Jesus Jihad

Let's stray a little afield of politics for the moment, though not far afield because the subject - religious faith - carries political baggage in this crazy new decade.
 
Nicholas Kristof had a column while I was golfing in North Carolina, and it hit a subject that continues to bug me, and that for some reason doesn't seem to bother friends and associates who call themselves Christian. It's this whole Second Coming thing, and specifically, RAPTURE. Kristof writes:
 

If the latest in the "Left Behind" series of evangelical thrillers is to be believed, Jesus will return to Earth, gather non-Christians to his left and toss them into everlasting fire:

"Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and a yawning chasm opened in the earth, stretching far and wide enough to swallow all of them. They tumbled in, howling and screeching, but their wailing was soon quashed and all was silent when the earth closed itself again."

These are the best-selling novels for adults in the United States, and they have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. The latest is "Glorious Appearing," which has Jesus returning to Earth to wipe all non-Christians from the planet. It's disconcerting to find ethnic cleansing celebrated as the height of piety.

If a Muslim were to write an Islamic version of "Glorious Appearing" and publish it in Saudi Arabia, jubilantly describing a massacre of millions of non-Muslims by God, we would have a fit. We have quite properly linked the fundamentalist religious tracts of Islam with the intolerance they nurture, and it's time to remove the motes from our own eyes. very surprised I have not seen anyone else voice a similar opinion.

If you would like to read the whole piece (and I recommend it), then do so here  http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/17/opinion/ 17KRIS.html
 
Why does this bug me that so many people think Jesus will return to earth like an Arnold Schwartznegger clone and begin cleaving and gutting, and melting nonevangelicals into dust? Actually, it doesn't bug me. It scares me.
 
I don't like the idea that there are vast numbers of reality-challenged people (recent polls showed 42 percent of the people think of themselves as evangelicals) wandering around waiting to be siphoned up the heaven highway in one great RAPTURE! Actually, that sounds like a good idea and one way the rest of us could get on with our lives without their interference.
 
But it ain't going to happen. What scares me is if some of them want to help the End Times along by ridding us of all those heathens. Though technically an Episcopalian, I suspect I fall into that category.
 
But I digress.
 
Kristof hit it on the nose. If a couple of Moslem writers had created the Going Home series with a grand finale of offing the infidels, our president and the rest of the so-called Christian world would be screaming their heads off. But instead, we make movies of it and put the books all over our libraries. Tell me, isn't that a little strange?
 
Not in this crazy decade. Frankly, I thought we had left all the End Times shit behind in 1999 when nothing dreadful happened other than Bush stealing the election (Bush . . . hmmm, the anti-Christ? That bears future contemplation.) But unfortunately, we did not. Now we have evangelicals embracing the Israelis so some long-lost rich cousin, even while Sharon practices media-acceptable genocide.
 
First of all, this whole RAPTURE thing is entirely made up. It does not exist anywhere in the Bible, even in that ludicrously written Revelations of St. John. But if you mention that to an evangelical, they will argue long and hard that "even though it's not in the Bible, there are plenty of references to it." My brother used to have this bumper sticker on the back of his car: "In Case of Rapture, This Vehicle Will be Unmanned." Hey, I know my brother. Yeah, he would probably be a candidate if such an event ever did occur. Well, he would if arrogance and self-righteousness is not a sin. I thought it stank of self-righteousness.
 
The sad thing is that Kristof is right. We can't get the motes out of our eyes. We think of ourselves as the sole moral authority in the world and that we have ever right to use force to clean things up. Invade Iraq. Imprison Iraqis. Abuse and belittle them. And if need arises, kill a dozen or so in bombing raids that may also kill a bad guy or two. And we can do all this because they are less they human. They are, afterall, non-believers. Infidels.
 
So, if Jesus is going to kick butt sometime in the future, why are we so concerned with helping him out ahead of time? This is a subject that sickens me, and unfortunately, as much as I try to laugh at it and satirize it, it just won't go away.
 
I think evangelicals are a greater threat to our nation than any number of terrorists. It seems most appropriate that George Bush likes to include himself in that movement.