I reject these fear-mongers, blind followers and pimps for repression that claim to represent what was intended to set people free from hate and fear. They have distorted the Gospel to their purposes and bias--the truth be damned.

It seems strange to me that those claiming to represent and follow Jesus forget or ignore the teaching that God is no respecter of persons (rules out race, ethnic and sexual bias), that we are to live in and seek peace, that we are to love and be merciful to even those who do not reciprocate, that we are to be forgiving and not judgmental and that every person is our brother or our sister. They do, however, love to twist and distort the Bible for their own repressed and repressive political and social agenda.

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"We are called to create a better world. But we are first called to a more immediate and exalted task: that is of creating our own lives".
Thomas Merton

If all of us who profess to be "Christian" would only latch on to the Christianity of Thomas Merton, we would be more in tune to the teachings of Jesus Christ. He was a Trappist Monk who for twenty-seven years, between 1941 and 1968, rarely stepped outside the rural monastery in which he lived. So what could such a person possibly teach us about ourselves? As it tuns out, a whole lot. From the opening paragraph of his autobiography:

"On the last day of January 1915, under the sign of the Water Bearer, in the year of a great war and down in the shadow of some French mountains on the boarders of Spain, I came into the world. Free by nature, in the image of God, I was nevertheless the prisoner of my own violence and my own selfishness, in the image of the world into which I was born. That world was the picture of hell, full of men like myself, loving God and yet hating Him; born to love him, living instead in fear and hopeless and self-contradictory hungers".

In 1948, he was encouraged by the Abbot of the monastery he lived in, Our Lady of Gesthemanie outside Louisville, Kentucky to write his memoirs. Incredibly, the resulting effort, The Seven Storey Mountain, turned out to be one of the best selling books of the year. As Merton had been inspired by the events of the pre-war world to enter a life of contemplation, so were thousands of people of all faiths inspired by the events of the post-war world to question the very tenets of the so-called "American Century". Tom Merton not only planted the seeds that would eventually bear the fruit of what would evolve into the anti-war movement, re spoke out against racism at a time when most people didn't even know the meaning of the word.

He was vehemently anti-war even in times of relative peace:

"A letter arrives in the mail stamped with the slogan, 'The US ARMY: Key To Peace'. No 'great' nation has the key to anything but war. Power has nothing to do with peace. The more men build up military power, the more they violate peace and destroy it."

There is no question that in the year 2007, nearly forty years after his untimely death, Thomas Merton still matters. He reaches out to us across the decades, an articulate and passionate advocate for Peace and Love and Silence It was his prayerful belief that only by obliterating the noise of our lives - be it the electronic noise of our immediate surroundings or the noise of our minds - could we achieve a pure communion with God.

It would be nice if he were still here. Come to think of it, he is!

Pray for Peace.
Meditate for Peace.
Shout for Peace.
Be Silent for Peace.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY.
"The Rant" by Tom Degan

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If you want to believe in the magic bronze age sky god go ahead. No one is kicking in your door to force it on you in America (not the case for many muslim countries).

If you are stupid enough to be tricked into following some one else's rule, you get what you deserve. Tithe on the way out so the preacher/imam can buy a new Benz.

I want to read an article an Alternet that attacks islam the same way it does christainity. After all christains tell you, you are going to hell. muslims try to send you there.

(christain, muslim, islam, preacher, imam and christainity were left in lowercase intentionally to show disrespect to there beliefs in thaumaturgy)

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Visited a Children of God commune when hitching around the country. Was hitching with a girl. They immediately tried to separate us while love bombing us. Everybody had these smiles on their faces - but there was a hard edge beneath it. The "vibe" was really strong and in ways both subtle and not it was made clear that to stay for any length of time was to submit to their control. Scared hell out of me. I didn't think I was in any less danger than the time I wound up in a very small apartment surrounded by very large Hell's Angels. In both cases I made the quickest exit I could and breathed a huge sigh of relief when I was safely gone.

A previous commenter remarked that this was unfair persecution of Christians. Bullshit! Unless you are acknowledging that hardcore brainwashing/mind control is inherent to Christianity (an argument that could be made but the indoctrination of most sects is more subtle) this can't be construed as an attack on Christianity, but a technique of mind control. Similar techniques are used to create fanatics of all stripes - as the author pointed out.

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"The impulse to stand up against the state and go to jail, rather than serve, is an instinct for penance; To take on some of the suffering ot the world - to share in it".

Dorothy Day
February 1969

Dorothy Day was another person who was the personification of the word, "Christian". In the 1920's she and her spiritual mentor, the French peasant and philosopher, Peter Maurin, founded a newspaper called The Catholic Worker andthat in her time she was viewed by many to be a dangerous radical. She was consided such a menace that J. Edgar Hoover even kept a file on her....(Charlie Chaplin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King and John Lennon also had files - that's pretty good company to be in!)

Dorothy Day not only dedicated her life to the poor and disposessed, she lived among them and humbly counted herself as one of them. The newspaper that she and Maurin co-founded in 1929 was the on;y voice in its time for the downtrodden. It still survives to this day. Its price remains, as it has been since the day of its inception, a penny per copy.

In the early 1930's, in the midst of what we now call "the great depression" she opened up a free shelter for the homeless in New York City, the first of its kind. Name din the honor of the Blessed Mother, to whom she was so devoted, Mary House was a miracle of hope to a people who had previously viewed their situation as utterly hopeless. At a time when even "progessive" northern cities operated witin the framework of a Jim Crow mentality, there were absolutely no restrictions with respect to race or religion. The only requirement was that a person or family were in need of food or shelter. She also ran a soup kitchen that fed everyone who couldn't be housed due to lack of space. No one walked away from Mary House without, at the very least, a decent meal and a cup of coffee. Dorothy Day made a difference! Within a couple of years Mary Houses were opening up all over the United States.

They also founded Mary Farm in Newburgh, NY (fifteen miles from where I sit) that grew the crops that fed their beloved masses. It survives today as the Peter Maurin Farm, 41 Cemetery Road, Marlbourough, NY 12542. It is run by my friends, Tom and Monica Cornell, devoted friends of Dorothy who have dedicated thier lives to her memory and her mission.

