Posted on 01/14/2007 4:53:30 PM PST by freedomdefender
I am certainly not a Churchill. I am not even a Revel. I am having enough trouble just trying to be a Lapin. But I am issuing a very serious warning about deep consequences, just as they did. It is a warning about the earliest stages of what could become a cataract of disasters if not resisted now.
During the 1930s, Winston Churchill desperately tried to persuade the English people and their government to see that Hitler meant to end their way of life. The British ignored Churchill, which gave Hitler nearly 10 years to build up his military forces. It wasn't until Hitler actually drew blood that the British realized they had a war on their hands. It turned out to be a far longer and more destructive war than it needed to be had Churchill's early warning been heeded.
In 1983, a brave French writer, Jean-Francois Revel, wrote a book called "How Democracies Perish." In this remarkable volume, he described how communism's aim is world conquest. For decades he had been trying to warn of communism's very real threat. Yet in January 1982, a high State Department official said: "We Americans are not solving problems, we are the problem." (Some things never change.) A good portion of the planet fell to communism, which brought misery and death to millions because we failed to recognize in time that others meant to harm us.
Heaven knows there was enough warning during the 1980s of the intention of part of the Islamic world to take yet another crack at world domination. Yet instead of seeing each deadly assault on our interests around the world as a test of our resolve, we ignored it. We failed the test and lost 3,000 Americans in two unforgettable hours.
I am not going to argue that what is happening now is on the same scale as the examples I cite above, but a serious war is being waged against a group of Americans. I am certain that if we lose this war, the consequences for American civilization will be dire.
Phase one of this war I describe is a propaganda blitzkrieg that is eerily reminiscent of how effectively the Goebbels propaganda machine softened up the German people for what was to come.
There is no better term than propaganda blitzkrieg to describe what has been unleashed against Christian conservatives recently.
Consider the long list of anti-Christian books that have been published in recent months. Here are just a few samples of more than 30 similar titles, all from mainstream publishers:
"American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America"
"The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right's Plans for the Rest of Us"
"The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason"
"Piety & Politics: The Right-wing Assault on Religious Freedom"
"Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism"
"Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America"
"Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right"
What is truly alarming is that there are more of these books for sale at your local large book store warning against the perils of fervent Christianity than those warning against the perils of fervent Islam. Does anyone seriously think America is more seriously jeopardized by Christian conservatives than by Islamic zealots? (Yep, that loonytunes loudmouth, Rosie O'DonnelI, said something to that effect on the popular TV show, "The View" - RJ) fear that many Americans believe just that in the same way that many pre-World War II Westerners considered Churchill a bigger threat than Hitler.
Some may say that today's proliferation of anti-Christian print propaganda is nothing to become worried about. To them I ask two questions:
First, would you be so sanguine if the target of this loathsome library were Jewish? Just try changing the titles in some of the books I mention above to reflect anti-Semitism instead of rampant anti-Christianism and you'll see what I mean.
Second, major movements that changed the way Americans felt and acted came about through books, often only one book. Think of Rachel Carson's 1962 error-filled "Silent Spring" that resulted in the pointless banning of the insecticide DDT and many unnecessary deaths. Other books that caused upheavals in our nation were Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," many of Ayn Rand's books and of course "Uncle Tom's Cabin." ("Population Bomb" by Paul Ehrlich is another...I confess reading it as student at university & being mightily impressed by it....but since I'm older & bit wiser, I know now it was a lot of propaganda & hot air & unproven assumptions....the truth is the opposite - RJ)
No, I would advise you not to underestimate the power of books to alter the behavior of the American public, and I fear for an America influenced to detest Christianity by this hate-filled catalog.
It is not just books but popular entertainment also that beams the most lurid anti-Christian propaganda into the hearts and minds of viewers. One need only think of who the real targets of the recent hit movie "Borat" are. The brilliant Jewish moviemaker Sacha Baron Cohen, as his title character, using borderline dishonest wiles, lures some innocent but unsophisticated country folk, obviously Christians, to join him in his outrageously anti-Semitic antics. Cohen then triumphantly claims to have exposed anti-Semitism. In fact, he has revealed nothing other than the latent anti-Christianism of America's social, economic and academic secular elites.
Even the recent PBS documentary, "Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence," managed to do more attacking Christianity than defending Judaism.
Richard Dawkins, an Oxford University professor, is one of the generals in the anti-Christian army of the secular left. American academia treats him with reverence and hangs on his every word when he insists that "religious myths ought not to be tolerated."
