Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Trump's 4th Century Fan Base

Need proof that Trump's demented Christian Zionist fan base hasn't moved on since the 4th century?

Here they are today:

"While video streamed on television of [Palestinian] protesters bleeding and dying on the ground, I noticed very quickly a stark contrast on my social media feeds, where relatives and friends back home seemed to rejoice in the chaos. The turmoil in Gaza, according to them, represented a full vindication of the decision [to move the US embassy to Jerusalem] and further proof that something otherworldly was taking place in Israel... Growing up in rural Indiana, I was raised on a steady diet of conspiracy theories and apocalyptic dogma. Objects as innocuous as the clouds in the sky or tasks as commonplace as boiling water were imbued with spiritual import. According to my family, Satan was as ever-present as the hum of the refrigerator, and every new day meant another opportunity to resist and battle him with the word of God. Going astray, or simply entertaining an impure thought, was tantamount to being damned to a pit of fire for eternity. Every Sunday we were reminded just how dire the battle was. Our preacher worked himself into a drenching sweat as he paced our church's stage, his dog-eared Bible in hand, his gaze turned toward the ceiling as he pleaded with the almighty father to forgive his doomed flock. There was no grey area when it came to salvation. You were either among the chosen or destined to suffer, and our fate hinged on our every decision." ('They see glory': Trump's evangelical base sees doomsday prophecy in Gaza violence - and they're thrilled, Jared Yates Sexton, alternet.org, 15/5/18)

And here they were way back then:

"This was another country and they did things differently there. It was a time when a monk might talk personally with Christ, walk with John the Baptist and feel the tears of a prophet fall from heaven onto his skin. The world then still glimmered with miracles: the blind were still healed, the faithful still resurrected from the tomb, the holy still walked on water... This was also a world of evil apparitions too, not just holy ones: a place where Satan might walk past you in the road and a demon might sit next to you at dinner; a world in which your immortal soul was in perpetual peril." (The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, Catherine Nixey, 2017, p 13)

1 comment:

Grappler said...

Another day of shame for Australia:

https://twitter.com/WeAreNotNumbers/status/1001233865980219397