Dorothy Day passed from this life on November 29, 1980 at the far-too-young age of 83. Our generationdesperately yearns for a person of her stature and saintliness. When one compares her to some of today's so-called "men of God" - the Jerry Fallwells and the Pat Robertsons - praying on national TV for tax relief for the richest two percent and calling for the assassination of ?Hugo Chavez, the duly elected leader of a sovereign nation - one wants to weep.

Jesus wept.

It's easy to speculate that the likes of Dorothy Day will never pass this way again - but we can hope can't we? Hope is all we have....and prayer.

Pray for peace.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
"The Rant" by Tom Degan

For a subscription, please contact:
The Catholic Worker
36 East 1st Street
NY, NY 10003

(212) 777-9617
(212) 677-8627

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For all those who advocate prayer as a means of solving any problem I highly recommend the following by Father Dawkins:

Get up off our knees, stop cringing before bogeymen and virtual fathers, face reality, and help science to do something constructive about human suffering.

Teach your children to say the prayer five time a day - while facing reality!

Rev. El Mundo
Pastor WVCSR

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Kennedy warns us not to carry a large Bible, but to keep a small one hidden in a pocket, saying "don't show your gun until you're ready to shoot it."

I know it's just a metaphor, but I'm reminded of the scene in Saved where Mandy Moore, angered that her friend is questioning evangelical Christianity, throws a Bible at her. The response - "THIS is not a weapon! You idiot!" - pretty much sums up my feelings about the EC's.

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Do you really think we need one of these every other day? Ever hear of the expression "preaching to the converted"?

And as other posters demonstrate, contrary to the article's incoherent first paragraph, there are all kinds of Christians.

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"Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."-John Lennon, 1966


Jesus was NEVER a Christian.

The term was NOT even coined until the days of Paul, three decades after Christ walked the earth. Jesus was a social justice radical revolutionary PALESTINIAN devout Jewish Road Warrior who rose up/INTIFADA and challenged the job security of the Temple Authorities by teaching the people they did NOT need to pay the priests for ritual baths and sacrificing livestock for them to be OK with God; for God loved them just as they were; sinners, outcasts, diseased, cripples, widows, orphans, refugees, prisoners all enduring under OCCUPATION!

What got JC crucified was that he disturbed the status quo of the OCCUPYING forces by teaching such subversive concepts that God loved-even preferred the sinners, outcasts, diseased, cripples, widows, orphans, refugees, prisoners all enduring under OCCUPATION and that Cesar only had power, because God allowed it.


What Jesus REALLY said:

"I say to you, unless one is born of water* and spirit they cannot enter the kingdom of God…Do not be amazed that I have told you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the wound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:1-8

[*Water: Jesus' first miracle was at the wedding in Canna, when he changed the water into wine and kept the party going. ]





For every misunderstanding, every condemning thought, every negative vibration, every tear torn from a heart, every time one grabbed and wouldn’t let go, and they only did it because they did not know:

The Divine is within all creation and within all women and men.

And every tiny kindness you have ever done, every gentle word spoken, every time you held your tongue, every positive thought, every smile freely given, every helping hand that opens, helps bring in the kingdom:

And the kingdom comes from above, and it comes from within.

Imagine a kingdom of sisterhood of all creatures and all men.

eileen fleming
http://www.wearewideawake.org/

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According to the 1987 classic, "The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace", Dr. Scott Peck defines the spiritual life as fluid and that one may pass back and forth repeatedly through any of the four-probably more-stages of the soul.

Stage one upon this journey -that begins from within-is essentially our infancy in the spiritual life. Like a wild child, a person in this stage reflects the inner chaotic and anti-social, unregenerate soul that is interested only in its own self-satisfaction and ego, much like the stereotypical spoiled child. Stage one people may claim to love others, but their behavior reflects they love their own pleasure, money, power, prestige, and security above any other. For stage one people, it really is all about them.

The good news is that the vast majority of humanity responds to that inner tug which is God, for lack of a better word. Katherine of Sienna wrote that within us all is the divine diamond. But life and all our baggage dulls the flame of our divine brilliance.

Stage two souls seek to "let their light shine" and will live virtuous lives and do many good works. They also can be judgmental of others, self-righteous, rigid of thought, cold of heart, legalistic concrete literal thinkers and may even be guilty of a lukewarm faith. They want to do right and they even may desire to love and please God, but have not yet fully opened up to the Inner Light, as Joan of Ark did when she challenged church and state and persisted that she had intuited God within -even while being fried.

Stage two souls have not yet been set fully free and prefer the security of a higher human authority than themselves for guidance. They submit to institutions, scripture, dogma, ritual, ministers, or gurus. This is the most appropriate stage for older children and most adults who live busy lives just trying to keep bread on the table and a dry roof above.

The difference between a stage one and stage two soul, is that a one wouldn't even notice a neighbor in need, while the two has awoken to the fact that we are to be our neighbor's keepers and they will respond to a friend-and like the good Samaritan, even to a total stranger in need.

Most theologians would agree that the opposite of faith is not disbelief: the opposite of faith is fear. Stage three souls have not just fearlessly awoken, they have evolved!

This evolution has led them to the realization of what Christ was really talking about in the Sermon of the Mount/The Beatitudes.

A stage three soul may well reject Christ as God, but often agree with the philosophy of Jesus...

Stage 3 and 4 souls can be read about April 21 WAWA Blog:
http://www.wearewideawake.org

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Most interesting in the study and comparison of religions is the role played by manipulative 'priests'. At least from the rise of the 'Vedic' (later Hindu) belief in the Indian sub-continent, the priestly classes have taken it upon themselves to advance their power over the 'common' people. In the case of the 'Vedic' priests, they eventually went too far and we can see the rise of Buddhism and Jainism as protest movements, led by wiser sages.

Religions gain accretions of untruths which become 'tradition', far removed from any original belief.

It was always so and will always be so. Unfortunately we humans are a gullible lot..

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Congratulations, Hedges has ripped the lid of apostate Christianity.

APOSTATE.....Look it up.

This article does not expose anything new. Christians have been fighting people like D. James Kennedy for 2000 years. He and his kind will always be out there. There will allways be people with itchy ears wanting to hear what they have to say.

