Judeo-Christians: Pied Pipers for Serial War
Charles E. Carlson Mar 01, 2007
Part I, Polls reveal that most war support comes
from inside “evangelical” churches
Our Serial Wars cannot be ended for only one reason. There remains
one big, stubborn, grassroots block of support for war that will not fade
away. We Hold These Truths calls it Judeo-Christianity; to others it
is Christian-Zionism, and many adherents consider themselves “Evangelicals.”
We avoid this latter term because not all evangelicals are Judeo-Christians,
as we will explain later. Judeo-Christianity, by whatever name, is
anomalous, unique from all other forms of Christianity in its near total
support for any war in which Muslims are on the receiving end, or from which
war Israel is perceived to be a beneficiary.
Ingrained into Judeo-Christianity is a shallowly buried propensity to hate
Islam. It is sinister in its strange callousness that ignores suffering
if Muslims or Arabs are the victims. But unlike most other sinister
movements, Judeo-Christianity is explicable. It has its own unique
logic system, is not at all opaque, and is vulnerable to being understood.
Most encouraging, it is possible to change Judeo-Christians because they
are almost 100% decent and loving persons who want to be Christ-like.
Its adherents are our closest friends, brothers, wives, and parents.
In trying to do good for Israel they enable death; but they are deserving
of rescue. Judeo-Christians themselves are the most tragic victims of their
own error!
In this series we will first show from recent respected polls and surveys
that Judeo-Christianity is the primary warmaking super-sect in America; it
is also the political backbone support for those who make war as a profession.
In Part II we will provide our ideas for changing Judeo-Christianity in the
best interest of those caught up in it, as this author once was. If
you are in a hurry and want to read ahead, we offer a list of previous editorials
on the beliefs that guide Judeo-Christianity, for we have written on this
theme since a few days before the first Gulf War in 1990.
America’s Serial Wars and its support for Israel’s 60 year conflict with
its Arab neighbors is lately dependant exclusively on a wedge of rock-hard
Judeo-Christian support. This Administration’s stated intent is to continue
the present occupations and to expand what it euphemistically calls “war”
to oil rich Sudan and Iran. Judeo-Christian support is one well meaning
vector for spreading the politically created propaganda for mass murder and
occupation put forth in the well know agenda of those called Neo-Cons...
However, the Bush administration, and those who control it from behind the
stage, has one problem- lack of public support for more serial wars.
An extensive ongoing Gallup Poll dated February 23, 2007, tells us that 52%
of all Americans are willing to state: “the United States Made a Mistake
in Sending Troops to Iraq.” (1)
Gallup pollsters on February 23, 2007 told us “white Protestant” Christianity,
a huge group representing 50% of the total sample that Gallup polled, is
in favor of the war by a 55% to 43% margin. In contrast only 21% of
black Protestants support the war, as do only 33% of those who claim no religion
at all. American Jews oppose the most dramatically, with only 17% in
support. Who then runs up the President’s support base? -“Evangelicals.”
(1)
The Gallup poll does not break down the huge “white Protestant” block into
its vital components, but fortunately the Pew Charitable Trust’s poll taken
just before the November 2006 election, on a very similar question, does.
So by piecing together the results of both polls the ice clear facts come
out.
The Pew Research Center digs deep into how religions vote about war and tells
us that only about 35% of all Americans of every religion (and of no religion
at all) have confidence in the administration. (2)
So, why doesn’t Congress rise up to stop the President from sending more
men to Iraq and Afghanistan, which it can legally do? Because the present
52-46% overall margin is not wide enough to frighten the cowardly Congress
into action. Most members seem to think they can play the middle ground
and be reelected in 2008.
Serial Wars are like serial killings: they only stop when the killer is caught.
The reason neither the administration nor the Congress will act positively
to end our serial wars is because every member wants to be on the right side
of the “Christian Right.” No other significant group supports the war in
Iraq.
If to the contrary, 60% or more of the general public opposed deploying more
troops (presently it’s about 52%) the Congress would find a quick way to
shut down Iraq with or without President Bush’s approval in order to save
their own worthless hides. The numbers tell us the Judeo-Christians
need to be convinced…-everyone else already is convinced! It is absolutely
necessary that each of us know how to identify Judeo-Christians and learn
how to reason with them. These are not aliens from space; they are
often our closest friends and members of our families.
If there is to be change we must know why this large minority still insist
we are doing the right thing in Iraq in spite of staggering death reports.
Lancet, perhaps the most respected independent medical journal, states: (3)
"Over 7% of the entire adult male population of Iraq has already been killed
in violence, with no less than 10% in the worst affected areas covering most
of central Iraq.”
It is stunning to realize this is genocide. The propensity to accept it reaches
its bloody zenith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the
most evangelical of the “Christians,” where a startling 72% stand by the
occupation of Iraq, according to the Gallup poll. Fortunately for our
study, Gallup counts Mormons and “Black Protestants” separately from “White
Protestants.”
The figures scream out at us. Every group is against more war in Iraq
except Judeo-Christians. A single power faction that openly controls
the administration, lately called the Neo-Cons, actually takes credit for
thrusting us into a war-based economic society...their plan for it is public
knowledge. The Neo-Cons get away with literal murder because
they have a private power base within organized religion that is largely
made up of our friends and neighbors and families. Strangely, the “Christian
Right” boldly claims to be “pro-life” but supports the Neo-Cons’ agenda of
constant death by serial wars. How can that make sense?
