As I sit here, I am torn between the contradictions of the November 4th Elections.It is hard for some one like me who is Jewish and who supports Gay Marriage, to look at the many hypocrisies in the November 4th Elections.
During the civil rights movement, most of the whites who stood up for Black equality were either Jewish or Gay. But here in California a majority of African Americans about 63% voted against Gay Equality. Here in California in a not so long past A mixed race couple Black and White could not have married, but the laws were changed which allowed blacks to marry whites. The same arguements of the "Yes on Prop 8" groups are the same arguements used against blacks. Ironically by African Americans voting to ban same sex marriage they joined and supported the same groups that said that they were not equal.
Even more disturbing is the Mormon , Church of Latter Day Saints, who were murdered by Christians for their untraditional Polygamist marriage practices and then now joined their former persecutors to persecute Gays and Lesbians.
The double irony is a co-worker of mine who is African American and a Mormon (irony tripled since official Mormon Church policy used to forbid African Americans/Blacks from joining the Mormon Church. To my face she led me to believe that she supported marriage equality, but then I saw here at a "Yes on 8" rally. So I guess she was just a liar, thanks Marcie.
I was born and raised in California. I have always been proud of being a Californian. I am now shamed by the hate and discrimination of a majority of Californians to write hate into our state Constitution.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Palin's Crazy Church
Sarah Palin's Churches
Sarah Palin's churches, her key churches, especially the Wasilla Assembly of God which Palin has as governor of Alaska endorsed and been endorsed by ( in PR and advertising this is called "co-branding" ) are in a religious movement that's independent from any Christian denomination and which falls under the umbrella of the New Apostolic Reformation, of "Third Wave". This movement is NOT the same as Pentecostalism of the Asssemblies of God. Indeed, the General Council of the Assemblies of God decried the movement as a heresy in 1949 and in 2000.
Troutfishing's diary :: ::
The New Apostolic Reformation movement rejects separation of church and state and tells believers they have a god-given mandate to take control of the world and drive out evil and demons that control whole geographic areas.
The movement is HIGHLY focused on youth and on raising up a last generation so-called "Joel's Army" that will be given supernatural powers and will cleanse the world of evil.
The movement uses what it terms "strategic level spiritual warfare", which drives out demon powers from geographic areas. These demon-powers get mapped out by the World Prayer Center, in Colorado Springs. The idea is that when when these demon-powers are driven out crime, divorce and other social problems will be greatly reduced or will go away altogether.
Sarah Palin has touted being prayed over, anointed really, by a leader in expelling territorial demons, a Kenyan minister who made his reputation by supposedly expelling the "spirit of witchcraft" from a Nairobi suburb. But the record shows that crime rates have not significantly changed.
***As has been discussed in a recent Salon.com article, Sarah Palin appears to be a long-time political activist in the Christian conservative movement. Beyond that, Palin specifically has chosen to be publicly endorsed before large crowds if people, by pastors from the Wasilla Assembly of God and other Third Wave / New Apostolic Reformation churches that Palin has, of her own free will, chosen to attend.That's why religious doctrines taught at Palin's churches are relevant. GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin has--through being publicly endorsed by leaders of those churches, which she herself has chosen to attend (of her own free will)--tacitly endorsed those very pastors and their churches. Thus, by extension, Palin has endorsed the Third Wave / New Apostolic Reformation and its doctrine, because churches Palin goes to and has gone to, especially her 25+ year church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, teach Third Wave / New Apostolic Reformation doctine. Wasilla Assembly of God teaches and promotes books and curricula from Rick Joyner, John Bevere and Francis Frangipane, and Wasilla AoG Master's Commission students have gone both to Morningstar Ministry for a "Prophetic conference" and also to the "LA Dream Center". The Wassila Assembly of God is co-hosting, in October, a "prophetic conference" with Morningstar that will be led by the head of Morningstar's prophecy program, Steve Thompson. Meanwhile, the longtime pastor at Palin's Juneau church, the Juneau Christian Center, is a close associate of the father of the "Holy Laughter" anointing, Rodney Howard-Browne. To mention a few of the many connections between Palin's churches and Third Wave / New Apostolic ReformationIf Palin had chosen to appear onstage and been endorsed by leaders of the National Council of Churches that would be interpreted as her endorsement of beliefs held by those groups. Likewise, if she had been appeared onstage with and been endorsed by leaders of Neo-Nazi or Klan groups the same would apply.
Palin has also supported Jews for Jesus and Messianic Judaism two groups which seek to convert Jews into apostacy. Palin's Assembly of God congregation teaches that Jews will burn in hell for rejecting jesus.
Sarah Palin's churches, her key churches, especially the Wasilla Assembly of God which Palin has as governor of Alaska endorsed and been endorsed by ( in PR and advertising this is called "co-branding" ) are in a religious movement that's independent from any Christian denomination and which falls under the umbrella of the New Apostolic Reformation, of "Third Wave". This movement is NOT the same as Pentecostalism of the Asssemblies of God. Indeed, the General Council of the Assemblies of God decried the movement as a heresy in 1949 and in 2000.
Troutfishing's diary :: ::
The New Apostolic Reformation movement rejects separation of church and state and tells believers they have a god-given mandate to take control of the world and drive out evil and demons that control whole geographic areas.
The movement is HIGHLY focused on youth and on raising up a last generation so-called "Joel's Army" that will be given supernatural powers and will cleanse the world of evil.
The movement uses what it terms "strategic level spiritual warfare", which drives out demon powers from geographic areas. These demon-powers get mapped out by the World Prayer Center, in Colorado Springs. The idea is that when when these demon-powers are driven out crime, divorce and other social problems will be greatly reduced or will go away altogether.
Sarah Palin has touted being prayed over, anointed really, by a leader in expelling territorial demons, a Kenyan minister who made his reputation by supposedly expelling the "spirit of witchcraft" from a Nairobi suburb. But the record shows that crime rates have not significantly changed.
***As has been discussed in a recent Salon.com article, Sarah Palin appears to be a long-time political activist in the Christian conservative movement. Beyond that, Palin specifically has chosen to be publicly endorsed before large crowds if people, by pastors from the Wasilla Assembly of God and other Third Wave / New Apostolic Reformation churches that Palin has, of her own free will, chosen to attend.That's why religious doctrines taught at Palin's churches are relevant. GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin has--through being publicly endorsed by leaders of those churches, which she herself has chosen to attend (of her own free will)--tacitly endorsed those very pastors and their churches. Thus, by extension, Palin has endorsed the Third Wave / New Apostolic Reformation and its doctrine, because churches Palin goes to and has gone to, especially her 25+ year church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, teach Third Wave / New Apostolic Reformation doctine. Wasilla Assembly of God teaches and promotes books and curricula from Rick Joyner, John Bevere and Francis Frangipane, and Wasilla AoG Master's Commission students have gone both to Morningstar Ministry for a "Prophetic conference" and also to the "LA Dream Center". The Wassila Assembly of God is co-hosting, in October, a "prophetic conference" with Morningstar that will be led by the head of Morningstar's prophecy program, Steve Thompson. Meanwhile, the longtime pastor at Palin's Juneau church, the Juneau Christian Center, is a close associate of the father of the "Holy Laughter" anointing, Rodney Howard-Browne. To mention a few of the many connections between Palin's churches and Third Wave / New Apostolic ReformationIf Palin had chosen to appear onstage and been endorsed by leaders of the National Council of Churches that would be interpreted as her endorsement of beliefs held by those groups. Likewise, if she had been appeared onstage with and been endorsed by leaders of Neo-Nazi or Klan groups the same would apply.
Palin has also supported Jews for Jesus and Messianic Judaism two groups which seek to convert Jews into apostacy. Palin's Assembly of God congregation teaches that Jews will burn in hell for rejecting jesus.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
McCains Flip-Flop History and his Lies
Here is a list of Just a few John McCain Lies
Signing of the GI Bill: Now enthusiastically for it... after it passed. Previously attacked the Webb Bill. Didn't even bother to vote on it.
http://bravenewfilms.org/...
Campaign reform: On political reform, McCain last January opposed a grassroots lobbying bill he once supported. In 2006, the "New York Sun" reported that his presidential ambitions led McCain to reverse his support of a campaign financial bill called McCain/Feingold.
http://www.nysun.com/...
Alien Minors Act/Immigration: Last October he said he would vote against the development, relief and education for Alien Miners Act that he co-sponsored, and then said he would vote against an immigration bill that he introduced.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Gay Marriage: In 2006, he said on "HARDBALL," quote, I think that gay marriage should be allowed. Then after the commercial break he added, I do not believe that gay marriages should be legal.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Abortion: On abortion, 1999, publicly supporting Roe v. Wade, privately opposing it in a letter to the National Right to Life Committee. In the 2000 debates, he would change the GOP platform to permit exceptions for rape, incest, the life of the mother. May 2007, "flipped", ABCNews.com reported.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
Nuclear Waste: No Storing Nuclear waste at Yucca mountain earlier..now flipped
http://www.lasvegassun.com/...
Negotiating with Kim Jong-Il: Negotiating with Kim Jong-Il not acceptable until President Bush did it last week.
http://bondibox.newsvine.com/...
Negotiating with Cuba/Castro: With Fidel Castro acceptable in 2000, not 2008.
http://vids.myspace.com/...
Negotiating with Hamas/Terrorists: ...with terrorists appropriate when Colin Powell went to Syria and in 2006 when McCain said sooner or later we‘ll talk to Hamas, but not appropriate now re: Obama's willingness to use diplomacy.
http://bondibox.newsvine.com/...
Pakistan: Unilateral action against suspected terrorists in Pakistan; "Confused leadership" when Obama suggested it, not when Bush did it.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/...
