Watergate Figure Calls Islam Evil & Atheism A Threat genre: Hip-Gnosis & Just Jihad & Six Degrees of Speculation
One of the lead figures in the Watergate scandal during the presidency of Richard Nixon...Chuck Colson...told a conference of Southern Baptists that Islam is evil and atheism is intent on destroying religious beliefs.
Watergate figure Chuck Colson warned a gathering of Southern Baptist pastors Sunday night against what he described as two dire threats: the deadly marriage of Islam and fascism and a new, militant atheism growing in popularity in the West.
At one point, Colson said "Islam is a vicious, evil ... " and then before finishing the sentence, said, "Islamo-fascism is evil incarnate."
"Islamists," Colson said, "are very different. We will die for what we believe. They will kill for what they believe."
"The problem isn't terrorism," Colson said. "The problem is an ideology that is mixed with fascism ... We are in a long war, a long struggle."
Comments about Islam have generated controversy at past Southern Baptist meetings. In 2002, a former Southern Baptist Convention president, the Rev. Jerry Vines, called Muhammad, the Muslim prophet, a "demon-possessed pedophile."
The second threat, Colson said, was evident in the popularity of several best-selling books espousing atheism by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and others.
"This is a virulent strain of atheism which seeks to destroy our belief system," Colson said.
Colson is certainly entitled to his beliefs, but am I the only one who sees a disturbing pattern? Why is it that so many individuals who previously lived lives of debauchery are focused on distinguishing the good people from the bad? Perhaps their understanding of the dynamics that led to their own fall from grace makes them more prone to suspicion?
Maybe the equation follows a rationale that once you've been able to deny decency in your own pursuit of power, money, or self-gratification...without regard for the damage it may inflict upon others...you assume everyone else is teetering on the same precipice. What these individuals may fail to realize is that they are members of a small minority...which more likely indicates that the real issue is their inability to process their own questionable character flaws.
Instead of attempting to identify the flaws of others, wouldn't these individuals be better served to immerse themselves in self-reflection in the hopes of coming to grips with the demons that allowed them to abandon civility? Demonizing others seems to be nothing more than transference designed to elevate the fragile self at the expense of another. I just wish we would stop appointing and electing these people to positions of influence.
Daniel DiRito | June 10, 2007 | 10:23 PM
Comments
1 On June 12, 2007 at 8:22 PM, RGJ/Dallas112262 wrote —
How about just a straight analysis of what Mr. Colson said and why it was wrong? And BTW, please... the word transference when applied to anything other than transportation or money is not a valid word...
Psychobabble... And wishes are for horses and the little girls who want them... Certainly not for the citizens of a free Republic even one at this ignoble place. What you take two paragraphs describing is called hypocrisy, and you may as well call it your own arm, because it is always that close, for all of us. What you point out is that this kind of crap is now running rampant in the mainstream, as opposed the little trickle that ran through the last few decades. It has changed, and it was changed by The Fear, something we are just coming to grips with, and if you will permit me a small dose of psychobabble...
Just as the Sixties didn't really get going until the early 1970's, the shape of the Post Cold War World is only now becoming clear... The Wall came down in '89, and for a bit the USA was alone on the stage, but like a flabby old Broadway star who has known both the bright lights and the unemployment line, we thought we knew what to do when finally got the stage to ourselves, but alas...
And so we find ourselves obsessed with The Fear, having found the Eternal Enemy that our model of existence seems to require and, as it's message of hopelessness grinds against our natural American optimism, we are witness to a great struggle taking place right in front of us… that no one will name. But we all can see it and we all can describe it.
Al Gore, in his speech to the assembled multitude on the occasion of the release of his recent book, "Assault on Reason" referred to a Hindu word that essentially means “Truthsense", the ability, indeed the instinct, to know the truth when you hear it spoken. And conversely, when not in full denial, to see the lie for what it is. As long as the Truth is held highest, then humankind cannot help but progress.
And so we are here, with all the tools and all the knowledge of the world, seeking wisdom as we always have. I can tell you that wisdom is not comfortable and it will not wrap you in the warm blanket of purposeful hate to which Mr. Colson’s words direct you. I can also say that I believe that we, as a people are in essential denial, and as a people we may have to endure something much more terrible than that which we have seen so far, in order that we might again walk as we once did, without The Fear.
The use of historic parallels in argument is to be discouraged as very risky, but long limbs are becoming more comfortable places, in these times. Today’s united and democratic Germany is a model for the modern world, but it is prudent to study just how it became so because for Americans there is a lesson here about what happens to a people who adopt ideals at odds with mere Truth and what the road back may entail. There is a tipping point that is encountered somewhere in the steady drip, drip of the onset of unreality and dictatorship where untruth becomes the only refuge of “sane"…
It is upon this uncertain ground that America walks, and on this path we are still led. I believe the road back runs through same places that any alcoholic who wishes to reclaim his integrity and honor must travel and for the same reasons. And I see that road as beginning on a cold winter morning with the sunrise on January 20th, 2009 when the attention of the entire world will be focused on the gleaming granite steps of our Capitol Building as Albert Gore Jr. take the Oath of Office from Justice Roberts. It will mark the beginning of an American redemption, an awakening of something we once called "hope", it will signal to the rest of the World that America is coming back, that we can be believed again, that we can be believed in again, as well...
And it will be the end of our denial.
He will face a Herculean task, for the stables are not only full of excrement but somebody sold the horses to some shady gamblers and the feedbag is not only quite empty but the seed corn is low as well. No other American, eligible for the Office, is as well equipped to deal with this…
The Election of 2008 will be like none we have ever witnessed, and thanks to modern sensibilities we will get a deal without any smoke filled rooms… After the Deadlock in Denver, Al Gore will emerge as the consensus candidate in 2008, and by consensus I mean just that. He will be nominated by acclimation on the first ballot after being endorsed by all his potential opponents, including a much relieved HRC.
How’s that for a long limb… But comfortable I am…Yes!
RGJ/Dallas112263
PS Please forgive my harsh comments as to your approach to the news… Writers should only listen to Editors who are signing their checks and then with much salt… And free advice is worth exactly that…RGJ
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