The sad part is that he give Hedges and others an excuse to label Christianity a cult and dismiss it. Dismissing Christianity because of people like Kennedy is like dismissing America because of people like George Bush.

Truth exists for those who are not afraid to look for it.

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"And the higher authority, rather than God, is the preacher who steps in to take over one's life."

Religious 'conversion', its application, its adherence, attendance of church, watching televangelists, giving your money away, etc., is at its simplest only about power and control. It's as basic as that.

All of the people at the top of the religious food chain are totally and completely aware of that fact. They apply those facts to their recruits. They are conscious of HOW to perform the conversion. They know what power and control is and how to manipulate the weak-minded. They use tried and true methods of conversion, immersion, passion, and focus. Everywhere you hear about these people you hear and see the exact same thing. Religion is about power and control and NOTHING else. It's not about good vs. evil because that is a religious dichotomy made up by religious people. Good vs. evil doesn't exist - it is a CONSTRUCT built out of the House of Dust called religion. Religion is not about 'going to Heaven' because Heaven is a construct built out of myths almost too old to properly identify. It is not about the End Times because the End Times is an abject lie designed to fool people into giving up EVERYTHING to the leaders. Everything such as your assets, the last shred of your sanity, and your objective reality.

As long as people insist on having an external locus of control they can be manipulated by so-called religious leaders. I recommend that people develop a good solid internal locus of control so that they can see precisely where the center of their reality lies. Until that happens en masse people will continue to cling to their misemotional states of awareness and push the rest of us closer to a nuclear wasteland - all because they are so wrapped up in their narcissistic emotional problems which they insist on foisting on the rest of us.

Can you say Prozac?

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While you're trying to find one, I'll relate personal encounters with two notable religious leaders: Billy Graham and Jesse Jackson.

I met Rev. Graham in 1965 during my active duty USAF years. The first thing I noticed were his clothes. Billy gave new meaning to the phrase, "Dressed to the Nines," with a suit that clearly cost more than my monthly first lieutenant’s salary and shoes I couldn't afford, even as an Air Force captain.

Fifteen years later, while flying 727s for Continental Airlines, Jesse Jackson was a First Class passenger on my plane. During cruise while visiting the forward cabin, again I couldn’t help noticing a famous religious leader's attire. Despite being a well-paid airline pilot, I could tell Jesse's wardrobe was way beyond my clothing budget.

Here's my point. Religious organizations in the United States are run like corporations with leaders enjoying excellent salaries, generous benefits and well-funded retirement plans that most working Americans could not imagine much less ever enjoy. And like corporations, to attract customers (church members) to finance their upper-class life styles, they have adopted the necessary recruiting tactics. Simply put, for people who run religious organizations in the United States, "Praise the Lord" often means worshipping money, not God.

I will end my comment now and continue waiting for someone on this thread to name a living famous, non-wealthy religious leader.

Hugh E. Scott, editor of King-George.biz -- the only website with hardcopy proof of White House corruption. AlterNet readers who object to my NON-PROFIT campaign to expose President Bush as a lying crook can email me through the website rather than comment here.

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"Love one another," is one of Jesus' prime commandments. When it is real, it is beautiful and powerful. When it is phony, it is profoundly evil.

Christians usually look to 1 Corinthians 13 for a definition of love:
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

So real love from Christians, is not just to potential converts, but forever. Literally.

Love does not insist on its own way. It gives the other freedom. Galatians 5.1: "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." This is not submitting to a "preacher who steps in to take over one's life."

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I've just finished reading a free, on-line book called,
"The Authoritarians" by Bob Altemeyer.
http://members.shaw.ca/perchaluk/drbob/chapter1.pdf
It's a long read but totally worth it. A thorough deconstruction of authoritarians, and more importantly, their followers. A must read for anyone who wants to know more about what we're up against...

Jesus, Save me from your followers!

Love and Light,

Crystal Dave (The Wizard of Wyrd)

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who post and say "oh, we aren't all like that..." While that maybe is true (Pontius Pilate "what is truth?") to some degree, it is a poor excuse for tolerating and essentially supporting the rabid element that has been in control of Christianity in America for the last couple of decades. Frankly, after a long period of time in which religious freedom has been actively suppressed by fantatic right wing Christians (the majority of active Christians), I welcome the attention to the seemy side of their techniques and lust for earthly power. The posts that state that Islam is worse are illogical at best - a religious theocracy is hell on earth regardless of whose fantacism fuels it. Most of us would really, really have freedom of belief- something that is being actively dismantled in this country even as we read these posts. So, keep the long overdue criticism of religious hypocrisy of the right coming. Perhaps we can finally stop cowering in front of them and start regaining our cherished seperation of church and state.

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Gee . . . and I thought those nice women and men from Ashaya were really interested in me while they were telling me what a singularly wonderful person I was, and how brilliant and sensitive--amazingly so; about how they could just feel the love that was deep within my soul [cue hugs]; and about how Ashaya saved them from lives of alcohol and drug abuse; and that it was amazingly simple to learn their ways and their secrets (but not free); and that giving life savings over to the organization so that some of their members could meditate in peace in a beautiful Canadian location was their one and only heart's desire and would lead to a better world someday [cue happy sighs].

But I never did hear from them again when I didn't agree to buy one of their seminars. Gee. I thought they liked me.

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"The idea of God implies the abdication of human reason and justice; it is the most decisive negation of human liberty, and necessarily ends in the enslavement of mankind, in theory and practice."

Mikhail Bakunin

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Shouldn't "Mind control techniques and how to resist them" be a course that all high school children have to take. I know the cultists control the schools now, but one would think they'd be for it too since they would rather not have their customers converted to another service provider via effective mind control.

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This is nothing new. The purpose of religion has always been to control the masses. What better way to control people than to damn there souls to hell and promise eternal life if they except the desired dogma and hand over the cash. The Mormans have been employing these tactics for over 150 year, except they claim that you can not only have eternal life, but if your a real good Morman you can be a god yourself. One thing for sure, God has a sense of humor.

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link

I think it's important for people to put this current movement into historical context. Biblical arguments were made by Southern "Conservative Christians" to justify slavery- that was one of their main arguments at the time it was becoming a serious debate in the US. Google BIBLE SLAVERY and you'll find all kinds of perspectives on that, but you can dig up some very telling quotes from anti-abolitionists if you look.

