Fear of God: "The Village Voice"

The following are excerpts from the "Village Voice":

The day after the election, James Ridgeway confessed, “The dream has become a nightmare.” By that he meant “the dream of a secular, liberal democracy.” Why? Because, he said, “the Christians are stronger than ever.”

On 11-16, Ridgeway blasted “the self-absorbed, selfish Christians who take sanctimonious pride in wrapping themselves in the banners of the civil rights movement, missionary work abroad, giving old clothes to single mothers,” etc. He then blamed Christians for not challenging the Klan in the 1980s, noting it is Jews who fight racism outside the South.

On 11-15, Sharon Lerner warned of “an army of bloodthirsty archconservatives” who constitute the pro-life movement. So bad are things for the pro-abortionists that she says, “the sky could really fall.” She makes it clear that it is the Christians she fears.

On 11-16, Sydney H. Schanberg wondered aloud if the election meant “we’re having a second Civil War.” Though he doubts we are, he nonetheless concludes that “there’s a feel of holy-war fever in America.” He also makes it clear that it is the Christians he fears.

On 11-16, Michael Feingold shows he’s crashed: “The spoliation of our national forests by Bush-based economic interests, joined with the accelerated melting of the polar cap…will bring on what must surely be an increasing parade of natural disasters, pandemics, outbreaks of disease….” He warns that “as the sun gets more dangerous, the air less breathable, the water less drinkable, the hurricanes more frequent,” even the rich will suffer. How did this happen? He says, “this is the election in which American Christianity destroyed itself. Today the church is no longer a religion but a tacky political lobby….” Indeed, “Christianity as currently preached and practiced in Middle America is virtually Satan, by the standards of anyone who strives to follow the teachings of Jesus.”