Judeo-Christians vote as they do on account of their last days expectations
for the Middle East; a political state of Israel is central to their eschatology
(end-times view). From their distinct but similar prophetic beliefs
Mormons arrive at the same conclusion: war is justifiable if it is war for
Israel, and they consider our wars largely against Muslims who are the enemy
of Israel. This conclusion is so important it can not be overstated.
It is the essence of America’s support for every conflict in which Islam
can be made an issue... Please consider our most recent story on this
issue: “Is the Christian Right Seeking the Way?” (4)
The Pew Trust Polls separate the huge Protestant group into “Mainline,” and
Evangelical. This pollster has long recognized that they do not vote
the same. The balance of mainline Protestants and Catholics oppose
the war.
The former are old churches, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist and many
more that go back five hundred or more years to the Reformation. Catholics
appear to oppose war and denounce our Iraq experience in about the same ratio
as mainline Protestants. The relatively recent evangelicals date back
no further than the Civil War, and most growth occurred after 1948.
The Pew Charitable Trust’s numbers show us clearly that 58 percent of the
“white evangelical Protestants” (Mormons included) say:
“The United States made the right decision in using force in Iraq to oust
Saddam Hussein.”
Again, only this group now believes the USA was right four years ago; every
other group believes it to have been a mistake. President Bush's approval
rating among evangelicals on Election Day was 70%, and 85% among Mormons,
far higher than among the electorate as a whole. But his support among
white mainline Protestants was only 47%, and his overall support counting
blacks, democrats, and the non-religious sinks to 33%, almost identical to
the negative popularity of the war. Were it not for the Judeo-Christians,
support for the war would be off the bottom of the chart.
A Pew Charitable Trust survey dated October 18, 2006 concluded:
“White evangelical Protestants have become one of the most important parts
of the Republican Party's electoral base, making up over one-third of those
who identify with the GOP and vote for its candidates…Evangelicals remain
the party's most supportive group, but at levels significantly diminished
from where they were in the 2002 and 2004 elections.”
Judeo-Christianity by all its names is responsible for keeping America locked
in the cycle of serial wars. We Hold These Truths has written much
explaining why. We will only repeat here the briefest summary.
Many of us, including your author, have attended and been members of both
mainline and evangelical churches, and we are the same persons when we enter
both places. Why is there such an enormous difference in political
thinking among church goers when the people inside are so similar?
Lutherans, Methodists, and Episcopalians worship the same God and read basically
the same Bibles read in Southern Baptist churches, Assemblies of God and
a host of huge “Community Churches.”
Picture a Southern Baptist church on one corner and a Lutheran church or
a Catholic church across the street. The people who walk into both
are from the same streets, neighborhoods and culture, yet the Baptists are
at least 50% more likely to support war than their neighbors. We suggest
you watch our 43 minute Flash Presentation called Christian Zionist Roots
(5), found on our homepage.
Conclusion
All the Gallup and Pew polls on war popularity have demonstrated beyond a
shadow of a doubt that the 70 million or so Judeo-Christians are leading
the rest of us into war! If we don’t want serials wars to continue
to dominate our culture, we need to change how these people think and vote.
We might even save one of their children from becoming an explosion victim
in Iraq. We must convince them, unless of course they can show us that
these wars are Godly and good for us.
Preview- Part II
Your author is convinced Judeo-Christians are themselves being damaged by
the Serial Wars. Their children are the most encouraged to enlist and learn
to do the dirty work of war; murder, torture, rape; their children are among
those maimed, wounded and mentally warped in the name of patriotism…patriotism
that has Israel, not America at its roots.
The immorality of our current serial wars should be an acceptable topic for
discussion in church, especially for youth groups. Churches must stop
telling youth it is patriotic to fight in Iraq without discussing the brutal
facts of war! Judeo-Christian churches cannot even pray for peace,
say nothing criticizing the conduct of war and most do not tell their own
children what little they do know.
Moreover, Christian missions are suffering as a result of the USA’s new reputation
as the international bully. Many of these missionaries are evangelicals
who we know first hand. We will provide some examples of how the mission
of Christ is being destroyed by the backlash of callousness and racism; yes,
I do mean “Christian” racism.
Finally, Judeo-Christianity is not following Christ, therefore it is at risk
before God. Those who enter the Mainline church across the street may,
and should be correctly taught that only Jesus Christ is the fulfillment
of Biblical prophecy. God is not a political state in the desert.
We certainly do not endorse the social gospel so common in the mainline churches
during the last century, but the disease of racism and hatred spawned by
Judeo-Christianity puts the “social gospel” to pale. It is up to church
laymen, particularly fathers, to demand reform wherever they take their family
for teaching.
Our next article in this series: “Judeo-Christians Pay the Price of
War, the Victims of Their Own Error”
Endnotes:
(1) Gallup Poll http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=1241
(2) “Will Evangelicals Desert the GOP?” (Pew Charitable Trust) whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=1249
(3) “Excess Mortality in Iraq,” the Lancet, http://www.whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=1251
(4) “Is the Christian Right Seeking the Way?”, http://www.whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=1079
(5) “Christian Zionist Roots”, Audio/Visual, http://www.whtt.org/show
http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=1254