Warrantless Wire-taps: Six months ago, presidents had to obey the law, not anymore.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Torture: Torture detainees, no way, except for the CIA. Hold them indefinitely, wrong in 2003, the right move in 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Iraq War: The Iraq war, the right course 2004, stay the course 2005. Today, McCain has always been a Rumsfeld critic.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Tax Cuts: In 2001, he could not in good conscious support them. Now he can.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Estate Tax: 2006, "I agree with President Roosevelt who created it". In 2008, "most unfair".
http://www.crooksandliars.com/...
Privatizing Social Security: This month not for privatizing Social Security, never has been. In 2004, he "didn‘t see how benefits will last without it".
http://www.youtube.com/...
Balanced Budget: In February, promised a balanced budget in four years by April, make that eight years.
http://www.perrspectives.com/...
Windfall Profits Tax: In May, glad to look at the windfall profits tax. By June, that was Jimmy Carter's big idea.
http://flipfloptracker.blogspot.com/...
Offshore Drilling: In 2000, no new off shore drilling. Last month, it would take years to develop. This month, very helpful in the short term.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Coyotes..Bush Big Time Fund Raisers: The Bush fund-raisers McCain called coyotes breaking the law in 2000. By 2006, they were co-chairing McCain fund-raisers.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
"Agents of Intolerance": Buddy Jerry Falwell...an "agent of intolerance in 2000". Kissed Falwell's ass in 2007... The Reverend Hagee and Parsley in, then out this year alone.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Martin Luther King Holiday: In 1983, opposed Martin Luther King Day. Today, all for it.
http://www.boston.com/...
Confederate Flag: In 2000, defended South Carolina's confederate flag as a symbol of heritage. Two years later, McCain calling it, quote, an act of political cowardice not to say the flag should come down. Quote, "everybody said, look out. You can't win in South Carolina if you say that."
http://www.youtube.com/...
Evolution in Public Schools: In 2005, McCain said alternatives to evolution should be taught in school. "Evolving" the opposite position he had taken in 2000.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Restoring the Everglades: On June 5, John McCain traveled to the Everglades to win over Floridians and environmentally-minded voters. There he proclaimed, "I am in favor of doing whatever’s necessary to save the Everglades." Sadly, as ThinkProgress documented, McCain not only opposed $2 billion in funding for the restoration of the Everglades national park, he backed President Bush’s veto of the legislation in 2007. "I believe," he said, "that we should be passing a bill that will authorize legitimate, needed projects without sacrificing fiscal responsibility."
http://www.crooksandliars.com/...
Swiftboating: McCain's sudden embrace of Swiftboating --- which today is synonymous with a concerted effort to lie about an opponent's history --- is all the more deplorable because he has hired retired Col. George "Bud" Day, a proud member of the group that Swiftboated Kerry --- and someone McCain once described as having "tunnel vision" --- to lead what McCain is calling his "Truth Squad."
http://digg.com/...
GITMO/Habeus Corpus:Despite John McCain's outrage last week that the Supreme Court ordered Gitmo detainees know why they were being held, or released -- Political Base has stumbled upon a McCain appearance on Meet the Press in 2005 where he argued they deserved trials, going so far as to say "if it means releasing some of them, you'll have to release them." Shameless.
http://www.politicalbase.com/...
Divestment from South Africa: During his June 2 speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), John McCain called for the international community to target Iran for the kind of worldwide sanctions regime applied to apartheid-era South Africa. Unfortunately, McCain’s lobbyist-advisers Charlie Black and Rick Davis each represented firms doing business with Tehran. Even more unfortunate, John McCain was frequently not among those offering "moral clarity and conviction" in backing "a divestment campaign against South Africa, helping to rid that nation of the evil of apartheid."
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Opposing Hurricane Katrina Investigations: During a June 4th town hall meeting in Baton Rouge, John McCain answered a reporter’s question regarding Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the New Orleans levees by announcing:
"I’ve supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy. I’ve been here to New Orleans. I’ve met with people on the ground."
As it turns out, not so much. McCain’s revisionist history neglects to mention that in 2005 and 2006 he twice voted against a commission to study the government’s response to Katrina. He also opposed three separate emergency funding measures providing relief to Katrina victims, including the extension of five months of Medicaid benefits. And as ThinkProgress pointed out, "until traveling there one month ago, McCain had made just one public tour of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina touched down in August 2005."
http://thinkprogress.org/...
McCain On His Economic Abilities: "I have not. I have not. Actually, I have not." "I said that I am stronger on national security issues because of all the time I spent in the military and others. I am very strong on the economy. I understand it. I have a lot more experience than my opponent."
-- Sen. John McCain, in an interview on ABC News, when asked why he "admitted that you're not exactly an expert when it comes to the economy."
However, NBC News compiles past McCain quotes in which he said "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should" or "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/...
On Criticizing Obama While "Overseas": Traveling in Colombia, he told reporters that he wouldn't criticize Obama while he was overseas, but on the plane, he blasted Obama’s opposition to the proposed Colombia free trade...
http://blogs.abcnews.com/...
UPDATES from KOSsacks:
Temperment and Temper: "My temper has often been both a matter of public speculation and personal concern," he wrote in a 2002 memoir. "I have a temper, to state the obvious, which I have tried to control with varying degrees of success because it does not always serve my interest or the public's." Not true and not under control, according to many of those on the "W"rong side of McCain's famous temper.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Drilling For Oil and Automobile Efficiency: "Last week, Senator McCain reversed himself and said we need to drill more. Today, he has reversed years of failing to support more efficient cars, new energy technologies and green jobs.
http://www.speaker.gov/...
Offshore Drilling: Two weeks ago, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) offered "a bit of a capitulation to the oil companies" by announcing that he would end the federal ban on offshore oil drilling. Not only is McCain’s move a break with environmental activist, but it is also "a reversal of the position he took in his 2000 presidential campaign.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Payroll Taxes: "When he was asked in 2005 whether he could see himself lifting the cap on the payroll tax, (McCain) said, 'I could.' Two years later, during a May 13, 2007, appearance on "Meet the Press," Russert asked McCain if he was still open to lifting the Social Security tax cap as part of a compromise. "Am I opposed to tax increases?" said McCain. "Yes. But we've got to sit down together and figure out what our options are, and tough decisions have to be made, Republicans and Democrats. And I know how to do that." Asked about the 2005 remark, a McCain spokesman acknowledged the tension with his current position while arguing that the Arizona senator's criticism of his Democratic rival is still valid because McCain has spoken out against higher Social Security taxes as a 2008 White House hopeful.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/...
Ethics Reform and Abramoff: On the stump, Sen. John McCain often cites his work tackling the excesses of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff as evidence of his sturdy ethical compass. A little-known document, however, shows that McCain may have taken steps to protect his Republican colleagues from the scope of his investigation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Signing of the GI Bill: Now enthusiastically for it... after it passed. Previously attacked the Webb Bill. Didn't even bother to vote on it.
http://bravenewfilms.org/...
Campaign reform: On political reform, McCain last January opposed a grassroots lobbying bill he once supported. In 2006, the "New York Sun" reported that his presidential ambitions led McCain to reverse his support of a campaign financial bill called McCain/Feingold.
http://www.nysun.com/...
Alien Minors Act/Immigration: Last October he said he would vote against the development, relief and education for Alien Miners Act that he co-sponsored, and then said he would vote against an immigration bill that he introduced.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Gay Marriage: In 2006, he said on "HARDBALL," quote, I think that gay marriage should be allowed. Then after the commercial break he added, I do not believe that gay marriages should be legal.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Abortion: On abortion, 1999, publicly supporting Roe v. Wade, privately opposing it in a letter to the National Right to Life Committee. In the 2000 debates, he would change the GOP platform to permit exceptions for rape, incest, the life of the mother. May 2007, "flipped", ABCNews.com reported.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
Nuclear Waste: No Storing Nuclear waste at Yucca mountain earlier..now flipped
http://www.lasvegassun.com/...
Negotiating with Kim Jong-Il: Negotiating with Kim Jong-Il not acceptable until President Bush did it last week.
http://bondibox.newsvine.com/...
Negotiating with Cuba/Castro: With Fidel Castro acceptable in 2000, not 2008.
http://vids.myspace.com/...
Negotiating with Hamas/Terrorists: ...with terrorists appropriate when Colin Powell went to Syria and in 2006 when McCain said sooner or later we‘ll talk to Hamas, but not appropriate now re: Obama's willingness to use diplomacy.
http://bondibox.newsvine.com/...
Pakistan: Unilateral action against suspected terrorists in Pakistan; "Confused leadership" when Obama suggested it, not when Bush did it.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/...
Warrantless Wire-taps: Six months ago, presidents had to obey the law, not anymore.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Torture: Torture detainees, no way, except for the CIA. Hold them indefinitely, wrong in 2003, the right move in 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Iraq War: The Iraq war, the right course 2004, stay the course 2005. Today, McCain has always been a Rumsfeld critic.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Tax Cuts: In 2001, he could not in good conscious support them. Now he can.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Estate Tax: 2006, "I agree with President Roosevelt who created it". In 2008, "most unfair".
http://www.crooksandliars.com/...
Privatizing Social Security: This month not for privatizing Social Security, never has been. In 2004, he "didn‘t see how benefits will last without it".
http://www.youtube.com/...
Balanced Budget: In February, promised a balanced budget in four years by April, make that eight years.
http://www.perrspectives.com/...
Windfall Profits Tax: In May, glad to look at the windfall profits tax. By June, that was Jimmy Carter's big idea.
http://flipfloptracker.blogspot.com/...