Also, think about the most common slang for gays: "faggots" or "flamers". Why? A faggot is a bundle of sticks, right? Hmmm.... sticks and flames... it comes from the practice of burning gays at the stake, in a "righteous cleansing fire."

God hates flaming faggots

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Religion is an imprecise, catch all term. Right wing Christians are at a low level stage of consciousness. The liberal mind set here at Alternet could be considered a religion with a belief system. When liberals refer to Jesus as an historical person, they are subscribing to a low level fundamentalist belief which has many undesirable effects. It shows a lacuna in education and shortcircuits understanding. The Jesus of the gospels is a fable quite common in that time arising from people's needs. That fact has to be accepted by the liberal mind or it will be stuck right where the fundamentalists are. The elevation of consciousness brings freedom and responsibility to own one's own beliefs. Critical thinking skills need to be applied to biblical exegesis and the religious right. Then the baby of religion can be saved while throwing out the dirty bathwater. At its core, religion is beautiful and useful because it is all about a womam's love. The Red Brown and Blue Party offers The Lover Government as a framework in which religion can be understood for what it is. Reality is approached through a womam's [spelling is intentional] consciousness, otherwise known as Love, in the personification of the Lover. Love is the actualization of an inner and outer loci of control. The abuses of religion are endless, and are part and parcel of our patriarchic culture which worships God in the form of money, sex and power; of course, all under the flag of love, and with "love bombs." The gospel writers had Jesus call the patriarchs of his day "hypocrites," as we call them today. Reality has stages or hierarchical levels. Through liberal education, liberals enjoy a higher view but unless they have love for those on the lower levels, real religionists are correct: they are tinkling cymbals.

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I remember being targeted while an exchange student at UMass Boston in the late 90s. Back at my university in Germany I had organized a club for foreign students and heard from them how vulnerable one feels in a foreign land. Now, I'm an extrovert person and not afraid to make contact, but that year abroad did a number on me. My secure environment was gone, everything was different, I was under stress to succeed, and had to become fluent in English. That's where the campus missionary groups attack. Not to truly help you in a situation of confusion, loneliness and stress but to subjugate your mind. Didn't work for me (since I was an atheist already) but I could feel the emotional pull it had.

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Posters to this site frequently toss the phrase “preaching to the choir” about, meaning: “Stop hammering us on this issue, dude, you had us at Hello!”

The author of this article was not a member of the “choir” and these training seminars he attended were not “preaching” to him. While his point-of-view as an outsider no doubt gives him an interesting perspective on religious indoctrination, his analysis is fatally weighted down with his prejudices and preconceptions.

For those of us in the public relations business, this sort of thing is nothing new. Two of the guiding principles of effective public relations illustrate my point:
Always tailor your message to your target audience.
Perception IS Reality.

Right up front, I’ll concede something that has always been true of both religion and ideologies like fascism, communism and environmentalism: no matter how good or just the idea or the belief may be, evil men will twist it to achieve their ends.

But if people like Martin Luther King or Dietrich Bonhoeffer are any indication, there really is such a thing as the genuine article. These people are rare, and often it is hard even for the wise to tell the difference between them and posers like Ted Haggerty and Jimmy Swaggart.

The early church was successful because believers knew the importance of “tailoring their message to their target audience in order to avoid the awful danger of misperception.” The most successful early believer to apply these fundamentals of public relations was Saul of Tarsus (aka the Apostle Paul).

“Except for these chains..”

When Paul spoke to unbelievers like King Agrippa, he limited his discourse to his own conversation experience on the road to Damascus. Plus he only spoke about his faith WHEN ASKED TO DO SO by Agrippa.

When Paul finished, Agrippa famously quipped that in a short time Paul would seek to convert him. Paul’s response: Yes indeed, he hoped that Agrippa would “become as we are, except for these chains.”

When Paul spoke to Jews in the synagogues, he spoke as a Jew (“a Pharisee of Pharisees”), reading from the Torah and offering an interpretation of the reading, much as Jesus did (“today in your hearing this scripture is fulfilled.”) His fellow Jews didn’t like his interpretations of the Torah, and repeatedly sought his death.

But when Paul wrote to the churches he had founded in Corinth, Ephesus and Thessalonica, he tailored his letters to the specific needs of these churches. For example, the church at Corinth needed discipline because a member of the congregation was sleeping with his step-mother.

The letters of Paul “preached to the choir,” instructing believers in the doctrines of their faith and teaching them how to live the Christian life – which they had FREELY CHOSEN. (Manipulation and brainwashing do not constitute either “free” or “choice.”)

The problem with the church today is that Paul’s example has been turned on its ear. Instead of following Paul’s example with King Agrippa and waiting to be asked, believers corner nonbelievers and demand that they “turn or burn, fly or fry.” Instead of limiting their discourse to their own personal testimony of conversion, they cast judgment on nonbelievers and quote passages from Paul’s letters that were intended ONLY FOR THOSE WHO HAD FREELY CHOSEN TO FOLLOW CHRIST.

COMMENTS CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

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But when they are alone with other believers they also do the opposite of what Paul taught and spend all their time congratulating each other about their conversion experiences – the very personal testimonies that they’re supposed to be sharing with nonbelievers. Said congratulations include such messages as “Gee I’m glad I’m not going to hell like all those homosexuals, adulterers, murderers and thieves.”

This situation gets exponentially worse when such judgmental behavior gets exploited by brainwashers liken Jim Jones and Pat Robertson and self-serving politicians and Machiavellian hacks like Carl Rove. Believers would do well to remember the advice of their Messiah on these matters: remove the log from your own eye before judging the splinter in your brother’s eye. Or even better, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

What a believer freely chooses to do is between him and his God. Try to keep it there, brother. Set a good example and the nonbelievers in your life might just get curious and ask you about your faith. Don’t be a patsy for the Carl Roves and the Pat Robertsons of the world, who wouldn’t know how to be their brother’s keeper if their lives depended on it.

