Danger of the New, Far, Far, Far "Religious" Right

Al Jazeera English has a somewhat lengthy opinion piece with a somewhat sensationalist title (America's own Taliban), but it's really good. It examines the involvement of major political figures right now and their involvement in extreme dominionist groups. Other than just talking about people and their involvement it explains what they're doing and who they are. It's far more academic than opinion pieces in the States I'm used to reading, and it sure as hell beats the "journalism" of FauxNews. The piece really asks for the mainstream media to talk more about this - and not just making fun of some of the looniness (Oprah being a harbinger of the antichrist).

Highlight quotations (from very early in the piece):

The ultimate goal is to replace secular democracy, both in America and around the world, with a Christian theocracy, an ideology known as "dominionism". The supposed purpose is to "purify" the world for Christ's return - again, strikingly similar to what the Taliban believe, but also significantly at odds with more common, long-standing Christian beliefs about the "end times", as well as the nature and purpose of prayer, and the roles of human and divine power...


Consequently, the NAR [New Apostolic Reformation] is also openly dedicated to destroying religious and cultural groups who do not share their beliefs - even including others on the Christian Right. They openly denounce Mormonism and Roman Catholicism as demonic, but in the end all Protestant denominations are seen as impediments to creating one unified religious establishment which should in turn control all of society, entirely replacing America's secular democracy, and bringing about their own version of "one-world government".

And then there's a delightful reference to international soccer and messianic Jews:

A similar pattern can be found in reconciliation rituals with 'Jews' who are so-called 'messianic Jews' - meaning they are actually practising born-again Christians. That's a bit like a 'reconciliation' between Italian and Brazilian soccer fans, with the Brazilian fans being from the Italian embassy in Brasilia.

Read it all: America's own Taliban.