Offshore Drilling: In 2000, no new off shore drilling. Last month, it would take years to develop. This month, very helpful in the short term.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Coyotes..Bush Big Time Fund Raisers: The Bush fund-raisers McCain called coyotes breaking the law in 2000. By 2006, they were co-chairing McCain fund-raisers.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
"Agents of Intolerance": Buddy Jerry Falwell...an "agent of intolerance in 2000". Kissed Falwell's ass in 2007... The Reverend Hagee and Parsley in, then out this year alone.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Martin Luther King Holiday: In 1983, opposed Martin Luther King Day. Today, all for it.
http://www.boston.com/...
Confederate Flag: In 2000, defended South Carolina's confederate flag as a symbol of heritage. Two years later, McCain calling it, quote, an act of political cowardice not to say the flag should come down. Quote, "everybody said, look out. You can't win in South Carolina if you say that."
http://www.youtube.com/...
Evolution in Public Schools: In 2005, McCain said alternatives to evolution should be taught in school. "Evolving" the opposite position he had taken in 2000.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Restoring the Everglades: On June 5, John McCain traveled to the Everglades to win over Floridians and environmentally-minded voters. There he proclaimed, "I am in favor of doing whatever’s necessary to save the Everglades." Sadly, as ThinkProgress documented, McCain not only opposed $2 billion in funding for the restoration of the Everglades national park, he backed President Bush’s veto of the legislation in 2007. "I believe," he said, "that we should be passing a bill that will authorize legitimate, needed projects without sacrificing fiscal responsibility."
http://www.crooksandliars.com/...
Swiftboating: McCain's sudden embrace of Swiftboating --- which today is synonymous with a concerted effort to lie about an opponent's history --- is all the more deplorable because he has hired retired Col. George "Bud" Day, a proud member of the group that Swiftboated Kerry --- and someone McCain once described as having "tunnel vision" --- to lead what McCain is calling his "Truth Squad."
http://digg.com/...
GITMO/Habeus Corpus:Despite John McCain's outrage last week that the Supreme Court ordered Gitmo detainees know why they were being held, or released -- Political Base has stumbled upon a McCain appearance on Meet the Press in 2005 where he argued they deserved trials, going so far as to say "if it means releasing some of them, you'll have to release them." Shameless.
http://www.politicalbase.com/...
Divestment from South Africa: During his June 2 speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), John McCain called for the international community to target Iran for the kind of worldwide sanctions regime applied to apartheid-era South Africa. Unfortunately, McCain’s lobbyist-advisers Charlie Black and Rick Davis each represented firms doing business with Tehran. Even more unfortunate, John McCain was frequently not among those offering "moral clarity and conviction" in backing "a divestment campaign against South Africa, helping to rid that nation of the evil of apartheid."
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Opposing Hurricane Katrina Investigations: During a June 4th town hall meeting in Baton Rouge, John McCain answered a reporter’s question regarding Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the New Orleans levees by announcing:
"I’ve supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy. I’ve been here to New Orleans. I’ve met with people on the ground."
As it turns out, not so much. McCain’s revisionist history neglects to mention that in 2005 and 2006 he twice voted against a commission to study the government’s response to Katrina. He also opposed three separate emergency funding measures providing relief to Katrina victims, including the extension of five months of Medicaid benefits. And as ThinkProgress pointed out, "until traveling there one month ago, McCain had made just one public tour of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina touched down in August 2005."
http://thinkprogress.org/...
McCain On His Economic Abilities: "I have not. I have not. Actually, I have not." "I said that I am stronger on national security issues because of all the time I spent in the military and others. I am very strong on the economy. I understand it. I have a lot more experience than my opponent."
-- Sen. John McCain, in an interview on ABC News, when asked why he "admitted that you're not exactly an expert when it comes to the economy."
However, NBC News compiles past McCain quotes in which he said "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should" or "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/...
On Criticizing Obama While "Overseas": Traveling in Colombia, he told reporters that he wouldn't criticize Obama while he was overseas, but on the plane, he blasted Obama’s opposition to the proposed Colombia free trade...
http://blogs.abcnews.com/...
UPDATES from KOSsacks:
Temperment and Temper: "My temper has often been both a matter of public speculation and personal concern," he wrote in a 2002 memoir. "I have a temper, to state the obvious, which I have tried to control with varying degrees of success because it does not always serve my interest or the public's." Not true and not under control, according to many of those on the "W"rong side of McCain's famous temper.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Drilling For Oil and Automobile Efficiency: "Last week, Senator McCain reversed himself and said we need to drill more. Today, he has reversed years of failing to support more efficient cars, new energy technologies and green jobs.
http://www.speaker.gov/...
Offshore Drilling: Two weeks ago, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) offered "a bit of a capitulation to the oil companies" by announcing that he would end the federal ban on offshore oil drilling. Not only is McCain’s move a break with environmental activist, but it is also "a reversal of the position he took in his 2000 presidential campaign.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Payroll Taxes: "When he was asked in 2005 whether he could see himself lifting the cap on the payroll tax, (McCain) said, 'I could.' Two years later, during a May 13, 2007, appearance on "Meet the Press," Russert asked McCain if he was still open to lifting the Social Security tax cap as part of a compromise. "Am I opposed to tax increases?" said McCain. "Yes. But we've got to sit down together and figure out what our options are, and tough decisions have to be made, Republicans and Democrats. And I know how to do that." Asked about the 2005 remark, a McCain spokesman acknowledged the tension with his current position while arguing that the Arizona senator's criticism of his Democratic rival is still valid because McCain has spoken out against higher Social Security taxes as a 2008 White House hopeful.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/...
Ethics Reform and Abramoff: On the stump, Sen. John McCain often cites his work tackling the excesses of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff as evidence of his sturdy ethical compass. A little-known document, however, shows that McCain may have taken steps to protect his Republican colleagues from the scope of his investigation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
McCain's Racism
1) John McCain used the anti-Asian slur 'Gook' publicly for 27 years until he was forced to stop for fear of sabotaging his own presidential ambitions. When asked about his use of the racist term by a news reporter, his response was that 'I hate the gooks.'
2) John McCain voted against declaring Martin Luther King Day a national holiday, and then voted to rescind it.
3) John McCain worked to remove the Navajo Di'neh from their lands in Arizona's Black Mesa (and onto an EPA designated toxic site) for the benefit of powerful mining interests.
4) John McCain endorsed George Wallace, Jr., a favorite speaker among white supremacists.
5) John McCain was a disciple of Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, a man noted as one of only four nonSouthern Republicans to vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
6) John McCain is now for banning affirmative steps to ensure equal opportunity for women and racial minority group after a decade of opposing such measures as unnecessary and divisive. (Of course, McCain is FOR affirmative action to ensure that the U.S. military meets its recruitment goals.)
7) John McCain sought the endorsements of Christian ministers John Hagee and Rod Parsley: Hagee hates Catholics and believes that the Holocaust was ordained by God; Parsley preaches that America's special mission is to destroy Muslims.
8) John McCain fought to keep the Confederate battle flag flying over South Carolina.
9) John McCain kicked off his "Service to America Tour" near Philadephia, Mississippi, the epicenter of the states rights movement and opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Civil rights workers Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney were murdered there in '64. And Ronald Reagan kicked off his 1980 presidential campaign from there with a screed to states rights.
10) John McCain employs Richard Quinn, a man who believes that Nelson Mandela is a “terrorist”; Martin Luther King, Jr. lead African Americans into "a terrible bondage of body and soul”; and that David Duke is a maverick.”
11) John McCain's Latin American policies favor rightwing oppressive regimes.
12) John McCain used the racially charged phrase "tar baby" when responding to a question about divorced fathers posed by a African American.
13) John McCain threw Latino immigrants under the bus in his lunge to win the nativist GOP vote.
14) John McCain was introduced in Batavia this way: "You can have your Tiger Woods. We've got Senator McCain."
15) John McCain promised to start wars in North Korea, Libya, and Iraq during his first presidential campaign.
16) John McCain promised 100 years war in Iraq; entertained Republicans at a townhall meeting with “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran”; and he gave his supporters ‘straight talk’ when he declared, “I'm sorry to tell you, there's going to be other wars.”
17) John McCain sent his own money to the contra guerillas, and even visited their illegal war camp.
18) John McCain keeps race-baiting swiftboaters and lobbyists for dictators on his campaign payroll.
19) John McCain’s Vietnam War buddy, political supporter, virulent Islamophobe, Bud Day, was quoted saying “that the Muslims have said either we kneel, or they’re going to kill us.”
20) John McCain lobbied for an Iraq invasion just days after 9/11, and when it came time to convince the American people, he insisted that the Iraq War would be easily won.
2) John McCain voted against declaring Martin Luther King Day a national holiday, and then voted to rescind it.
3) John McCain worked to remove the Navajo Di'neh from their lands in Arizona's Black Mesa (and onto an EPA designated toxic site) for the benefit of powerful mining interests.
4) John McCain endorsed George Wallace, Jr., a favorite speaker among white supremacists.
5) John McCain was a disciple of Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, a man noted as one of only four nonSouthern Republicans to vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
6) John McCain is now for banning affirmative steps to ensure equal opportunity for women and racial minority group after a decade of opposing such measures as unnecessary and divisive. (Of course, McCain is FOR affirmative action to ensure that the U.S. military meets its recruitment goals.)
7) John McCain sought the endorsements of Christian ministers John Hagee and Rod Parsley: Hagee hates Catholics and believes that the Holocaust was ordained by God; Parsley preaches that America's special mission is to destroy Muslims.
8) John McCain fought to keep the Confederate battle flag flying over South Carolina.
9) John McCain kicked off his "Service to America Tour" near Philadephia, Mississippi, the epicenter of the states rights movement and opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Civil rights workers Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney were murdered there in '64. And Ronald Reagan kicked off his 1980 presidential campaign from there with a screed to states rights.
