Who’s the Enemy?
by Larry Taylor
genre:
Religion & Spirituality
description:
why the fight against liberals, homosexuals, evolutionists, and promoters of choice?
chapters
chapter 1:
Who’s the Enemy?
Who’s the Enemy?
chapter 1
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updated 06/02/08
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6239 characters
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2 people liked it
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Who’s the Enemy?
Dr. Larry Taylor
We Christians come by our anger honestly. We inherited a long history of madness -- Orthodox and Roman churches pronouncing anathemas (“cursed forever to the lowest hell with no hope of salvation”) on each other; Crusaders with crosses painted on their shields raping and slaughtering Jews and Muslims; Inquisitors torturing Protestants and Jews; Reformers ranting against Papists; Anglicans persecuting Separatists; Lutherans tyrannizing Anabaptists; Puritans burning witches; fundamentalists screaming at liberals; and now evangelicals convinced that all of society is under attack from anti-family forces.
Possessing a doctorate in psychology, I wonder what it is about religious people that makes them so often seem to need to invent an enemy. What is it about us that seems driven to demonize rather than to lovingly serve? Jews posed no threat to anybody; Protestants are no threat to Catholics (and vice-versa); Anabaptists never hurt anybody (they’re pacifists); witches (real or imagined) were never capable of bringing down the colonies; and homosexuals and supporters of abortion will not ruin America or bring about the death of all that is good and decent. Why do we so often invent enemies? Why do we relish the siege mentality? Why do we enjoy seeing ourselves as holding out against insurmountable odds?
Perhaps the answer lies in our pride. Perhaps we enjoy feeling like the Lone Ranger -- standing united with a faithful sidekick, alone, against a world of injustice. Maybe persecution makes us feel special, needed, wanted, connected with others, and uniquely loved by God. None of that would be bad if we were in fact genuinely persecuted for righteousness sake. If I am the Amish man being spit on, the Anabaptist pacifist being mocked by the drill sergeant, the black Baptist being beaten with nightsticks and bitten by police dogs, the devout slave being whipped by the overseer, or the Jew being hounded to death by Crusaders, Nazis, or skinheads -- then I have the right to the special company of the martyrs.
But too often, the opposite is in play. Historically, those with wealth and political power are never persecuted. Conversely, they are likely to be found doing the attacking. White middle class evangelical American Christians are not under attack from anyone anywhere, but as a group often insist that they are. Evangelical leaders scream hysterically that all of civilization as we know it is soon to be destroyed. When a state supreme court considers gay unions or marriage, the histrionics fly. Marriage, the fundamental building block of all that exists in the human realm, is soon to be destroyed by being redefined by “the radical homosexual agenda”. Of course, all this hype neglects the embarrassing fact that the divorce rate among white evangelical Christians is higher than the national average. If marriage as a sacred institution is being destroyed, evangelicals are doing more to destroy it than liberal courts and homosexuals ever could.
Similarly, “Liberals” are charged with a disregard for human life, as evidenced by abortion, cloning, genetic engineering, and euthanasia. Evangelical leaders compare pro-choice people to Nazis, and lump them together with transvestites, homosexuals, and child molesters, giving the impression that a cache of horrible people are invading quiet, God-fearing, middle America.
Hoards of people are seeking to destroy truth, justice and the American way! They mostly live in big cites where they are spawned by tax-payer supported satanic universities that continue the process of corrupting the minds of America's small town youth -- a process that began in equally satanic (also tax supported) public secondary schools that are controlled by godless unions. Liberals, atheists, communists, the NEA, Greenpeace, the ACLU, environmentalists, Nancy Pelosi, abortionists, mad scientists, evolutionists, baby rapists, Al Gore, drug pushers, condom pushers, tree-huggers, secular humanists, New Agers, AARP, homosexuals, wife-beaters, dead-beat dads, murderers of old sick people, Hillary supporters -- they’re all one in the same -- all evil, all godless, all anti-the-good-old-Mayberry-days, and all must be fought against, resisted, thrown the hell out of office!
Write your Member of Congress, jam your Senator’s phone lines, forward emails all over the world without checking the facts, pound the pulpits, plaster your car with hate-filled bumper stickers, take over the school boards, stockpile weapons, seal the borders, and for God’s sake, vote Republican! And don’t forget to hate Arabs and all immigrants, who likewise are plotting the overthrow of Essential Goodness. Every ideal, all truth, depends on you! Oh, and while you’re at it, tuck in that love gift so we can keep up this desperate fight on your behalf. For a donation of $50 or more, I'll send you my latest book, How Liberals Sucked the Soul Out of New England. And me, exalted prophet that I am, I’ll be in my massive office suite overlooking the mountains, collecting my $400,000 annual paycheck on behalf of your children.
How is it that we’ve so completely forgotten that we do not fight against flesh and blood, i.e., people of any sort, but against satanic forces like racism, hatred, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia. The true enemy is Satan and the ignorance he fosters, and we fight him by doing good, loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, and praying.
Is it any wonder that so many secular people want nothing to do with the Christian faith? Is it surprising that people like me no longer identify ourselves as “evangelical”, preferring instead to be simply known as followers of Jesus? Whatever happened to practicing the Sermon on the Mount? To meekness and humility? To love and grace? Whatever happened to followers of Jesus doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, serving the poor, binding the wounds of the broken hearted, and proclaiming emancipation to those who are bound? Maybe if we just loved and served people, like good nuns, we’d advance the Kingdom of God.
