Would any of our Libertarian or Republican friends care to comment?
What follows was on MSNBC the other day...Rachel Maddow's show. The only thing that's missing from the transcript below are the pictures of the T-shirts, aprons on teddy bears, etc.:
MADDOW: And then, there‘s this biblical quote making the rounds in anti-Obama circles. As reported this week in the “Christian Science Monitor,” “Pray for President Obama, Psalm 109, verse eight.” k What‘s psalm 109 version eight? Well, it reads, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” Let his days be few. It‘s followed immediately by another verse, “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.”
And don‘t forget, that sentiment is now being merchandised on bumper stickers, on mouse pads, on Teddy Bears on aprons, framed tiles—those are nice. Keepsake boxes, t-shirts? “Let his days be few”—cute on a Teddy Bear.
Has anybody else crept out by this?
Joining us now is Frank Schaeffer, whose father, Francis Schaeffer helped shape the evangelical movement in the United States. Mr. Shafer grew up in the religious far-right and he‘s the author of “Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don‘t Like Religion (or Atheism).”
Mr. Schaeffer, thanks very much for coming back on the show.
FRANK SCHAEFFER, AUTHOR, “PATIENCE WITH GOD”: Thanks for having me on.
MADDOW: “Let his days be few; and let another take his office,” “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.” This is such strong language in secular terms about President Obama. Can you tell me if this means something less threatening to people hearing this in a biblical context?
SCHAEFFER: No, actually, it means something more threatening. I think the situation that I find genuinely frightening right now is that you have a ramping up of biblical language—language from the antiabortion movement, for instance, death panels and this sort of thing. And what it‘s coalescing into is branding Obama as Hitler, as they‘ve already called him, as something foreign to our shores. We‘re reminded of that. He‘s born in Kenya—as brown, as black, above all, as not us. He is Sarah Palin‘s not a real American.
But now, it turns out, that he joins the ranks of the unjust kings of ancient Israel, unjust rulers, to which all these biblical illusions are directed who should be slaughtered, if not by God, then by just men.
So, there‘s a direct parallel here with Timothy McVeigh‘s t-shirt on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing in which he said that the tree of liberty had to be watered occasionally by the blood of tyrants. And that quote, we saw again at a meeting at which Obama was present being carried on a placard by someone carrying a loaded weapon.
What we‘re looking at right now is two things going on. We see the evangelical groups that I talk about in my new book, “Patience with God,” enthralled by an apocalyptic vision that I go into in some detail there. They represent the millions of people who have turned the “Left Behind” series into best sellers. Most of them are not crazy, they‘re just deluded.
But there is a crazy fringe to whom all these little messages that have been pouring out of FOX News, now on a bumper sticker, talking about doing away with Obama, asking God to kill him.
Really, this is trolling for assassins. And this is serious business.
It‘s un-American. It‘s unpatriotic.
And it goes to show that the religious right, the Republican far right, have coalesced into a group that truly want American revolution. And if it turns out to be blood in the streets and death, so be it. This is not funny stuff anymore. They cannot be dismissed as just crazies on the fringe. It only takes one.
You know, look at “The Boston Globe” article a few weeks ago saying that the threat level faced by the Secrete Service has gone up 400 percent, higher than any other time in 52 years for any president, Democrat or Republican. These are no jokes.
And as I talk about in “Patience with God,” if you trace these origins back to this paranoid, evangelical group, of which me and my father, sadly, were not only leaders, but leaders in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the foot soldiers that people like Dick Armey and others are using now to push their political agenda onto health care, are also people that have within their ranks, people, such as the person who murdered Dr. Tiller and killed three police officers in Pittsburgh because they thought Obama would take away their guns.
This bumper sticker simply says to them: “It‘s open season.”
MADDOW: And to be clear—I mean, over-the-top political criticism is as American as apple pie. And incredibly intense criticism has been lobbied against George W. Bush and against every president that‘s gone before modern times. But you‘re saying that there‘s essentially a religious inflection in the most extreme of the commentary against Obama, that sort—that‘s operating on a religious level, that‘s a signal to a religiously-minded audience.
SCHAEFFER: Absolutely. Look, this is the American version of the Taliban. The Taliban quotes the Quran and al Qaeda quotes certain verses in the Quran, in and out of context, calling for jihad and bloody war and the curse of Allah on infidels.
This is the Old Testament biblical equivalent of calling for “Holy War.” Now, most Americans will just see the bumper sticker and smile and think that it‘s facetious. Unfortunately, there are 22 million Americans or so who just call themselves super-conservative evangelicals. Of this, a small minority might be violent, but the general atmosphere here is really getting heated.
And what surprises me is that responsible—if you can put it that way—Republican leadership and the editors of some of these Christian magazines, et cetera, et cetera, do not stand-up in holy hour (ph) and denounce this.
You know, they‘re always asking, “Where is the Islamic leadership denouncing terrorism? Why aren‘t the moderates speaking out?” Well, I challenge the folks who I used to work with, that I talk about in my book, “Patience with God,” and I would just say to them, “Where the hell are you? This is not funny anymore. And be it on your head if something happens to our president, if you are going to go around supporting and not speaking out against this stuff.
It‘s just not a question of who‘s doing it. The bigger question is: where are the people speaking out against these things? I don‘t hear those voices raised in the evangelical fundamentalist community. And until I do, I—and my opinion is, they are culpable.
One last thing on this, I think it points at the fact that Obama supporters, of which I have been one since he began running, have better start speaking up in support of him and not sniping at him all the time because he‘s not moving toward change as fast as we‘d like in every area. This is serious stuff. The chips are down. He has real enemies. Some of them are violent.
And as far as I‘m concerned, it‘s time to support our president, stand with him, and not only wish him the best, but as a believing Christian myself, pray for his safety in the face of these religious maniacs, who every day, you know, one time I was on your show awhile back and they were talking about, “Is he the antichrist?” Now, they are asking he‘s an unjust ruler and they‘re asking God to strike him down. There are very not many steps left on this insane path.
MADDOW: Frank Schaeffer is the author of “Patience with God”—Mr.
Schaeffer, thank you for your time tonight. Thank you.
Only connect, my friends!
Cheers,
Charles Shaughnessy
Additional comments by me on:
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