10) John McCain employs Richard Quinn, a man who believes that Nelson Mandela is a “terrorist”; Martin Luther King, Jr. lead African Americans into "a terrible bondage of body and soul”; and that David Duke is a maverick.”
11) John McCain's Latin American policies favor rightwing oppressive regimes.
12) John McCain used the racially charged phrase "tar baby" when responding to a question about divorced fathers posed by a African American.
13) John McCain threw Latino immigrants under the bus in his lunge to win the nativist GOP vote.
14) John McCain was introduced in Batavia this way: "You can have your Tiger Woods. We've got Senator McCain."
15) John McCain promised to start wars in North Korea, Libya, and Iraq during his first presidential campaign.
16) John McCain promised 100 years war in Iraq; entertained Republicans at a townhall meeting with “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran”; and he gave his supporters ‘straight talk’ when he declared, “I'm sorry to tell you, there's going to be other wars.”
17) John McCain sent his own money to the contra guerillas, and even visited their illegal war camp.
18) John McCain keeps race-baiting swiftboaters and lobbyists for dictators on his campaign payroll.
19) John McCain’s Vietnam War buddy, political supporter, virulent Islamophobe, Bud Day, was quoted saying “that the Muslims have said either we kneel, or they’re going to kill us.”
20) John McCain lobbied for an Iraq invasion just days after 9/11, and when it came time to convince the American people, he insisted that the Iraq War would be easily won.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Jewish Halachic Stance on Capital Punishment
While the Torah supports the death penalty in principle, it places formidable obstacles to its implementation--and the Talmud nearly drove the executioner to extinction. Does Judaism condone capital punishment?
Supporters of the death penalty often cite the Bible to bolster their position. "Ye shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer...he shall surely be put to death" (Numbers 35:31). Indeed, the Torah specifies a full litany of offenses for which a person may be put to death, including murder, idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, violating the Sabbath, wizardry, and rebelling against one's parents. The punishments for each transgression are noted as well--stoning, burning, and slaying by the sword.
But the recording of these laws in Scripture may give a false impression about the actual practice of capital punishment in ancient Israel. While the Torah supports the death penalty in principle, it places formidable obstacles to its implementation. Bible Professor Dr. David Sperling has observed that the well-known lex talionus (law of retaliation) "Thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe" (Exodus 21:23-25) may appear to endorse capital punishment, but it is actually a formula for restricting the punishment to be meted out. "In contrast to the Code of Hammurabi [an earlier legal code well known in the ancient Near East]," Professor Sperling writes, "biblical law limits the death penalty to the murderer--a family member cannot be executed in his/her place" (Exodus 21). Moreover, the defendant may not be put to death unless two (or in some cases three) eyewitnesses testify against him or her.
Each witness must be so certain of his testimony that he personally would be willing to carry out the execution. Deuteronomy 19:13-21 asserts that a false witness is subject to the same punishment as the defendant--including, presumably, death. The Torah also distinguishes between a premeditated murder and unintentional killing. In the case of an unintentional slaying, the killer is permitted to take refuge in one of six cities on the other side of the Jordan River (Numbers 35:9-15, Deuteronomy 4:41-43, Joshua 20). The pattern of not inflicting the ultimate punishment is established early in the Bible. After Cain kills his brother Abel in a fit of rage, God does not demand Cain's life in retribution; instead, Cain is set free to wander the earth. The mark God places on Cain's forehead is not a sign of punishment, as is commonly assumed, but one of protection; it served as a kind of mobile "city of refuge," warding off anyone seeking to avenge the wrong Cain had committed. Interpretations in the Rabbinic Age
The rabbis who compiled the Talmud in the first centuries of the Common Era interpreted and expanded upon the biblical laws governing capital punishment. They too stipulated transgressions deserving of death, among them idolatry, bestiality, blasphemy, illicit sex, violating the Sabbath, witchcraft, and adultery in certain circumstances. Then, in meticulous detail, they linked each crime with its corresponding method of execution (stoning, burning, strangulation, or slaying by the sword). Grisly punishments all--but it is highly doubtful that the rabbis ever actually imposed the death penalty. After a long, elaborate discussion of the class of capital crime befitting the stubborn and rebellious son and a description of how the execution was to be carried out, the Talmud states: "It never happened and it never will happen."
The passage then explains that the entire matter is presented purely for study: "That you may study [the Torah for its own sake] and receive reward" (San hedrin71a). In other words, the discussion of capital punishment in the Talmud seems to exist only in the realm of theoretical speculation, just as--after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem--all the laws of sacrifice were retained and studied long after the sacrifices ceased to be offered. The Trial Capital cases were heard by a court of twenty-three judges (Sanhedrin 2A) and, in some cases, seventy-one judges (Sanhedrin 2A, 15A, & 16A), all of the highest character. "Anyone fit to try capital cases could also try monetary cases," the rabbis stated, "but a person fit to try a monetary case may still be unfit to try a capital case" (Nida 49B). According to Rabbi Judah, a person whose disposition is cruel should be excluded from sitting in judgment in such cases (Sanhedrin 36B). Not only should a person's own record be pure and righteous, but his ancestry had to be free of blemish before he could sit on this court (Sanhedrin 36B). The judges sat on three rising semicircular tiers, as in an amphitheater, in order to see one another, and all murder cases were tried in the light of day; in these ways, everything could be open and aboveboard. Two judge's clerks stood before them, one to the right and the other to the left, and wrote down the arguments of those who would acquit and those who would condemn; both clerks were necessary as a precaution against any mistake. Rabbi Judah said that there were three such clerks: one to record arguments for acquittal, a second to record arguments for conviction, and a third to record arguments for both acquittal and conviction. Witnesses stood in front of these tiers of judges. The stringent demands on witnesses in capital cases rendered almost impossible the likelihood that a defendant would be convicted. To ensure that a witness's testimony was not based on conjecture (e.g. circumstantial evidence), hearsay, simple rumor, or the observations of another witness, the court would "fill the witness with fear." Witnesses were asked to establish the day and hour of the crime and explain the circumstances surrounding it (Sanhedrin 2B). They were then warned that they would be subject to rigorous questioning and relentless cross-examination and held personally responsible should the accused be falsely condemned. Bearing false witness in a capital case was in itself a crime punishable by death (Sanhedrin 9B, 32B, 86A, & 89A). A witness in a capital case had to have seen the entire crime as it was being committed; circumstantial evidence was inadmissible. For example, Rabbi Simeon ben Shatach witnessed the following incident: "I saw a man chasing another man into a ruin; I ran after him and saw a sword in his hand dripping with the other's blood, and the murdered man in his death agony...." Even though he was convinced of the man's guilt, the rabbi could not testify against him, because he did not see the actual crime (Sanhedrin 37b). Not only did witnesses have to see the crime take place, they had to have warned the perpetrator prior to the act that he was about to commit a capital offense. According to Rabbi Judah, a warner even had to inform the perpetrator of the type of execution prescribed for his crime (Sanhedrin 8B). The perpetrator was then obliged to have verbally acknowledged this warning by saying something like, "I know I am warned not to do this"; to have admitted his liability to death by adding something like, "even though I shall be punished by such-and-such manner, yet I want to go ahead and commit this crime"; and to have committed the murder within the time needed to make such an utterance (Makkot 6A). The great eleventh-century commentator Rashi explains this last restriction by suggesting that if a murder was delayed longer than the time necessary to make an utterance, the plea might be accepted that the perpetrator had forgotten the warning altogether. Furthermore, two or three witnesses had to have similarly interacted with the accused.
And on the unlikely chance that such witnesses could be found, the Court could convict the accused only if guilt could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. According to the Talmud, "A doubt in capital charges should always be for the benefit of the accused" (Baba Batra 50B, Sanhedrin 79A). In reaching a verdict, a judge was free to argue in favor of the accused, but not against him. A judge who had argued initially for condemnation could subsequently argue for acquittal, but one who had argued for acquittal could not argue later for condemnation. Acquittal in capital cases required a majority of one vote, condemnation a majority of two.
A verdict could be reversed for acquittal if errors were revealed, but no new evidence was allowed which would reverse a decision from acquittal to condemnation.
Staying the Execution Following a guilty verdict, provisions were made to stay the execution. A herald was dispatched to announce something like: "So-and-so, son of so-and-so, is going forth to be stoned because he committed such-and-such offense, and so-and-so are his witnesses. If anyone has anything to say in his favor, let him come forward and state it."
If someone offered to make a statement in favor of the condemned man, a retrial followed. A person was stationed at the door of the court holding a signaling flag, while a horseman stood at the ready within sight of the signalman.
If one of the judges said he had something further to state in favor of the condemned, the signaler waved his flag, sending the horseman to postpone the execution. Indeed, even if the condemned said he had something further to plead in his own favor, the court was obliged to reconvene (Sanhedrin 42B). Rabbinic attitudes concerning the death penalty are also reflected in statements such as "a Sanhedrin that effects an execution once in seven years is branded a destructive tribunal." Rabbi Elizer Ben Azariah said "once in seventy years." Rabbis Tarfon and Akiba said, "If we were members of a Sanhedrin, nobody would ever be put to death." In that same Gemarra, however, Rabbi Simeon Ben Gamaliel dissented: "If we never condemned anyone to death, we might be considered guilty of promoting violence and bloodshed.... [We] could also multiply shedders of blood in Israel" (all Makkot 7A). Forty years before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., the rabbis abolished capital punishment altogether (Soncino Talmud, Sanhedrin page 161, footnote 10). Rather than applying the four methods of execution themselves, they ruled that punishment should be carried out by divine agencies (Sanhedrin 37B, Ketubot 30A, & 30B). In other words, a punishment so awesome as the taking of a person's life should not be entrusted to fallible human beings, but only to God.