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As an escapee from a fundamentalist cult, ( I am a graduate of Christ for the Nations, Dallas Texas) I can personally attest to much of Mr. Hedges article. There are also a couple of things he leaves out:

Fundamentalism offers easy answers to life's problems, there is a set of rules, everything is divided into good or evil, black or white, there are no nuances or exceptions. This is a very enticing arguement to someone who is sorting things out.
The fundies recruit people who are in life's crises and crossroads; divorce, job loss, drug addiction/alcoholism, graduating school, etc. One of my professors at CFNI put it best when he said "no one comes to God when they are fat, dumb, and happy. This is not entirely bad, fundamentalism is a highly effective treatment for addictive diseases, for example, and faith can give a person direction and purpose in life.

The problem is you must surrender your mind to a God's authority on earth: the preacher, the Pope, the Imam who has all the answers. When one is acutely vulnerable to fundy assault, it is just a matter of which one gets there first. I compare itr to a person who has no automotive knowledge taking their car into the shop, and telling the mechanic to "just fix it," and send me the bill. It is easy to become mentally lazy.

The believer is also counseled to throw away what remains of his intellect, and "come to Jesus as a little child." Another allegory is that of being a "sheep." They revel in what most people consider an insult!
Once the mind is disengaged, it becomes a blank slate, but it is not blank for long. Because believers are so easily manipulated is what makes this so dangerous. A friendly pol comes along, and uses many of the fundamentalist recruiting techniques against them, showering them with affection, listening to their story, showing empathy, etc. Presto! instant voting bloc!

The anti-intellectual nature of fundamentalism also directly plays hand-inhand to the "redneck" culture, what we used to call "country dumb;" those city slickers think they're so smart. Of course now, the city slickers have become the "liberal elite." It just becomes a matter of convincing the hicks that you really are a slow talkin' Texas cowpoke. Doesn't anyone else see through this facade? Hilliary can't get away with it, but somehow W can.

The second thing Hedges leaves out is the fundamentalist believes his particular sect holds a monopoly on truth, wisdom, and morality. That is why arguing with a fundy is so difficult. He can simply disregard any opposing debate as invalid because it doesn't come from his sources. You also can't know the truth, as you don't have the "spirit" to guide you. So, you can't even argue from scripture that presents an opposing view.
Along with this world view comes a persecution complex. Not to minimize the genuine persecution and martyrdom that has occurred throughout the centuries, but simple disagreement with your religious beliefs, and yes, even ridicule is not exactly being tossed to the lions. But it becomes a handy wedge issue. A cracker judge posts the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, the local ACLU files suit against a manger scene in the village square quickly becomes evidence of persucution. Again, easily exploitable wedge issues for your friendly pol. Sometimes it is just too easy.

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dead on. I was raised in a "Primitive" Baptist church. There was "shouting", "foot washing", baptism in the river (we wouldn't dare go in there now), but most of all, conformity and submission were pushed. I heard a whole lot about the evils of everybody who didn't hold the same beliefs, or didn't belong to this church, but it seemed like it was more about condemnation than about love. It is unreasonable to believe that a god creature put us on this earth for one reason alone - to make a choice to be the blind, obedient follower of a god who would make bets with Satan for pure amusement (concerning Job) and send those who didn't choose to follow this path (or didn't even know about this "option") straight to hell to burn eternally. I've only been back a couple of times since the day I turned eighteen and couldn't be forced to go, but from the actions of "believers" that I am in contact with, I'm sure the recruiting techniques have become much more subtle, as the article implies. Oh yeah, it's a whole lot about amassing a large base for one big, basic reason. Money. Lots of hidden, untaxed money.

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are necessary to turn the country into a fascist state. Since fundamentalislm requires belief rather than critical thinking, fundamentalists are much easier to persuade that their God-President Dubya is doing what God wants, and will turn this country into a theocracy. Unfortunately, they don't think about what might really happen, like what happened when the Puritans came and proceeded to hang and burn people and imprison them for not attending the right church.

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The tactics Mr. Hedges outlines are also used in
self help, motivational, and sales courses. Capitalism
has been quick to capitalise on the words of sales guru
Bruce Barton who said, simply: "Christ was the greatest
salesman who ever lived."

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a lot like AA an other 12 step programs.

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Hedges is now on Alternet literally every other day. It seems to me (tongue in cheek, but weirder things have happened)that Alternet is in fact a mole site, whose covert purpose is to ensure the failure of the left in the US, by encouraging our worst tendencies.

Anti-religious posters: you have thoroughly demonstrated your contempt for the 90% of the earth's population who believe, whether you like it or not, in invisible things. You dismiss anyone who seeks to broaden your awareness of what is going on in the Christian faith in America. Likewise, you scorn anyone who attempts to broaden the discussion about what public life based on science and mercantilism might look like in practice, as opposed to in theory (praxis versus "scripture" applies here, too, not only in religious history). More critically, for anyone who is interested in the success of the essential economic justice argument the left has to offer, you ignore the history of the left's own successes in American history, which have always involved a significant involvement of people who believe in God.

Childishly, you believe that you can change a culture as you insult it and laugh at it. Arrogantly, you believe that your brains are bigger than those of Einstein, who was a believer. Astoundingly, you find a way of separating the history of resistance from the actual life histories and motives of its practitioners, people like Ghandhi, Martin Luther King, the Quakers, the Sanctuary movement of the 80's. None of these people were perfect, and naturally you are free to reject their cosmologies, which were not monolithic, but diverse. But to assert that you, the angry, ranting mob of the blogosphere, are better equipped, more farseeing, more rational than people such as these to engender change for justice and peace in this world: it's simply absurd.

You can mock all you want, you can pretend that a progressive Christian is an oxymoron: I'm a Christian, and I support equal rights for gays and lesbians, I support labor rights, I support serious restrictions on industrial pollution, national health care, and I believe in God and the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It doesn't need to make sense to you, any more than your belief that life and consciousness are chemical accidents needs to make sense to me. That's why we have a pluralistic democracy, at least in theory. Making it one in practice means respecting difference. It's such a basic thing, isn't it: two wrongs don't make a right - the fact that a sector of the population (and by the way Alternet ALWAYS accepts the self-claims of that sector as to its influence and number at face value) is routinely insulting to gays, atheists, and others, and seeks to promote its agenda in extra-constitutional ways simply does not make it okay to do the same thing in reverse. All this talk of "banning religion" or "eliminating faith from public discourse" is, well... un-American. And it's just stupid and counterproductive for the left to be engaging in this kind of chatter.

