Election Pulpits: They're Everywhere This Sunday!

The colors of this Sunday's pulpits, however, will not be red, white and blue. There will be only one color: black. 

"For those who hope for salvation, no political loyalty can ever take precedence over loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel of Life. God is not mocked, and as the Bible clearly teaches, after this passing instant of life on earth, God's great mercy in time will give way to God's perfect judgment in eternity.

I therefore call upon every practicing Catholic in this Diocese to vote. Be faithful to Christ and to your Catholic Faith. May God guide and protect his Holy Church, and may God bless America.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

+Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C.

BISHOP OF PEORIA"

"...no political loyalty can ever take precedence." 

This Sunday the pulpits will be overflowing with voting "suggestions". And some suggestions might be stronger than others, implying that if you don't vote the way God wants you to vote, you're going to hell (ahem, "putting your immortal soul at risk"). Bishop Jenky's mandate to vote (and vote as a Catholic, to be sure) was mild in comparison to what some preachers have been saying. And what they've been saying is essentially God wants you to vote in this way:: for any anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-women's rights, anti-"social justice", hell, any anti-"socialist" politician that has mentioned God and Bible in the same breath a dozen times during their campaign speeches. 

Since the polling results have been so close, their exhortations will smack more of desperation than authority: they might tell their congregations how their religious liberty is at risk besides their immortal souls, or they might spout extreme doom and gloom for the future of civilization. They will deal in extremes simply because they need to frighten their congregants. 

After all, fear has been the Right's highest, most successful commodity.

Their fear-mongering has already worked on me: I'm too afraid to venture out to a church this Sunday. Instead, I'll be praying, as Jesus told me to, in a quiet corner of my home. 

I'll be praying, of course, for sanity to return after the election. 

On March 6th, Will The Rest Of The GOP Candidates Be Raptured?

The end of the world will not come if a Christian Right advocate does not win the race for President.
But tell that to the Christian Right.

With the religiosity that has covered the GOP presidential primary race, it's a wonder that the candidates have not formed a denomination of their own: the "I'm Christian, Dammit!" denomination. The pandering, the moralizing, the attacks on Obama's Christianity have given America a panoply of righteousness that has never been seen since Pat Robertson's bid for political legitimacy. Some people think it came to its peak with Santorum's "vomit" statement about JFK's speech concerning separation of church and state.

However, some people do not. Nor do they want it to peak. They certainly don't want it to die.

Rapturists believe that certain people will be bodily taken to heaven before the end of the world. So it stands to reason that if they think that the end of the world will come with the re-election of Obama or a non-quite-so-overtly-Christian politician, people will be raptured. Yes, I know that's a stretch in reasoning, but look who we're dealing with here:

And as the time line goes the book of Revelations says there will be 3 1/2 years of false peace before the end of the world. obama promised peace in the world. So if Obama is the anti- christ then the time-line would be june 2012. But it is all in God's hands now. - Yahoo Answers 2008
With all that is taking place in the Middle East, the stage is being set for that great day when we see Jesus in the clouds, and I believe it will be in my lifetime. Hallelujah! Are you ready to meet him in the air? If your sins are forgiven, you'll be among those who will be raptured. With all the horrors on this earth, He can't come too soon.
- Exposing Liberal Lies, June 11, 2011

Continuing The Fight For Domination
Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich and Santorum were the Christian Right's biggest pitch yet for political domination, yet even Herman Cain and Ron Paul got into the act.* And although Perry, Bachmann, and Cain are out of the running, their exit statements show no signs of letting up on righteousness (ala the evils of "socialism" and "Obamacare"):

Perry:

“I’m not slipping off in to the sunset. I’m not riding off into the West. We’ve got plenty of work to do right here in the state of Texas,” said Perry at a hotel ballroom just north of Austin, ”and I’ve got plenty of fight left in this 61-year-old body.”

Bachmann:

“Last night the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice and so I have decided to stand aside,” Bachmann told a crowd of supporters in West Des Moines. But, she added, “I will continue fighting to defeat the president’s agenda of socialism.”

And from the looks of it, neither Santorum nor Gingrich will not go silently into that good night. Santorum's endless moralizing will continue to be an echo which will never fully be silenced. And while Romney is still expected to take all-important Michigan (Motown Showdown), a Romney win will not quell the voice of the zealot: gays, feminists and people on food stamps are evil and only a "Jesus Candidate" can save America.

And if Santorum should win...the moralizing will ramp up to a fever pitch, effectively ending any rational debate on many issues.

When Will It End? The Moralizing, That is.

It is a fete accompli that the Christian Right has tasted blood in the political arena with Bachmann, Gingrich, Perry and Santorum. It's voice has been heard loud and clear through the issues of same-sex marriage, contraception and treatment of the poor and disenfranchised. Throughout the last twenty years, the "death" of the Christian Right has been posited without any regard for its ferocity. What we are seeing now is an animal that has political teeth to match that ferocity: it has hold of politicians and their campaigns. It has hold over caucuses. It has hold over billion$ in donations. But it's power may be its downfall: too much moralizing, too much money spent, too much animosity towards Obama and liberalism may become too much for America.

We hope. Because if the Christian Right and its minions get a true hold on America...

it may be the end of the world as we know it.

*Warren Throckmorton, who first uncovered that Paul was boasting about an endorsement from a pastor who advocates for the death penalty for gays and lesbians, notes that Heath [Mike Heath, Iowa State Director of Paul's presidential campaign] was also the Board Chairman of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, one of the most fringe and virulently anti-gay groups in the country. - Right Wing Watch