This ruling does not mean the rabbis dispensed with punishment altogether. On the contrary, they expressed no compunction about decreeing corporal punishment--harsh physical suffering. If the rabbis/judges were convinced of a defendant's guilt in a capital case, but the high standard of evidence did not permit execution, he would be sentenced to prison on a ration of bread and water.
The thrust of Jewish tradition and the historical positions of the Reform Movement… impel us to oppose capital punishment in principle and in practice. A person wrongfully flogged for robbery can heal. A person improperly imprisoned for murder can be exonerated and set free. But someone put to death for a crime he/she did not commit can never be redeemed. If we are true to our faith and our tradition, we must respond to the imperative of its teachings and do everything we can to keep our society from committing the ultimate of injustices: the wrongful execution of an innocent person.
Source: Reform Judaism Magazine, Summer 2002.
Rabbi Daniel Polish, HUC-JIR class of 1968, is director of the Joint Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism and co-author with Rabbis Daniel Syme and Bernard Zlotowitz of Drugs, Sex and Integrity (UAHC Press).
Supporters of the death penalty often cite the Bible to bolster their position. "Ye shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer...he shall surely be put to death" (Numbers 35:31). Indeed, the Torah specifies a full litany of offenses for which a person may be put to death, including murder, idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, violating the Sabbath, wizardry, and rebelling against one's parents. The punishments for each transgression are noted as well--stoning, burning, and slaying by the sword.
But the recording of these laws in Scripture may give a false impression about the actual practice of capital punishment in ancient Israel. While the Torah supports the death penalty in principle, it places formidable obstacles to its implementation. Bible Professor Dr. David Sperling has observed that the well-known lex talionus (law of retaliation) "Thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe" (Exodus 21:23-25) may appear to endorse capital punishment, but it is actually a formula for restricting the punishment to be meted out. "In contrast to the Code of Hammurabi [an earlier legal code well known in the ancient Near East]," Professor Sperling writes, "biblical law limits the death penalty to the murderer--a family member cannot be executed in his/her place" (Exodus 21). Moreover, the defendant may not be put to death unless two (or in some cases three) eyewitnesses testify against him or her.
Each witness must be so certain of his testimony that he personally would be willing to carry out the execution. Deuteronomy 19:13-21 asserts that a false witness is subject to the same punishment as the defendant--including, presumably, death. The Torah also distinguishes between a premeditated murder and unintentional killing. In the case of an unintentional slaying, the killer is permitted to take refuge in one of six cities on the other side of the Jordan River (Numbers 35:9-15, Deuteronomy 4:41-43, Joshua 20). The pattern of not inflicting the ultimate punishment is established early in the Bible. After Cain kills his brother Abel in a fit of rage, God does not demand Cain's life in retribution; instead, Cain is set free to wander the earth. The mark God places on Cain's forehead is not a sign of punishment, as is commonly assumed, but one of protection; it served as a kind of mobile "city of refuge," warding off anyone seeking to avenge the wrong Cain had committed. Interpretations in the Rabbinic Age
The rabbis who compiled the Talmud in the first centuries of the Common Era interpreted and expanded upon the biblical laws governing capital punishment. They too stipulated transgressions deserving of death, among them idolatry, bestiality, blasphemy, illicit sex, violating the Sabbath, witchcraft, and adultery in certain circumstances. Then, in meticulous detail, they linked each crime with its corresponding method of execution (stoning, burning, strangulation, or slaying by the sword). Grisly punishments all--but it is highly doubtful that the rabbis ever actually imposed the death penalty. After a long, elaborate discussion of the class of capital crime befitting the stubborn and rebellious son and a description of how the execution was to be carried out, the Talmud states: "It never happened and it never will happen."
The passage then explains that the entire matter is presented purely for study: "That you may study [the Torah for its own sake] and receive reward" (San hedrin71a). In other words, the discussion of capital punishment in the Talmud seems to exist only in the realm of theoretical speculation, just as--after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem--all the laws of sacrifice were retained and studied long after the sacrifices ceased to be offered. The Trial Capital cases were heard by a court of twenty-three judges (Sanhedrin 2A) and, in some cases, seventy-one judges (Sanhedrin 2A, 15A, & 16A), all of the highest character. "Anyone fit to try capital cases could also try monetary cases," the rabbis stated, "but a person fit to try a monetary case may still be unfit to try a capital case" (Nida 49B). According to Rabbi Judah, a person whose disposition is cruel should be excluded from sitting in judgment in such cases (Sanhedrin 36B). Not only should a person's own record be pure and righteous, but his ancestry had to be free of blemish before he could sit on this court (Sanhedrin 36B). The judges sat on three rising semicircular tiers, as in an amphitheater, in order to see one another, and all murder cases were tried in the light of day; in these ways, everything could be open and aboveboard. Two judge's clerks stood before them, one to the right and the other to the left, and wrote down the arguments of those who would acquit and those who would condemn; both clerks were necessary as a precaution against any mistake. Rabbi Judah said that there were three such clerks: one to record arguments for acquittal, a second to record arguments for conviction, and a third to record arguments for both acquittal and conviction. Witnesses stood in front of these tiers of judges. The stringent demands on witnesses in capital cases rendered almost impossible the likelihood that a defendant would be convicted. To ensure that a witness's testimony was not based on conjecture (e.g. circumstantial evidence), hearsay, simple rumor, or the observations of another witness, the court would "fill the witness with fear." Witnesses were asked to establish the day and hour of the crime and explain the circumstances surrounding it (Sanhedrin 2B). They were then warned that they would be subject to rigorous questioning and relentless cross-examination and held personally responsible should the accused be falsely condemned. Bearing false witness in a capital case was in itself a crime punishable by death (Sanhedrin 9B, 32B, 86A, & 89A). A witness in a capital case had to have seen the entire crime as it was being committed; circumstantial evidence was inadmissible. For example, Rabbi Simeon ben Shatach witnessed the following incident: "I saw a man chasing another man into a ruin; I ran after him and saw a sword in his hand dripping with the other's blood, and the murdered man in his death agony...." Even though he was convinced of the man's guilt, the rabbi could not testify against him, because he did not see the actual crime (Sanhedrin 37b). Not only did witnesses have to see the crime take place, they had to have warned the perpetrator prior to the act that he was about to commit a capital offense. According to Rabbi Judah, a warner even had to inform the perpetrator of the type of execution prescribed for his crime (Sanhedrin 8B). The perpetrator was then obliged to have verbally acknowledged this warning by saying something like, "I know I am warned not to do this"; to have admitted his liability to death by adding something like, "even though I shall be punished by such-and-such manner, yet I want to go ahead and commit this crime"; and to have committed the murder within the time needed to make such an utterance (Makkot 6A). The great eleventh-century commentator Rashi explains this last restriction by suggesting that if a murder was delayed longer than the time necessary to make an utterance, the plea might be accepted that the perpetrator had forgotten the warning altogether. Furthermore, two or three witnesses had to have similarly interacted with the accused.
And on the unlikely chance that such witnesses could be found, the Court could convict the accused only if guilt could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. According to the Talmud, "A doubt in capital charges should always be for the benefit of the accused" (Baba Batra 50B, Sanhedrin 79A). In reaching a verdict, a judge was free to argue in favor of the accused, but not against him. A judge who had argued initially for condemnation could subsequently argue for acquittal, but one who had argued for acquittal could not argue later for condemnation. Acquittal in capital cases required a majority of one vote, condemnation a majority of two.
A verdict could be reversed for acquittal if errors were revealed, but no new evidence was allowed which would reverse a decision from acquittal to condemnation.
Staying the Execution Following a guilty verdict, provisions were made to stay the execution. A herald was dispatched to announce something like: "So-and-so, son of so-and-so, is going forth to be stoned because he committed such-and-such offense, and so-and-so are his witnesses. If anyone has anything to say in his favor, let him come forward and state it."
If someone offered to make a statement in favor of the condemned man, a retrial followed. A person was stationed at the door of the court holding a signaling flag, while a horseman stood at the ready within sight of the signalman.
If one of the judges said he had something further to state in favor of the condemned, the signaler waved his flag, sending the horseman to postpone the execution. Indeed, even if the condemned said he had something further to plead in his own favor, the court was obliged to reconvene (Sanhedrin 42B). Rabbinic attitudes concerning the death penalty are also reflected in statements such as "a Sanhedrin that effects an execution once in seven years is branded a destructive tribunal." Rabbi Elizer Ben Azariah said "once in seventy years." Rabbis Tarfon and Akiba said, "If we were members of a Sanhedrin, nobody would ever be put to death." In that same Gemarra, however, Rabbi Simeon Ben Gamaliel dissented: "If we never condemned anyone to death, we might be considered guilty of promoting violence and bloodshed.... [We] could also multiply shedders of blood in Israel" (all Makkot 7A). Forty years before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., the rabbis abolished capital punishment altogether (Soncino Talmud, Sanhedrin page 161, footnote 10). Rather than applying the four methods of execution themselves, they ruled that punishment should be carried out by divine agencies (Sanhedrin 37B, Ketubot 30A, & 30B). In other words, a punishment so awesome as the taking of a person's life should not be entrusted to fallible human beings, but only to God.
This ruling does not mean the rabbis dispensed with punishment altogether. On the contrary, they expressed no compunction about decreeing corporal punishment--harsh physical suffering. If the rabbis/judges were convinced of a defendant's guilt in a capital case, but the high standard of evidence did not permit execution, he would be sentenced to prison on a ration of bread and water.
