The Madrassa ComparisonsschizmaticSeptember 29 2006, 15:49:02 UTC
Bear in mind that a lot of the comparisons to Islam are meant for believers to shame them into being a better Christian. One often hears, for example, "Muslims memorize the entire Qu'ran and you haven't cracked open a Bible once this week." Likewise, drawing on contemporary Islamic extremists is meant to show Christians that Muslims are prepared to die for their faith, whereas Chritians are lazy, slack, and self-indulgent. The thing that I find oddest and most disturbing about the Jesus Camp thing is that it's showing the politicization of Pentecostals. That is what is deeply strange and disturbing about all of this to me--pentecostals have always had interesting ideas and church services, but they were almost always apolitical. They have a strong sense of the presence of God, Satan, and the entire Biblical cast of characters, but they look at the drama as enacted in the individual lives of believers. Seeing them leap into politics is disturbing. As a Marxist, though, shouldn't you have a serene confidence in the inevitability of The Dialectic and thus be unworried about any reguard actions by believers? ;)
The thing that I find oddest and most disturbing about the Jesus Camp thing is that it's showing the politicization of Pentecostals. That is what is deeply strange and disturbing about all of this to me--pentecostals have always had interesting ideas and church services, but they were almost always apolitical. They have a strong sense of the presence of God, Satan, and the entire Biblical cast of characters, but they look at the drama as enacted in the individual lives of believers.
Seeing them leap into politics is disturbing.
As a Marxist, though, shouldn't you have a serene confidence in the inevitability of The Dialectic and thus be unworried about any reguard actions by believers? ;)
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--Andrew "Alohaist" Reeves
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