NewsFlash: Even Pharisees Spurn Ohio
Could any sentient being have missed the fact that the Buckeye State has come to symbolize all of the sleaze and corruption that is the hallmark of self-anointed Christians with chips on both shoulders and a dearth of brotherly love to which the Republican Party now panders? I suspect even Texans have finally become a bit wary of the Bush-Cheney-Abramoff-Rumsfeld-Ney-Blackwell-DeLay offal that residents of Ohio apparently have been building spas around.
Inevitably, entropy working as it does, there is some potentially good news from our own little North American Sodom and Gomorrah, in the form of mainstream church representatives actually standing up and speaking out against the corruption:
Right-wing church movements have been a staple of American politics since well before the 1692 witch trials at Salem. But only in the past few decades has the extremist church served as the grassroots base for a new breed of corporate totalitarianism. That unholy union has been nowhere more powerful than here in Ohio, and it has finally provoked a response from the state’s mainstream churches.
With huge torrents of cash from Richard Mellon Scaife, the Ahmanson family and other super-rich ultra-rightists, the fundamentalist church has formed the popular network that has spawned the Bush catastrophe. The totalitarian alliance between pulpit, corporation and military is unique in U.S. history.
With contempt for the Constitution, and unholy opposition to separation of church and state, ultra-rich ultra-right preachers like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, self-proclaimed messiahs like Rev. Moon, and sanctimonious errand boys like Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist, have turned America into a “Christo-fascist” empire whose twice-unelected executive claims Divine right to rule. When it comes to their views on violence, empire, greed and intolerance, these are the most un-Christian men in America. It’s no accident that George W. Bush’s first words about the war to follow 9/11 had to do with a “Christian Crusade” against Islam. And, instead of consulting his father, a former President, W. chose to consult “a higher father.”
That this evil network of mega- churches, cults and electronic Elmer Gantrys would prove profoundly corrupt should also come as no surprise. These are the moneychangers that Christ kicked out of the temple. The ultra-orthodox cash flow from Jack Abramoff to “godly” legislators like Tom DeLay and Ohio’s Bob Ney has suffered not the slightest diversion toward true spirituality. The movement even has its own sex symbol in Ann Coulter, the “Harlot of Hate” who reaps huge sums in places like Ohio’s World Harvest Church for talking nasty while dressed in mini-skirts that would get minors arrested off urban street corners.
The real mystery in all this has been an almost total silence from the religious mainstream. In recent months a number of statements have finally come from interdenominational organizations worrying deeply about global warming. The desecration of God’s Creation is pretty far along. But the liberal denominations finally seem to see the curse of CO2.
The liberal United Church of Christ is also finally questioning the theft of Christ’s legacy for ungodly GOP purposes. The idea that Jesus would hate gays, not want them to marry, love the death penalty and sanction wholesale slaughter in oil-rich nations has always stretched the imagination even of the irreligious. Finally, the actually religious seem to be speaking out.
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Though Blackwell is a candidate in the upcoming May 2 primary, he will once again administer the election. At this moment, he has stored in his office the memory cards for all the machines that will be used to count that vote.
Blackwell has also now revealed that he owns stock in the world’s largest manufacturer of gambling machines, even though part of his courtship with the fundamentalist churches has been an aggressive, outspoken opposition to gambling. Blackwell’s office says there is no conflict of interest here. But the professions of extreme fundamentalist faith, crucial to his race for governor, have been tainted.
Republican control of Ohio’s governorship is a critical piece of what happens to the presidency in 2008. The 20 electoral votes stolen in 2004 by Blackwell, Parsley and the rest of the Republican fundamentalist network gave George W. Bush a second term. No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio.
That mainstream churches here and around the United States are finally standing up to the theocratic fundamentalism that has produced “Christo-fascist” politicians like Blackwell may represent a critical swing of the political pendulum. The challenge to the powerful World Harvest’s tax status can only embolden churches that actually endorse the US Constitution.
[clip]
Inevitably, entropy working as it does, there is some potentially good news from our own little North American Sodom and Gomorrah, in the form of mainstream church representatives actually standing up and speaking out against the corruption:
Right-wing church movements have been a staple of American politics since well before the 1692 witch trials at Salem. But only in the past few decades has the extremist church served as the grassroots base for a new breed of corporate totalitarianism. That unholy union has been nowhere more powerful than here in Ohio, and it has finally provoked a response from the state’s mainstream churches.
With huge torrents of cash from Richard Mellon Scaife, the Ahmanson family and other super-rich ultra-rightists, the fundamentalist church has formed the popular network that has spawned the Bush catastrophe. The totalitarian alliance between pulpit, corporation and military is unique in U.S. history.
With contempt for the Constitution, and unholy opposition to separation of church and state, ultra-rich ultra-right preachers like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, self-proclaimed messiahs like Rev. Moon, and sanctimonious errand boys like Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist, have turned America into a “Christo-fascist” empire whose twice-unelected executive claims Divine right to rule. When it comes to their views on violence, empire, greed and intolerance, these are the most un-Christian men in America. It’s no accident that George W. Bush’s first words about the war to follow 9/11 had to do with a “Christian Crusade” against Islam. And, instead of consulting his father, a former President, W. chose to consult “a higher father.”
That this evil network of mega- churches, cults and electronic Elmer Gantrys would prove profoundly corrupt should also come as no surprise. These are the moneychangers that Christ kicked out of the temple. The ultra-orthodox cash flow from Jack Abramoff to “godly” legislators like Tom DeLay and Ohio’s Bob Ney has suffered not the slightest diversion toward true spirituality. The movement even has its own sex symbol in Ann Coulter, the “Harlot of Hate” who reaps huge sums in places like Ohio’s World Harvest Church for talking nasty while dressed in mini-skirts that would get minors arrested off urban street corners.
The real mystery in all this has been an almost total silence from the religious mainstream. In recent months a number of statements have finally come from interdenominational organizations worrying deeply about global warming. The desecration of God’s Creation is pretty far along. But the liberal denominations finally seem to see the curse of CO2.
The liberal United Church of Christ is also finally questioning the theft of Christ’s legacy for ungodly GOP purposes. The idea that Jesus would hate gays, not want them to marry, love the death penalty and sanction wholesale slaughter in oil-rich nations has always stretched the imagination even of the irreligious. Finally, the actually religious seem to be speaking out.
[clip]
Though Blackwell is a candidate in the upcoming May 2 primary, he will once again administer the election. At this moment, he has stored in his office the memory cards for all the machines that will be used to count that vote.
Blackwell has also now revealed that he owns stock in the world’s largest manufacturer of gambling machines, even though part of his courtship with the fundamentalist churches has been an aggressive, outspoken opposition to gambling. Blackwell’s office says there is no conflict of interest here. But the professions of extreme fundamentalist faith, crucial to his race for governor, have been tainted.
Republican control of Ohio’s governorship is a critical piece of what happens to the presidency in 2008. The 20 electoral votes stolen in 2004 by Blackwell, Parsley and the rest of the Republican fundamentalist network gave George W. Bush a second term. No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio.
That mainstream churches here and around the United States are finally standing up to the theocratic fundamentalism that has produced “Christo-fascist” politicians like Blackwell may represent a critical swing of the political pendulum. The challenge to the powerful World Harvest’s tax status can only embolden churches that actually endorse the US Constitution.
[clip]
posted by Sir Gumbo at 11:01 PM
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