©2008 by Lawrence Russell Taylor, PhD. All rights reserved worldwide.
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Dr. Larry Taylor
We Christians come by our anger honestly. We inherited a long history of madness -- Orthodox and Roman churches pronouncing anathemas (“cursed forever to the lowest hell with no hope of salvation”) on each other; Crusaders with crosses painted on their shields raping and slaughtering Jews and Muslims; Inquisitors torturing Protestants and Jews; Reformers ranting against Papists; Anglicans persecuting Separatists; Lutherans tyrannizing Anabaptists; Puritans burning witches; fundamentalists screaming at liberals; and now evangelicals convinced that all of society is under attack from anti-family forces.
Possessing a doctorate in psychology, I wonder what it is about religious people that makes them so often seem to need to invent an enemy. What is it about us that seems driven to demonize rather than to lovingly serve? Jews posed no threat to anybody; Protestants are no threat to Catholics (and vice-versa); Anabaptists never hurt anybody (they’re pacifists); witches (real or imagined) were never capable of bringing down the colonies; and homosexuals and supporters of abortion will not ruin America or bring about the death of all that is good and decent. Why do we so often invent enemies? Why do we relish the siege mentality? Why do we enjoy seeing ourselves as holding out against insurmountable odds?
Perhaps the answer lies in our pride. Perhaps we enjoy feeling like the Lone Ranger -- standing united with a faithful sidekick, alone, against a world of injustice. Maybe persecution makes us feel special, needed, wanted, connected with others, and uniquely loved by God. None of that would be bad if we were in fact genuinely persecuted for righteousness sake. If I am the Amish man being spit on, the Anabaptist pacifist being mocked by the drill sergeant, the black Baptist being beaten with nightsticks and bitten by police dogs, the devout slave being whipped by the overseer, or the Jew being hounded to death by Crusaders, Nazis, or skinheads -- then I have the right to the special company of the martyrs.
But too often, the opposite is in play. Historically, those with wealth and political power are never persecuted. Conversely, they are likely to be found doing the attacking. White middle class evangelical American Christians are not under attack from anyone anywhere, but as a group often insist that they are. Evangelical leaders scream hysterically that all of civilization as we know it is soon to be destroyed. When a state supreme court considers gay unions or marriage, the histrionics fly. Marriage, the fundamental building block of all that exists in the human realm, is soon to be destroyed by being redefined by “the radical homosexual agenda”. Of course, all this hype neglects the embarrassing fact that the divorce rate among white evangelical Christians is higher than the national average. If marriage as a sacred institution is being destroyed, evangelicals are doing more to destroy it than liberal courts and homosexuals ever could.
Similarly, “Liberals” are charged with a disregard for human life, as evidenced by abortion, cloning, genetic engineering, and euthanasia. Evangelical leaders compare pro-choice people to Nazis, and lump them together with transvestites, homosexuals, and child molesters, giving the impression that a cache of horrible people are invading quiet, God-fearing, middle America.
Hoards of people are seeking to destroy truth, justice and the American way! They mostly live in big cites where they are spawned by tax-payer supported satanic universities that continue the process of corrupting the minds of America's small town youth -- a process that began in equally satanic (also tax supported) public secondary schools that are controlled by godless unions. Liberals, atheists, communists, the NEA, Greenpeace, the ACLU, environmentalists, Nancy Pelosi, abortionists, mad scientists, evolutionists, baby rapists, Al Gore, drug pushers, condom pushers, tree-huggers, secular humanists, New Agers, AARP, homosexuals, wife-beaters, dead-beat dads, murderers of old sick people, Hillary supporters -- they’re all one in the same -- all evil, all godless, all anti-the-good-old-Mayberry-days, and all must be fought against, resisted, thrown the hell out of office!
Write your Member of Congress, jam your Senator’s phone lines, forward emails all over the world without checking the facts, pound the pulpits, plaster your car with hate-filled bumper stickers, take over the school boards, stockpile weapons, seal the borders, and for God’s sake, vote Republican! And don’t forget to hate Arabs and all immigrants, who likewise are plotting the overthrow of Essential Goodness. Every ideal, all truth, depends on you! Oh, and while you’re at it, tuck in that love gift so we can keep up this desperate fight on your behalf. For a donation of $50 or more, I'll send you my latest book, How Liberals Sucked the Soul Out of New England. And me, exalted prophet that I am, I’ll be in my massive office suite overlooking the mountains, collecting my $400,000 annual paycheck on behalf of your children.
How is it that we’ve so completely forgotten that we do not fight against flesh and blood, i.e., people of any sort, but against satanic forces like racism, hatred, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia. The true enemy is Satan and the ignorance he fosters, and we fight him by doing good, loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, and praying.
Is it any wonder that so many secular people want nothing to do with the Christian faith? Is it surprising that people like me no longer identify ourselves as “evangelical”, preferring instead to be simply known as followers of Jesus? Whatever happened to practicing the Sermon on the Mount? To meekness and humility? To love and grace? Whatever happened to followers of Jesus doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, serving the poor, binding the wounds of the broken hearted, and proclaiming emancipation to those who are bound? Maybe if we just loved and served people, like good nuns, we’d advance the Kingdom of God.
©2008 by Lawrence Russell Taylor, PhD. All rights reserved worldwide.
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