We are at a time in history of profound social and political change, and it is comforting to decry "moral relativism" and accept Absolute Truth as set forth by folksy, charismatic religious leaders. Fundamentalism provides emotional security and responds to our human need for meaning in our lives. Secular humanists and more liberal religious groups need to understand the tactics of the religious right, and how they are able to attract large groups of otherwise normal individuals to their cause.

CarolynC

I have a relative who has embraced evangelical Christianity. The way it worked was this: Originally this relative married a man who believed in his own net worth to the exclusion of much else, and fundamentally believed in contradicting his liberal parents. Because of his belief that he should be having a bigger piece of the pie, he became obsessed with property values, and gradually more and more racist about the blacks that were supposedly ruining them in the part of town where his house was. This led to a dislike of the public school system and an embrace of conservative Republican values in his conservative town. My relative, because of constantly defending her husband against those of us who didn't like these beliefs, gradually internalized them. Pretty soon she believed other things, too, like that she should give up her career to raise the kids. Eventually, her professionalism resurfaced in a hobby, which eventually led to a job offer for what can only be described as a dream job; nearly simultaneously her husband was offered a compatible job, everyone expected them to take them, but they would have had to put their children in the public school system. My relative became gradually depressed, manifesting itself more prominently after a death in the family, finally going to the clinical level. A psychotherapist for some reason endorsed some very irrational fantasies on her part, leading to more self-destructive mental and emotional periods. She joined the church seeking stability and meaning in her life.

Not that this is everyone's path, but I don't see an existential feeling of troubling times so much as a person constantly bombarded with conservative and negative feelings of persecution by those around her, who was convinced to sacrifice real meaning and stability in her life for rather racist principles, who's psyche eventually collapsed from the strain, leading to her accepting the kool-aid a broken person.

How many of the people in those churches have been broken in to them, how many could have had any number of paths to meaning in their lives without the conservative yoke, how much of the angst of "moral relativism" is really the angst of being broken down by day-to-day bombardment?

It just isn't true that life outside of evangelicalism doesn't contain moral absolutes, it just isn't true that without the rapture life has no meaning.

What is true is that if you break somebody or deny them their opportunities until you've ruined the innate meaning of their lives, they will say what you want to hear.

How very like torture.

To equate Moses to John Hagee is disgraceful, Mr. Lieberman should examine his motives. A Moses neither shall ever be.

Moderate Israelis who would like to find a way to resolve the conflict once and for all are very uncomfortable with Lieberman's unwavering support for the most extreme elements on the Israeli Right. It is ironic and bizarre that a so called "centrist" former Democratic senator from a progressive state has been backing the messianic, radical and often violent Jewish right wing in Israel. I still find it sickening that being aware of this, the voters of Connecticut, a very Blue state, have reelected him.

"I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."

Was that doggone, all loving God expressing his fury on Indonesians when the tsunami blew through?

-- Kitt

...the fact that Katrina also destroyed Trent Lott's home. Wonder how Hagee would explain that.

... that the reason the crazy RW Cris'shuns are so hot'n'heavy on supporting Israel is that they figure that Israel has to be immolated in the War of Armageddon (Har-ma-Giddon, IIRC) with their "enemies" before Christ comes with flaming sword to install "His Kingdom on Earth" (and the Jews that aren't killed can all just go suck eggs)?

Cheers,

It's at times like this we may want to remember that if you actually look back to real US foreign policy history -- i.e., what the US establishment actually did and said, rather than their or our hazy notions of what we'd like to say they did and said -- it has been pretty crazy for a long time.

I always have some degree of optimism that we'll grow out of taking insane things for granted and letting a deluded establishment justify insanity by sheer propaganda and cultural manipulation.

Allowing Reagan to rampage through Central America, Southern Africa, and Afghanistan with murderers, slaughterers, genocidalists, drug dealers, warlords, tyrants, and general thugs -- this was anything but "sane".

Yet this was our foreign policy, and all our establishment really argued about was if Reagan was being bloodier than he had to be and if he was properly informing Congress of his bloody activities.

Sanity in both doing and discussing US foreign policy is something we need to create, to achieve -- it's not something we are able to simply roll back to a saner past. This is new, and the existence of sane writers and researchers in the new alternative media -- blogging -- is helping this painful attempt at sanity along.

[Glenn, from the post]: the Lieberman/Hagee view that God willed it to Israel and can never be negotiated even if it means war?

Hagee wants and welcomes war. All-out war.

Cheers,

We should take a lesson from our BFFs in Saudi Arabia when it comes to citizenship and allegiances. No dual citizenship allowed. Period.

Leave it to our good friends and allies in the war on terror, the Saudis, to come up with elegant solutions to domestic issues. Perhaps we should listen to our beloved friends in Saudi Arabia more when it comes to domestic issues, you know, it's like multiculturalism and stuff. With friends like the Saudis and Israelis, how can the US be perceived as doing anything but "spreading democracy"? I mean, Absolute Monarchy and the Israeli occupation are the first things that come to my mind when I hear the word "Democracy", just like the Busher. No wonder they are so close!

In fact, I am petitioning my local Starbucks for a separate "family room" especially for the women, and banning them from the main area, just like it is for our Democracy loving pals in Saudi Arabia! I am also thinking of petitioning the city to only allow Jews to use the road in front of the Starbucks, just like in Israel.