The thrust of Jewish tradition and the historical positions of the Reform Movement… impel us to oppose capital punishment in principle and in practice. A person wrongfully flogged for robbery can heal. A person improperly imprisoned for murder can be exonerated and set free. But someone put to death for a crime he/she did not commit can never be redeemed. If we are true to our faith and our tradition, we must respond to the imperative of its teachings and do everything we can to keep our society from committing the ultimate of injustices: the wrongful execution of an innocent person.
Source: Reform Judaism Magazine, Summer 2002.
Rabbi Daniel Polish, HUC-JIR class of 1968, is director of the Joint Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism and co-author with Rabbis Daniel Syme and Bernard Zlotowitz of Drugs, Sex and Integrity (UAHC Press).
Jewish Perspective on Abortion
Within Christianity, Judaism, Humanism and other religions and ethical systems, the morality of abortion is grounded in the precise belief of the nature of the fetus. There is a general consensus in North America that when the fetus becomes a human person, then abortions should be severely limited. Most would confine abortions at that stage to situations that threaten the life of the pregnant woman; a very few would eliminate access to abortions totally. The problem that generates so much controversy is that no consensus exists in society over the point, between conception and birth, when personhood begins.
Halacha (Jewish law) does define when a fetus becomes a nefesh (person). "...a baby...becomes a full-fledged human being when the head emerges from the womb. Before then, the fetus is considered a 'partial life.' " 5 In the case of a "feet-first" delivery, it happens when most of the fetal body is outside the mother's body.
Jewish beliefs and practice not neatly match either the "pro-life" nor the "pro-choice" points of view. The general principles of modern-day Judaism are that:
The fetus has great value because it is potentially a human life. It gains "full human status at birth only." 2
Abortions are not permitted on the grounds of genetic imperfections of the fetus.
Abortions are permitted to save the mother's life or health.
With the exception of some Orthodox authorities, Judaism supports abortion access for women.
"...each case must be decided individually by a rabbi well-versed in Jewish law." 5
Historical Christianity has considered "ensoulment," the point at which the soul enters the body) as the time when abortions should normally be prohibited. Belief about the timing of this event has varied from the instant of fertilization of the ovum, to 90 days after conception, or later. There has been no consensus among historical Jewish sources about when ensoulment happens. It is regarded as "one of the 'secrets of God' that will be revealed only when the Messiah comes." 1
Abortion-related passages in the Hebrew Scriptures & Talmud:
The Babylonian Talmud Yevamot 69b states that: "the embryo is considered to be mere water until the fortieth day." Afterwards, it is considered subhuman until it is born.
"Rashi, the great 12th century commentator on the Bible and Talmud, states clearly of the fetus 'lav nefesh hu--it is not a person.' The Talmud contains the expression 'ubar yerech imo--the fetus is as the thigh of its mother,' i.e., the fetus is deemed to be part and parcel of the pregnant woman's body." 1 This is grounded in Exodus 21:22. That biblical passage outlines the Mosaic law in a case where a man is responsible for causing a woman's miscarriage, which kills the fetus If the woman survives, then the perpetrator has to pay a fine to the woman's husband. If the woman dies, then the perpetrator is also killed. This indicates that the fetus has value, but does not have the status of a person.
There are two additional passages in the Talmud which shed some light on the Jewish belief about abortion. They imply that the fetus is considered part of the mother, and not a separate entity:
One section states that if a man purchases a cow that is found to be pregnant, then he is the owner both of the cow and the fetus.
Another section states that if a pregnant woman converts to Judaism, that her conversion applies also to her fetus.
Abortions needed to save the life of the mother:
A passage from the Mishna quotes a Jewish legal text from the second century CE. It describes the situation in which a woman's life is endangered during childbirth. A D&X procedure (often called Partial Birth Abortion in recent years) might be used under these conditions today. However, this technique was unknown in ancient times. The legal text states that the fetus must be dismembered and removed limb by limb. However, if "the greater part" of the fetus had already been delivered, then the fetus could not be killed. This is based on the belief that the fetus only becomes a person after most of its body emerges from the birth canal. Before personhood has been reached, it may be necessary to "sacrifice a potential life in order to save a fully existent human life, i.e. the pregnant woman in labor." 1 After the forehead emerges from the birth canal, the fetus is regarded as a person. Neither the baby nor the mother can be killed to save the life of the other.
A second consideration is the principle of self-defense. Some Jewish authorities have asserted that if the fetus placed its mother's life at risk, then the mother should be permitted to kill the fetus to save herself, even if the "greater portion [of its body] had already emerged" from the birth canal.
Other abortions:
Some Jewish authorities have ruled in specific cases:
One case involved a woman who becomes pregnant while nursing a child. Her milk supply would dry up. If the child is allergic to all other forms of nutrition except for its mother's milk, then it would starve. An abortion would be permitted in this case. An abortion of the fetus, a potential person, would be justified to save the life of the child, an actual person.
An abortion would be permissible if the woman was suicidal because of her pregnancy.
Jewish authorities differed in a case where a continued pregnancy would leave the mother permanently deaf. She obtained permission for an abortion from the Chief Rabbi of Israel.
Many Jewish authorities permit abortion in the case of a pregnancy resulting from a rape, if needed in order save her great mental anguish.
Most authorities do not permit abortion in the event that the fetus is genetically defective or will probably pick up a disease from its mother. The rationale is that even though the child will be malformed, disabled, or diseased, it would still be formed in the image of the creator. Rabbi Eliezar Waldenberg is one authority who believes otherwise. He "allows first trimester abortion of a fetus which would be born with a deformity that would cause it to suffer, and termination of a fetus with a lethal fetal defect such as Tay Sachs up to the end of the second trimester of gestation." 3
An abortion is sometimes permitted if the woman suffers great emotional pain about the birth of a child who will experience health problems.
Abortions are not permitted to avoid career inconveniences, or because the woman is unmarried.
In a very unusual case, a woman in New Jersey was pregnant with a hydroencephalic fetus. Its large head prevented a conventional delivery. The physician recommended a Caesarian section. But the woman asked for a D&X procedure on the grounds that the fetus' life was doomed anyway and a C section would weaken her uterus for her next pregnancy. Her rabbinic authorities agreed.
Political aspects of abortion access:
Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform Judaism are formally opposed to government regulation of abortion. They feel that the decision should rest with the woman, her husband, doctor and clergyperson. Some Orthodox authorities agree with this stance.
All recognize that the decision to have an abortion is a difficult one, and is not to be undertaken without considerable thought.
Halacha (Jewish law) does define when a fetus becomes a nefesh (person). "...a baby...becomes a full-fledged human being when the head emerges from the womb. Before then, the fetus is considered a 'partial life.' " 5 In the case of a "feet-first" delivery, it happens when most of the fetal body is outside the mother's body.
Jewish beliefs and practice not neatly match either the "pro-life" nor the "pro-choice" points of view. The general principles of modern-day Judaism are that:
The fetus has great value because it is potentially a human life. It gains "full human status at birth only." 2
Abortions are not permitted on the grounds of genetic imperfections of the fetus.
Abortions are permitted to save the mother's life or health.
With the exception of some Orthodox authorities, Judaism supports abortion access for women.
"...each case must be decided individually by a rabbi well-versed in Jewish law." 5
Historical Christianity has considered "ensoulment," the point at which the soul enters the body) as the time when abortions should normally be prohibited. Belief about the timing of this event has varied from the instant of fertilization of the ovum, to 90 days after conception, or later. There has been no consensus among historical Jewish sources about when ensoulment happens. It is regarded as "one of the 'secrets of God' that will be revealed only when the Messiah comes." 1
Abortion-related passages in the Hebrew Scriptures & Talmud:
The Babylonian Talmud Yevamot 69b states that: "the embryo is considered to be mere water until the fortieth day." Afterwards, it is considered subhuman until it is born.
"Rashi, the great 12th century commentator on the Bible and Talmud, states clearly of the fetus 'lav nefesh hu--it is not a person.' The Talmud contains the expression 'ubar yerech imo--the fetus is as the thigh of its mother,' i.e., the fetus is deemed to be part and parcel of the pregnant woman's body." 1 This is grounded in Exodus 21:22. That biblical passage outlines the Mosaic law in a case where a man is responsible for causing a woman's miscarriage, which kills the fetus If the woman survives, then the perpetrator has to pay a fine to the woman's husband. If the woman dies, then the perpetrator is also killed. This indicates that the fetus has value, but does not have the status of a person.
There are two additional passages in the Talmud which shed some light on the Jewish belief about abortion. They imply that the fetus is considered part of the mother, and not a separate entity:
One section states that if a man purchases a cow that is found to be pregnant, then he is the owner both of the cow and the fetus.
Another section states that if a pregnant woman converts to Judaism, that her conversion applies also to her fetus.
Abortions needed to save the life of the mother:
A passage from the Mishna quotes a Jewish legal text from the second century CE. It describes the situation in which a woman's life is endangered during childbirth. A D&X procedure (often called Partial Birth Abortion in recent years) might be used under these conditions today. However, this technique was unknown in ancient times. The legal text states that the fetus must be dismembered and removed limb by limb. However, if "the greater part" of the fetus had already been delivered, then the fetus could not be killed. This is based on the belief that the fetus only becomes a person after most of its body emerges from the birth canal. Before personhood has been reached, it may be necessary to "sacrifice a potential life in order to save a fully existent human life, i.e. the pregnant woman in labor." 1 After the forehead emerges from the birth canal, the fetus is regarded as a person. Neither the baby nor the mother can be killed to save the life of the other.
A second consideration is the principle of self-defense. Some Jewish authorities have asserted that if the fetus placed its mother's life at risk, then the mother should be permitted to kill the fetus to save herself, even if the "greater portion [of its body] had already emerged" from the birth canal.