It is easy to notice the fundies, because they are loud and public in their political efforts. Leftist Christians don't tend (until very recently) to set up faith-based political organizations, they simply work through the ones that are already there, precisely because they don't reject allies based on their theology or lack of it. Doesn't that sound like a pretty good idea for the left as a whole?

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espouses the belief that the accumulation of wealth is inherently self-destructive, but also actively discourages people of other faiths from converting to a religion other than the one they were raised in. Essentially, this is the very antithesis of the fleece the flock formula evangelical Christians use so effectively...

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I agree w/some of the previous comments about the importance of not ridiculing religion per se. I think when pressed the author would certainly admit a distinction between authoritarian forms of Christianity/Judaism/Islam, etc., and progressive ones.

Another distinction is between the process of conversion and integration into the community and the authoritarian structure of said community. Many of the "tactics" described are not inherently devious. I'm thinking, for example, of the immediate love and friendship offered to people in twelve-step fellowships or other support groups. Of course, this comparison points to the fact that religious conversion is much more an emotional and spiritual phenomenon, usually following a crisis of some sort, where intellectualizing the problem doesn't quite cut it. The end to which these conversion tactics are put makes the difference I think. Is it aimed a separating the person off from his previous milieu, and inculcating a set of elite and exclusive (as well as exclusionary) values? Or is it just to provide a safe haven in which to find refuge from a real trauma and pain, in which the person may indeed form new friendships and contacts in a way they might never have been capable of?

It is easy to mock Christian fundamentalists, but in many ways this just reinforces their belief in the vanity and corruption of the world. Our mockery will also not change the contemporary prevalence of religious zeal, nor its historical importance for some clearly exemplary achievements (Civil Rights?!).

I think the goal should be to find points of common contact between progressives and religious groups. Imagine how potent a force it would be to have evangelicals on the side of environmentalists? This is not far-fetched, given last year's statement of the National Association of Evangelicals that global climate change was a moral issue, and fell under the Biblical principle of man's stewardship over the Earth.

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Sometimes I lose faith and my anger about this war really get me thats when I fell like shouting "down with america" but when I read a article like this it reminds me of the pressure people are under. The religous right taking advantage of people thats not really news but how they are organized with fascism is correct how devious to make beleifs without choice. Even Jesus needs peace!

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Others were "Holy" war, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the structuring of the first Christians into the Catholic Church.

Judge Christianity by Christ and the life He led and died, not from His imperfect followers, and certainly not from the bastards and pretenders and demons using and pretending at Christianty for power and profit above all.

All religions, all economic systems, all political systems, can be and will be co-opted by evil. Nothing man does is immune, no system is perfect.

Judge a belief system by its founder's works, not by its adherents, and certainly not by its obviously false pretended and claimed adherents.

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As a Jew I find this to be appalling and deplorable! After reading this article, I now understand why so many so called "Christians" have told me I'm going to hell because I am a Jew!

The behavior of those doing the brainwashing is nothing short of fascist. The people they are brainwashing appear to believe they are accepting new and refreshed religious beliefs, renewing and solidifying old religious beliefs and becoming part of a new and loving group of people.

I think now I understand why a certain percentage of the American public are walking around in a coma, oblivious to truth.

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Perhaps it's beyond high time for authentic Christian religions to begin recruiting and educating. True Christianity is about love, forgiveness and freedom.

I wonder what the brainwashed sheeple who have unwittingly been participating in fascism will do when the truth is fully exposed and they finally realize they were suckered by a religion that isn't religion at all?

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They are so like muslims, say: "There is no god but Allah and Mohamed is his prophet" and do your best to follow the holy koran, and you are a true muslim.

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As a fair and impartial teacher who does not impose my values onto my students, I have one assignment that asks the student to define who they are and to state their beleif system. Not only does it help me understand the student better, but the student gets to decide what to write about what makes them who they are. A fair share of them write about their love of Jesus and the Christian community. After all, most young people today come from multiple-blended families (a convention was held to by a Christian group to address that very issue a few years back), which no matter how you dress it up, becomes a Survivor Island like test, with kids vying for space and affection. So it makes perfect sense why the make-shift family unit the Chrisitian right offers, with its 24/7 shelters with food and clothing, support groups, youth groups, Christian rock bands, etc. is doing what the government and the education system cannot possibly do: make them feel wanted, loved, appreciated.

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FALSE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES was exactly why God and Jesus Christ had to appear in 1820 to an uneducated farmer boy of 14 to answer his prayer about which Church to join. You see this boy was reading in James 1 which promised him:

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God (NOT SOME MINISTER), that giveth to ALL men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it SHALL (NOT MAYBE) be given him.
6 BUT (here are the conditions for getting an answer)
let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

This boy believed that promise and went and prayed and was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ who told him NOT to join ANY church because they spoke about Him with their lips but their hearts were FAR from Him, teaching for commandments the philosophies of man mixed with scripture.

In 1830 the Mormon Church started and restored the pure truths of Jesus Christ to the earth in preparation for His 2nd Coming. All are invited to join in this great last days gathering. All are also free to totally reject this great message. Free agency reigns in God's Kingdom.

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Fascinating article,
I am astonished at the similarities between the tactics described here, and those employed by Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs, the only difference is that they use their own literature, "The Big Book" instead of the bible.

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I grew up in a Southern Baptist church and was involved in the youth group throughout high school. This article describes perfectly the process that went on in my church and the 'discipleship training' I was involved in. It's strange to look back now and wonder how the hell I was so brainwashed at the time, though there was always a part of me which suspected I was being manipulated. I guess it was a combination of guilt, fear, and the need for acceptance. What really began to turn me off was the whole insincerity of it all. I'd always thought of friendship as something pure, not something to be used for ideological manipulation, and this envangelistic programming I was receiving went against this notion. We were even told that we shouldn't be friends with an unsaved person unless we were trying to convert them. Somehow, as with most of what the church does, this didn't seem like the type of thing Jesus would approve of. But since when is Christianity based on the teachings of Christ?

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It is the same technique employed by most cults, such as the Unification Church or "Moonies," to attract prospects.

