift International, the “relief arm” of Gospel Outreach, Verbo’s parent church, to carry the food and supplies purchased with the money raised. Verbo representatives, along with an older evangelical outfit, the Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT/SIL,
Summer Institute of Linguistics, an organization whose CIA connections are long and impeccable and which has often been charged with involvement in massacres of indigenous peoples throughout the Americas),

By: cinnamonape

cinnamonape — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:02:21 +0000

And I suspect that these same folks were misquoting the Koran to show that the Muslims were an evil people. In fact these quotes don’t really show or suggest what the are supposed to mean when placed within their context.

For example Ephesians 6 is all about obeying any earthly power without protest, since the battle is not with human earthly rulers, but with the evil spiritual entities in the realm of darkness. Even slaves are admonished to obey, without protest, their masters. And those Christians who hold slaves are not told to emancipate them, but to merely show mercy to ones slaves.

Then there are the tracts from Joshua 1. Those verses are essentially granting the Israelites the right to expel all the occupants of the lands of Canaan and the Amorites and Ammonites. And if one explores what happens in the upcoming verses its essentially genocide, rape, and pillage. In just the prior verse Moses had battled with the Kings of Sihon and Og, who resisted the armies of Israel from entering their kingdoms for fear that they would take from the hard earned crops of the farmers and the flocks of the shepherds. Moses did little to assuage such concerns, pointing out that this was precisely what they intended to do when they reached Canaan.

So what happened to Sihon and Og? The Israelites destroyed their armies in battle and the defenseless population was destroyed, even if there was “less than a tenth, burn the land”. Sixty cities were utterly razed, with all herds and treasure taken. Not a soldier was available to raise their hand to this…as they were wiped out on the field of battle.

One really wonders if such quote miners bother to actually read their Scripture? What would people think if the found that the quotes taken are clearly associated with verses about genocide?

By: EdwardTeller

EdwardTeller — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:57:50 +0000

Those briefings were for President Bush? For a minute I thought they were written with Sarah Palin in mind.

By: snoboysdrift

snoboysdrift — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:55:57 +0000

I’m thinking the Israeli right-wing nuts were helping pick out the appropriate battle cry. Their reward for the crusade? Not oil–
water from the Tigris and Euphrates.

By: worldwidehappiness

worldwidehappiness — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:32:14 +0000

Rumsfeld signed the PNAC letter asking Clinton for an invasion of Iraq.

See: http://www.newamericancentury......letter.htm

It’s only natural that Rumsfeld (PNAC) would try to make Bush feel holy about attacking Iraq in order to reinforce his resolve.

By: bigbrother

bigbrother — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:22:44 +0000

Ricks said 15 years or maybe permanently locked in. (my guess is the put the wrong people in power for their long term purposes).
But somewhat agree with your ststement he answered the question skillfully with the art non answer). He did say he would keep preemptive attacks on the table if nukes are involved. That is the new talking point for more military build up.