Other abortions:
Some Jewish authorities have ruled in specific cases:
One case involved a woman who becomes pregnant while nursing a child. Her milk supply would dry up. If the child is allergic to all other forms of nutrition except for its mother's milk, then it would starve. An abortion would be permitted in this case. An abortion of the fetus, a potential person, would be justified to save the life of the child, an actual person.
An abortion would be permissible if the woman was suicidal because of her pregnancy.
Jewish authorities differed in a case where a continued pregnancy would leave the mother permanently deaf. She obtained permission for an abortion from the Chief Rabbi of Israel.
Many Jewish authorities permit abortion in the case of a pregnancy resulting from a rape, if needed in order save her great mental anguish.
Most authorities do not permit abortion in the event that the fetus is genetically defective or will probably pick up a disease from its mother. The rationale is that even though the child will be malformed, disabled, or diseased, it would still be formed in the image of the creator. Rabbi Eliezar Waldenberg is one authority who believes otherwise. He "allows first trimester abortion of a fetus which would be born with a deformity that would cause it to suffer, and termination of a fetus with a lethal fetal defect such as Tay Sachs up to the end of the second trimester of gestation." 3
An abortion is sometimes permitted if the woman suffers great emotional pain about the birth of a child who will experience health problems.
Abortions are not permitted to avoid career inconveniences, or because the woman is unmarried.
In a very unusual case, a woman in New Jersey was pregnant with a hydroencephalic fetus. Its large head prevented a conventional delivery. The physician recommended a Caesarian section. But the woman asked for a D&X procedure on the grounds that the fetus' life was doomed anyway and a C section would weaken her uterus for her next pregnancy. Her rabbinic authorities agreed.
Political aspects of abortion access:
Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform Judaism are formally opposed to government regulation of abortion. They feel that the decision should rest with the woman, her husband, doctor and clergyperson. Some Orthodox authorities agree with this stance.
All recognize that the decision to have an abortion is a difficult one, and is not to be undertaken without considerable thought.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Diabolically Evil Agenda by Evagenlical Christians Against the State of Israel
The tensions between the United States and Iran reached a new level recently. Following a series of announcements regarding its nuclear program and tests of new weapons systems, Tehran announced on Tuesday that it was purchasing the sophisticated Tor M1 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia. On Friday, the IAEA released its highly anticipated report on the Iranian nuclear program and its failure to meet UN Security Council deadline to stop its uranium enrichment efforts. Secretary of State Condi Rice warned Sunday that it was time for Iran and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop "playing games."
But while the differences between Washington and Tehran are threatening and growing, there are eerie similarities between presidents Bush and Ahmadinejad and their respective fundamentalist followers. For each, the strikingly analogous views regarding religious prophecy, second comings and the end of times for their respective Christian and Shiite eschatologies may be pushing Ahmadinejad and Bush inexorably towards war.
A recent piece by Matthias Kuntzel in the New Republic ("Ahmadinejad's Demons") presents a frightening picture of the Iranian side of the equation. Kuntzel portrays the Ahmadinejad as a "child of the revolution" fostering the cult of martyrdom and mass sacrifice that killed tens of thousands of young Iranians - the Basiji - during the war with Iraq in the 1980's. Just as Ayatollah Khomeini in 1980 called on Iranian children to martyr themselves in battle in the name of Hussein, the third imam and murdered grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, today's Iran of Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khameini have created for a special military unit called "Commando of Voluntary Martyrs." The Martyrs unit now boasts 52,000 members and will soon be in place in every Iranian province.
Central to the ideology of Ahmadinejad and the hard liners in Tehran is the role of the return of the "Twelfth Imam." In Shiite theology, the second coming of this last of the Prophet Muhammad's direct male descendents - the Mahdi - signals the imminent deliverance of the world from evil. As Kuntzel describes:
At the end of this line, there is the "Twelfth Imam," who is named Muhammad. Some call him the Mahdi (the "divinely guided one"), though others say imam Zaman (from sahib-e zaman: "the ruler of time"). He was born in 869, the only son of the eleventh Imam. In 874, he disappeared without a trace, thereby bringing Muhammad's lineage to a close. In Shia mythology, however, the Twelfth Imam survived. The Shia believe that he merely withdrew from public view when he was five and that he will sooner or later emerge from his "occultation" in order to liberate the world from evil.
The killing of Hussein and the return of the Twelfth Imam are essential components of the language - and propaganda - of Ahmadinejad's Iran. He lauded what former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani deemed the "worthwhile" death of martyrdom, "Is there an art that is more beautiful, more divine, more eternal than the art of the martyr's death?" President Ahmadinejad last November declared, "The most important task of our Revolution is to prepare the way for the return of the Twelfth Imam." His government has even funded a research institute to study and if possible hasten the coming of "imam Zaman." And in his September 17, 2005 address to the UN General Assembly, Ahmadinejad implored God for the return of the Mahdi:
"O mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace."
All of which offers disturbing parallels between the Tehran regime and the worldview of President Bush and his fundamentalist followers in the American religious right. From the use of religious imagery and government funding of non-secular initiatives to the meaning of Israel, Armageddon and the second coming of Christ, Bush and the American Taliban see themselves as fulfilling biblical prophecy in the Middle East. In some important ways, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's mirror image may reside in the White House.
The influence and impact of evangelical thinking and language about the End of Times and divine intervention upon the Bush administration is made clear in books like Kevin Phillips' "American Theocracy" and Michael Lind's "Made in Texas." Phillips concludes that George W. Bush is convinced that "God wanted him to be president", a view backed by Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, who reported, "Among the things he said to us was: I believe that God wants me to be president." As White House official Tim Goeglein once put it, "I think President Bush is God's man at this hour, and I say this with a great sense of humility."
President Bush himself has not publicly claimed to have a divine mandate. (As Time reported after September 11, however, "privately, Bush even talked of being chosen by the grace of God to lead at that moment.") But Bush is clear in his belief that God's hand is at work in his presidency. Just last week, Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq, declaring:
"I base a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true. One, I believe there's an Almighty. And, secondly, I believe one of the great gifts of the Almighty is the desire in everybody's soul, regardless of what you look like or where you live, to be free."
During a February 2003 National Prayer Breakfast, the President intoned:
"We can be confident in the ways of Providence...Behind all of life and all of history, there's a dedication and purpose, set by the hand of a just and faithful God."
(For more on Bush's use of religious imagery, see "Bush's Religious Language" in The Nation and this commentary by his former speechwriter, Michael Gerson.)
During a March appearance in Cleveland, President Bush brushed aside the question, "Do you believe this, that the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism are signs of the Apocalypse? And if not, why not?" While Bush may or may not literally believe that Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ are imminent, his radical right Republican base is another matter altogether. Appearing on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight in March, Kevin Phillips noted that while Bush can't publicly state that he literally believes in the biblical prophecy of Armageddon in the Book of Revelations, his conservative Christian allies clearly do:
"A survey by "Newsweek" several years back found that 45 percent of American Christians believed in Armageddon, that it was coming. And about the same percentage thought the anti- Christ was already on Earth. Now, if you were to take the religious Christians, and the Republican coalition includes most of the religious Christians, you probably have about 55 percent of the Republican coalition that believes in this."
By "this," Phillips is referring to the end of times struggle in Israel, the conversion or mass death of Jews with the Second Coming of Christ. As Jerry Falwell put it, "scripture is clear on that." (Falwell also told Newsweek's Howard Fineman that he introduced George W. Bush to Tim LaHaye, author of the "Left Behind" series on the Second Coming and the Rapture.) That future, as Rod Dreher described it in the National Review four years ago:
"To Jews who adhere to ancient tradition, whose number include religious Israeli nationalists, the long-awaited Messiah will return to become the king of Israel and high priest of a rebuilt Temple, which can only be on Temple Mount. For Christian fundamentalists, Jesus Christ's return at the height of the battle of Armageddon, in which forces of the Antichrist clash in Israel with a 200 million-man army from the East, will require a Third Temple from which the Lord will begin a millennial reign."
The result for Bush's amen corner is what Fineman described as "Apocalypse Politics." That entails above all unswerving support for Israel. Israel is seen as ordained by God, a view held by 44% of Americans, according to a 2003 Pew Research survey. But the evangelical Christian Zionist movement goes further, seeing in Israel "a fulfillment of the biblical prophecy about the second coming of Jesus," a belief shared by 36% of Americans in the Pew research. For the Republican religious right, Israel must not only be staunchly supported in its conflict with the Palestinians, but that the conflict itself should be welcomed, even accelerated.
Bush's conservative Christian allies back Israel in both word and deed. Billy Graham and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network offer daily prayers for Israel. For one-time presidential candidate Gary Bauer claimed, "America has an obligation to stand by Israel" because "God has promised that land to the Jewish people." Evangelicals organize pilgrimages and tours of Israel and even provide Jewish settlements in the West Bank with financial support. When the President Bush pressured Ariel Sharon in 2002 to pull back its tanks from towns in the West Bank, the White House received a hundred thousand emails from Falwell's followers and faced the Christian Coalition on Mall in Washington. Bush backed off. As the Village Voice reported in 2004, the Bush White House consulted with rapture Christians before finalizing its policy on Sharon's proposed Gaza withdrawal.
But the friends of Bush are not content to wait for the Second Coming of Christ and with it, the slaughter of the mass of Jews with the conversion of the remaining 144,000. As Falwell put it, the arrival of the End of Times should be prodded, advanced and cajoled:
"The danger, if there is a danger in believing in the imminence of the Lord's return - and I do, is to become a fatalist, that certain things are going to happen regardless and there's nothing we can do about them. That isn't true."