According to Bruce Wilson: For years, hundreds of millions of dollars, at least, in Unification Church money has bought influence among American politicians and journalists, and top leaders of the Christian right... (Right Wing rumor mill funded by Shark Poaching Ring?).

Might it be possible that these "love bombers" aren't really Christians at all but Moonies in disguise?

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Of course this is a rhetorical question -- so many lonely people are sadly also weak in will and mind. My experiences with these fundamentalist vultures in college were always filtered through a lens of great suspicion of anyone trying to sell something, as well as in light of the principle that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is; I suppose I have my parents, and reading everything I could find from a young age, to thank for that.

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If you want marriage, a job, and a decent life style the church can make those things happen for you.

Think of church and most religions as the original social networking hubs of the world. You go and make connections, network with people who can benefit you in some way. It's a community.

Personally I'm an atheist but I have known atheists who have attended church for the fringe benefits while remaining complete atheists. They tended to have the "American dream" and much of it was attributable directly to their involvement with the church.

Kind of interesting how that works.

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Real freedom is to be liberated from the hankerings of the senses,which is a prerequisite for obtaining God's love.
Most saintly persons have adopted such method,and abandoned old ways of living,that allow all sorts of offenses to living entities and to oneself.
The disciple in Krishna's cult vows to stop such activities,though it is quite difficult to do so.Stopping eating meat,gambling and smoking are not so difficult,but stopping sexual activities is quite difficult,but not impossible.
It sounds,for those who have not experienced any spiritual training,that such control is detrimental to one's character,and real life is to do whatever our mind asks us,but just look around and see the disasters caused by free-minded people:they are in deep despair,and even they have wealth,they sometimes commit suicide,due to the demands of the senses,that are not fulfilled.
When I was younger,I used also to believe in total freedom of action and mind,but with time,I'm so glad that I somewhat can control my urges,and concentrate on higher values.It just needs practice,and can last lifetimes or just some years,according to one's intensity in spiritual life.Those who succeed,do get a very peaceful departure from this world of suffering,as they have at least tried to evolve towards the Supreme Intelligent Being.

http://asitis.com Bhagavad Gita by Srila Prabhupada

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help salve egos.

I ocassionally go to a Seven Day Adventist Church--
no pressure, no hard-sales tactics

I teach a tai chi class at a Luthern Church--
no pressure, no hard-sales tactics

I've gone to Mormon Churches--
no pressure, no hard-sales tactics

Jehovah Witnesses stop by the house once a month--
no pressure, no hard-sales tactics

I've done zazen at Buddhist temples--
no pressure, no hard-sales tactics

What? Are you afraid to smile at another human being,
shake their hands, hug them?

All this anti-this, anti-that wears thin.

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AlterNet Editors,

Poppup_schell is using AlterNet for free advertising to proselytize for the Mormon Church, which often cooperates with the rest of the religious right on a variety of issues. He is not here just to inform, as he sometimes claims. He is clearly here to promote his religion and to find potential converts. He is, in fact, by his own description, a dedicated Mormon missionary who himself became a convert in the Sixties.

You need only check the messages posted by poppup_schell throughout AlterNet to see that promoting the Mormon religion is ultimately the only reason that he posts here. In short, he is spamming AlterNet's readers for the benefit his religion.

Isn't it time to call a halt to the use and abuse of these boards for such tactics?

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I have been there and done that. It sucks. I ran away from this brainwashing as fast as I could when I realized what hogwash it was.

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I went to a Christian school for junior high, and I come from a family who epitomizes the "Christian Right". From those two experiences, I got the idea that non-religious people, as well as those from other religions, hated Christianity more than any other religion. This created a lot of bias in me when I was younger. However, I have since distanced myself from the church and all organized religion, and do not think this way anymore. This idea, as well as other ideas mentioned in the article (the demonization of non-Christians, ostrasizing of people whose opinions differ from the church/school's), were instilled in me through subtle ways and direct ways. I definitely recall some of the conversion tactics mentioned here being used on me in the school. I (thought that I) believed through guilt and fear. (I have grown since then and felt the Spirit, but that's another conversation)

Read the Bible for yourself, and listen to absolutely nobody else's interpretations of it. Many churches, evangelist groups, Christian schools and television programs, will all twist it to their own liking.

Romans 7 and 8 is an interesting read about the downside of religion and rules. (However, that's my interpretation)

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More anti-faith hogwash from a writer whose depth of evangelical knowledge wouldn't drown a gnat.

The writer could choose to really elucidate the ways in which the Right castrates and pollutes faith. Instead, the writer simply blasts the faith itself.

He writes:

"Freedom from fear, especially the fear of death, is what is being sold. It is a lie, as everyone has to know on some level..."

Really? What empirical evidence does he present for this assertion? It is the long death of the spirit apart from the Maker from which Christians are assured salvation. One may believe it or not. If it is true -- and I am persuaded that it is, I gain everything. If it is not -- and I am not persuaded that this is so -- I lose nothing.

In the meantime, I am guided by some sound principles of living -- utterly smeared and distorted by this writer -- and a peace which the God of Love gives us.

I'll take it.

Peace.

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Chris Hedges' article about conversion tactics and the creation of a separate society, manipulated by its leaders and isolated from reality, is one of the best I've read on the subject.

The reality of the effectiveness of conversion tactics in general can't be ignored. As pointed out in an In These Times article, How to Turn Your Red State Blue:

"..the improbable fact about missionary activity is that it works, regardless of the faith's specific dogma. Mormons are the fastest-growing church in the country. Evangelical protestant congregations make up 58 percent of all new churches in the United States. Globally, Islam continues to reach into new and unfamiliar lands, experiencing explosive growth in China. Religions that actively proselytize — Pentecostals, Mormons, Muslims — grow, almost without exception."

The question is what to do when an increasing growth in conversions to religious right sects in our country threatens to undermine and replace democratic, tolerant, secular institutions with religious authoritarianism.

