Moonbat on Moonbats

I've often considered the Guardian's George "Moonbat" Monbiot a bit of a wingnut; too often he can be the sort of enviro-leftist loon that gives both the left and environmentalism a bad name. But in this article on American fundamentalism, he might just have a point.

In the United States, several million people have succumbed to an extraordinary delusion. In the 19th century, two immigrant preachers cobbled together a series of unrelated passages from the Bible to create what appears to be a consistent narrative: Jesus will return to Earth when certain preconditions have been met. The first of these was the establishment of a state of Israel. The next involves Israel's occupation of the rest of its "biblical lands" (most of the Middle East), and the rebuilding of the Third Temple on the site now occupied by the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques. The legions of the antichrist will then be deployed against Israel, and their war will lead to a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. The Jews will either burn or convert to Christianity, and the Messiah will return to Earth.

What makes the story so appealing to Christian fundamentalists is that before the big battle begins, all "true believers" (ie those who believe what they believe) will be lifted out of their clothes and wafted up to heaven during an event called the Rapture. Not only do the worthy get to sit at the right hand of God, but they will be able to watch, from the best seats, their political and religious opponents being devoured by boils, sores, locusts and frogs, during the seven years of Tribulation which follow.

The true believers are now seeking to bring all this about. This means staging confrontations at the old temple site (in 2000, three US Christians were deported for trying to blow up the mosques there), sponsoring Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, demanding ever more US support for Israel, and seeking to provoke a final battle with the Muslim world/Axis of Evil/United Nations/ European Union/France or whoever the legions of the antichrist turn out to be.

Read the whole thing, as the saying goes.

I've started to fear that Christian fundamentalism in America, particularly the 'End Times' crowd have now become as dangerous to the security of the world as their Islamic counterparts. The danger takes a completely different form: Followers of the twisted version of Islam commit individual acts of terrorism, often on a large scale. The danger of the twisted form of Christianity is more subtle, it that it uses it's voting power to influence foreign policy of the United States in dangerous ways.

Of course, I accept the possibility that I might be wrong. Just as some American commentators conjure up apocalyptic scenarios of an Islamised Europe which flies in the face of reality, it may be that we Europeans exaggerate the power and influence of the lunatic fringe of religious right in America. But with someone as extreme as John Ashcroft in such a position of power, may we do have cause to worry.