Nowhere is this desire to accelerate biblical prophecy more on display than in the ongoing effort to breed the symbolic "red heifer." Since the early 1990's, fundamentalist Christians in the United States have been trying to help breed the perfect calf that will signal the Second Coming. As the NRO's Dreher described the biblical role of the red heifer:
"The ashes of a flawless red heifer - an extremely rare creature - were required by the ancient Hebrews to purify worshipers who went into the Temple to pray. In modern times, rabbinical law forbids Jews from setting foot on the Temple Mount, thus violating the site where the Holy of Holies dwelled, until and unless they are ritually purified. Without a perfect red heifer to sacrifice, the Third Temple cannot be built, and Moshiach - the Messiah - will not come."
It's no wonder Haaretz columnist David Landau deemed the red heifer "a four-legged bomb" with the potential to "set the entire region on fire."
While some wait for the arrival of the biblically mandated bovine, the apocalyptic theocracies of Washington and Tehran seem on a collision course. As President Bush's supporters view themselves as "Israel's only safety belt," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for Israel to be "wiped off the map." While the mullahs in Tehran look to the return of the Twelfth Imam to deliver them from evil, President Bush's allies await the Second Coming of Christ to usher in a millennium of peace. With their research institutes and breeding programs, the devout on both sides seek to accelerate the End of Times. And as their positions over the Iranian nuclear program harden, Presidents Bush and Ahmadinejad have more in common than they know.
But while the differences between Washington and Tehran are threatening and growing, there are eerie similarities between presidents Bush and Ahmadinejad and their respective fundamentalist followers. For each, the strikingly analogous views regarding religious prophecy, second comings and the end of times for their respective Christian and Shiite eschatologies may be pushing Ahmadinejad and Bush inexorably towards war.
A recent piece by Matthias Kuntzel in the New Republic ("Ahmadinejad's Demons") presents a frightening picture of the Iranian side of the equation. Kuntzel portrays the Ahmadinejad as a "child of the revolution" fostering the cult of martyrdom and mass sacrifice that killed tens of thousands of young Iranians - the Basiji - during the war with Iraq in the 1980's. Just as Ayatollah Khomeini in 1980 called on Iranian children to martyr themselves in battle in the name of Hussein, the third imam and murdered grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, today's Iran of Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khameini have created for a special military unit called "Commando of Voluntary Martyrs." The Martyrs unit now boasts 52,000 members and will soon be in place in every Iranian province.
Central to the ideology of Ahmadinejad and the hard liners in Tehran is the role of the return of the "Twelfth Imam." In Shiite theology, the second coming of this last of the Prophet Muhammad's direct male descendents - the Mahdi - signals the imminent deliverance of the world from evil. As Kuntzel describes:
At the end of this line, there is the "Twelfth Imam," who is named Muhammad. Some call him the Mahdi (the "divinely guided one"), though others say imam Zaman (from sahib-e zaman: "the ruler of time"). He was born in 869, the only son of the eleventh Imam. In 874, he disappeared without a trace, thereby bringing Muhammad's lineage to a close. In Shia mythology, however, the Twelfth Imam survived. The Shia believe that he merely withdrew from public view when he was five and that he will sooner or later emerge from his "occultation" in order to liberate the world from evil.
The killing of Hussein and the return of the Twelfth Imam are essential components of the language - and propaganda - of Ahmadinejad's Iran. He lauded what former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani deemed the "worthwhile" death of martyrdom, "Is there an art that is more beautiful, more divine, more eternal than the art of the martyr's death?" President Ahmadinejad last November declared, "The most important task of our Revolution is to prepare the way for the return of the Twelfth Imam." His government has even funded a research institute to study and if possible hasten the coming of "imam Zaman." And in his September 17, 2005 address to the UN General Assembly, Ahmadinejad implored God for the return of the Mahdi:
"O mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace."
All of which offers disturbing parallels between the Tehran regime and the worldview of President Bush and his fundamentalist followers in the American religious right. From the use of religious imagery and government funding of non-secular initiatives to the meaning of Israel, Armageddon and the second coming of Christ, Bush and the American Taliban see themselves as fulfilling biblical prophecy in the Middle East. In some important ways, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's mirror image may reside in the White House.
The influence and impact of evangelical thinking and language about the End of Times and divine intervention upon the Bush administration is made clear in books like Kevin Phillips' "American Theocracy" and Michael Lind's "Made in Texas." Phillips concludes that George W. Bush is convinced that "God wanted him to be president", a view backed by Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, who reported, "Among the things he said to us was: I believe that God wants me to be president." As White House official Tim Goeglein once put it, "I think President Bush is God's man at this hour, and I say this with a great sense of humility."
President Bush himself has not publicly claimed to have a divine mandate. (As Time reported after September 11, however, "privately, Bush even talked of being chosen by the grace of God to lead at that moment.") But Bush is clear in his belief that God's hand is at work in his presidency. Just last week, Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq, declaring:
"I base a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true. One, I believe there's an Almighty. And, secondly, I believe one of the great gifts of the Almighty is the desire in everybody's soul, regardless of what you look like or where you live, to be free."
During a February 2003 National Prayer Breakfast, the President intoned:
"We can be confident in the ways of Providence...Behind all of life and all of history, there's a dedication and purpose, set by the hand of a just and faithful God."
(For more on Bush's use of religious imagery, see "Bush's Religious Language" in The Nation and this commentary by his former speechwriter, Michael Gerson.)
During a March appearance in Cleveland, President Bush brushed aside the question, "Do you believe this, that the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism are signs of the Apocalypse? And if not, why not?" While Bush may or may not literally believe that Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ are imminent, his radical right Republican base is another matter altogether. Appearing on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight in March, Kevin Phillips noted that while Bush can't publicly state that he literally believes in the biblical prophecy of Armageddon in the Book of Revelations, his conservative Christian allies clearly do:
"A survey by "Newsweek" several years back found that 45 percent of American Christians believed in Armageddon, that it was coming. And about the same percentage thought the anti- Christ was already on Earth. Now, if you were to take the religious Christians, and the Republican coalition includes most of the religious Christians, you probably have about 55 percent of the Republican coalition that believes in this."
By "this," Phillips is referring to the end of times struggle in Israel, the conversion or mass death of Jews with the Second Coming of Christ. As Jerry Falwell put it, "scripture is clear on that." (Falwell also told Newsweek's Howard Fineman that he introduced George W. Bush to Tim LaHaye, author of the "Left Behind" series on the Second Coming and the Rapture.) That future, as Rod Dreher described it in the National Review four years ago:
"To Jews who adhere to ancient tradition, whose number include religious Israeli nationalists, the long-awaited Messiah will return to become the king of Israel and high priest of a rebuilt Temple, which can only be on Temple Mount. For Christian fundamentalists, Jesus Christ's return at the height of the battle of Armageddon, in which forces of the Antichrist clash in Israel with a 200 million-man army from the East, will require a Third Temple from which the Lord will begin a millennial reign."
The result for Bush's amen corner is what Fineman described as "Apocalypse Politics." That entails above all unswerving support for Israel. Israel is seen as ordained by God, a view held by 44% of Americans, according to a 2003 Pew Research survey. But the evangelical Christian Zionist movement goes further, seeing in Israel "a fulfillment of the biblical prophecy about the second coming of Jesus," a belief shared by 36% of Americans in the Pew research. For the Republican religious right, Israel must not only be staunchly supported in its conflict with the Palestinians, but that the conflict itself should be welcomed, even accelerated.
Bush's conservative Christian allies back Israel in both word and deed. Billy Graham and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network offer daily prayers for Israel. For one-time presidential candidate Gary Bauer claimed, "America has an obligation to stand by Israel" because "God has promised that land to the Jewish people." Evangelicals organize pilgrimages and tours of Israel and even provide Jewish settlements in the West Bank with financial support. When the President Bush pressured Ariel Sharon in 2002 to pull back its tanks from towns in the West Bank, the White House received a hundred thousand emails from Falwell's followers and faced the Christian Coalition on Mall in Washington. Bush backed off. As the Village Voice reported in 2004, the Bush White House consulted with rapture Christians before finalizing its policy on Sharon's proposed Gaza withdrawal.
But the friends of Bush are not content to wait for the Second Coming of Christ and with it, the slaughter of the mass of Jews with the conversion of the remaining 144,000. As Falwell put it, the arrival of the End of Times should be prodded, advanced and cajoled:
"The danger, if there is a danger in believing in the imminence of the Lord's return - and I do, is to become a fatalist, that certain things are going to happen regardless and there's nothing we can do about them. That isn't true."
Nowhere is this desire to accelerate biblical prophecy more on display than in the ongoing effort to breed the symbolic "red heifer." Since the early 1990's, fundamentalist Christians in the United States have been trying to help breed the perfect calf that will signal the Second Coming. As the NRO's Dreher described the biblical role of the red heifer:
"The ashes of a flawless red heifer - an extremely rare creature - were required by the ancient Hebrews to purify worshipers who went into the Temple to pray. In modern times, rabbinical law forbids Jews from setting foot on the Temple Mount, thus violating the site where the Holy of Holies dwelled, until and unless they are ritually purified. Without a perfect red heifer to sacrifice, the Third Temple cannot be built, and Moshiach - the Messiah - will not come."
It's no wonder Haaretz columnist David Landau deemed the red heifer "a four-legged bomb" with the potential to "set the entire region on fire."
While some wait for the arrival of the biblically mandated bovine, the apocalyptic theocracies of Washington and Tehran seem on a collision course. As President Bush's supporters view themselves as "Israel's only safety belt," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for Israel to be "wiped off the map." While the mullahs in Tehran look to the return of the Twelfth Imam to deliver them from evil, President Bush's allies await the Second Coming of Christ to usher in a millennium of peace. With their research institutes and breeding programs, the devout on both sides seek to accelerate the End of Times. And as their positions over the Iranian nuclear program harden, Presidents Bush and Ahmadinejad have more in common than they know.
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