Just as the political left wasted decades before developing an effective counterpart to the political right's noise machine, so the religious and secular left have been slow in creating an effective counterpart to the religious right. The religious right's triumph in making itself (a minority) the standard for religious values in America by means of its scorched-earth attacks against reason and science and social changes is what's fueling an increasingly anti-religious response from secularists and others. Already, some are anticipating stronger retaliatory actions, as in the following tit-for-tat response to the suggestion by a fundamentalist minister that gays should be eliminated in the womb:

Pre-natal Elimination Of Fundamentalists? - "Before you dismiss this question as hypothetical or academic, consider that research into the origins of spirituality is a robust field of inquiry. There are currently about a dozen studies that show shared personality traits among religious people, suggesting a genetic or biological basis."

If the religious left is disturbed by the increase in anti-religious sentiment, maybe it should focus its attention on the cause of the sentiment - the religious right - instead of attacking the secular or non-religious left, which isn't trying to subvert our institutions.

And, if the left, religious or otherwise, hopes to create a strong defense against the religious right's creation of a separate society designed ultimately to gain dominance over mainstream society, then maybe the left should seriously consider developing an integrated, methodical response - involving the funding of foundations, think tanks, scientific studies, etc. - dedicated to countering and uprooting authoritarian religion.

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It is TRUE christians who are the source of the inordinate wealth of the Church. One important CRITERION for being a truly TRUE Christian is DONATION of TEN percent of YOUR INCOME to the Church as TITHE which these Church leaders never fail to remind you about. A PORTION OF THIS DONATION INVARIABLY ENDS UP LINING THE POCKETS OF THE CHURCH LEADER AND HIS LOYAL STAFF.

It is to earn their own daily BREAD and other benefits that is of more concern to the Church leaders than to 'SAVE' any souls from Jesus' fiery hell. And coming to think of hell wouldn't you be horrified if CIVILIZED Christians were to cast their enemies into burning pits? Why do Christians excuse their god for TORTURE that they would not excuse another human being to commit?

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Does anybody read Karen Armstrong ("The Battle for God" "Islam" and "the spiral staircase" which is her autobiography. A good read on religion(s). Recommended. She effectively points out by implication what we should fear and what we should respect. Not all religious folks are scarey, quite well motivated and kind in most cases. Some folks are deep political threat. Let's not tar the innocent with the same brush.

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I have met the Rev. Kennedy. I consider him the worst kind of trash. But the hard part is that many of the things that he is doing are almost identical to what good churches normally do. For example any good church wants new members or visitors to be happy and feel comfortable. Having an attractive person attend to your visit is legitimate. But in Kennedy's case it is what is underneath his work that is wrong. He is about making money and personal glory in my opinion. I doubt that he cares much about Christ or Christianity at all. If you ever visit him you will be lucky if you don't get a big lecture about how he was the worst sinner in Ft. Lauderdale and how he used to work as a dance instructor. He sort of implied that he was a prostitute for elderly women who brought the endless dance lessons. People like Rev. Kennedy pose a real danger for the Christian faith as others may judge us by his actions. Local ministers are usually too much in fear to say much about him but a couple do agree with my view of him.

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Jesus supports torture without end for his enemies. It's a fact for the Christians. If Jesus were to come today and see Guantamo Bay he cannot say it is wrong to create torture chambers. Can he?

Bush has Jesus on his side. True Christians who claim they are against Bush for creating Guantanamo Bay are only being hypocrites. If they support Jesus for the creation of the worst torture chamber, the fiery Hell, they cannot honestly say they are against barbaric practices like torture. Period!

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Teaches their small adherents to use the same kind of technique, called a "Ticket to Prayer," on their friends. In the nation's public schools. (Not during class time, of course, because that would run afoul of the law. Gotta observe the rules, y'know.) The kids who do this are taught how and when to do this in a "Bible Club" held by instructors (always a parent of a student, who can then "invite" a KFC-trained clergyman into the school as a "guest leader" - again, to avoid running afoul of the law). Sometimes incentives like pizza parties are used to get their friends to do this, along with the prerequisite peer pressure.

Because it's peer-to-peer, and after hours, there's nothing school administrators - or concerned parents who object to other kids proselytizing their own children - can do about it.

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I guess hypocrisy is a progressive characteristic.

First of all when I tithe its not because some preacher has brain washed me or because it makes me a “Christian”. I tithe because it comes from my love for Jesus and it’s a recognition that he has given me the ability to make money and I intend give back to God what is his in the first place, whether it be through the church or a direct donation to a charity (If your pastor is buying expensive cars with offerings then he needs to be booted out and you need to do more research on who you’re giving your money to). Second, wars that are fought in the name of Jesus are not necessarily “of Jesus” (i.e. The Crusades). Third, Religion and following rules do not cause you to be saved. Its grace through Jesus Christ that is the deciding factor, I my self cannot create salvation by being a “good person” or following a set path of dos and don’ts. Fourth, I am not apart of the so called “Christian right”. I don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh, I think Pat Buchanan is very destructive to our country (and faith), and I believe Bush is one of our worst presidents ever. I also believe God intended for us to take care of the environment and I think Jesus’ name is used to sanction lame and destructive ideas. My relationship with Jesus is personal and my foundation is the Bible, not my local preacher. I know all of this is totally foreign and will probably be met with progressive intolerance . . . but oh well. This is my faith and I’m able to stand up and know in my heart and mind that I’m headed for a better place.

So you can lean on your own understanding, rant and rave all you want about how you think there is no God, and label Christians intolerant simpletons, but nothing will change the fact that Jesus is very real and he wants to come into your life.

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as has anyone who was ever in the military. It's the same "You have to tear them down before you can build them up" mentality and set of techniques. And it does work. And as the author says, the ones who started out the most destitute of self-image, confidence and wholeness will be the most deadly fanatics if they get through it. These will kill anyone without question if they are told to by someone in authority.

I can't believe as old as this kind of thing is, no one in a position where they are supposed to worry about national security recognizes that this is a private fanatic army being built. Or have we nothing but cowards or Bush appointees in such places now?

Ian

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What is described here amounts to total evil. There should be a law against this kind of thing. These cult conversion techneques amount to brain washing and have nothing to do with any legitmate relegious faith therefore they are not covered by the US Constitution.

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it looked so easy, our heritage beckoned
the nation was, after all, christian
and so they began their crusade marching toward theocracy
and as they plodded the children wailed “are we there yet?”
and god whispered back “you're going the wrong way”

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