For those with a slightly more tolerant outlook, he asks, "It's one thing to say people should be free to believe whatever they like, but should they be free to impose their beliefs on their children?" He suggests that the state should intervene to protect children from their parents' religious beliefs. Needless to say, he means Christian beliefs, of course. Muslim beliefs add to England's charmingly diverse cultural landscape.
The war is against those who regard the Bible to be God's revelation to humanity and the Ten Commandments to be His set of rules for all time. Phase one in this war is to make Christianity, well, sort of socially unacceptable. Something only foolish, poor and ugly people could turn to.
We have seen how a carefully constructed campaign pretty much made it socially unacceptable to drink and drive. For years, there had been stringent laws against drunk driving. They achieved little. In the end, the practice was all but eliminated by groups allied with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and their effective ways of changing the way Americans thought about it.
We have seen how a carefully constructed campaign has pretty much made it socially unacceptable to smoke. In the face of a relentless campaign (dare one call it propaganda?), Americans became docile and forfeited the right to make their own decisions. Nobody was willing to stand up to the no-smoking tyrants. Nobody even asked whether health was sufficient grounds for freedom to be reduced. Now, entire cities and even states have banned smoking, not only in public places but even in privately owned restaurants.
Tyranny comes when citizens are seduced into trading freedom for the promise of safety and security.
Considerably more intellectual energy is being pumped into the propaganda campaign against Christianity than was ever delivered to the anti-smoking or anti-drunk-driving campaigns. Fervent zealots of secularism are flinging themselves into this anti-Christian war with enormous fanaticism.
If they succeed, Christianity will be driven underground, and its benign influence on the character of America will be lost. In its place we shall see a sinister secularism that menaces Bible believers of all faiths. Once the voice of the Bible has been silenced, the war on Western Civilization can begin and we shall see a long night of barbarism descend on the West.
Without a vibrant and vital Christianity, America is doomed, and without America, the West is doomed.
Which is why I, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, devoted to Jewish survival, the Torah and Israel am so terrified of American Christianity caving in.
Many of us Jews are ready to stand with you. But you must lead. You must replace your timidity with nerve and your diffidence with daring and determination. You are under attack. Now is the time to resist it.
Appenently the only one that gets it is George W Bush. God bless him. Pray for our troups!
Excellent article.
Which is why I, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, devoted to Jewish survival, the Torah and Israel am so terrified of American Christianity caving in.
Many of us Jews are ready to stand with you. But you must lead. You must replace your timidity with nerve and your diffidence with daring and determination. You are under attack. Now is the time to resist it.
G-d bless this Rabbi he is correct.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I would reply to the Rabbi, who votes for dems, Jews or Christians, and who votes for republicans, Jews or Christians?
When it comes to people cutting their own throats, I say take the beam out of your eye, Rabbi.
Honey, if you're relying on American Christianity to save you from Islam or Marxism, you're toast.
Buy a gun ... and another, and another, and teach your kids to shoot so you can go down fighting.
It's already over ... the only point now is influencing how your kids or grandkids die.
Rabbi Lapin's take on Borat is the same as mine, i.e. the Borat act is anti-Christian. Writes Lapin: "It is not just books but popular entertainment also that beams the most lurid anti-Christian propaganda into the hearts and minds of viewers. One need only think of who the real targets of the recent hit movie "Borat" are. The brilliant Jewish moviemaker Sacha Baron Cohen, as his title character, using borderline dishonest wiles, lures some innocent but unsophisticated country folk, obviously Christians, to join him in his outrageously anti-Semitic antics. Cohen then triumphantly claims to have exposed anti-Semitism. In fact, he has revealed nothing other than the latent anti-Christianism of America's social, economic and academic secular elites."
You talk about reading so much truth that you have to take a deep breath after taking it all in.
I know that there's antichristian bias because I work in the public schools and I see it all the time. We had a counselor ask us to replace the Christmas tree in the lobby with a "peace tree" because not all of us are Christians. One teacher continually insists to staff and students that there's no real difference between "fundementalist Christians" and "fundementalist Moslems." I stood in amazement when a group from Ukiah visited my school to put on a show about "American history" and proceeded to link Christianity with slavery and oppression of minorities and women.
The only good news is that most of the secular Christ haters I know tend to be cowards. I can't see them taking up arms and hauling people away in the dark of night. What I can see is the steady erosion of freedom and the passage of laws that will compel good police and prosecutors to sadly shake their heads enforcing something that they don't agree with but feel compelled to comply with out of duty and honor. I work alongside those people, too - the ones who agree that it's foolish to leave the Christian virtues out of the school curriculum but also feel as if they should be following precendent and court rulings on the matter.
Speaking personally, I've had radically secular neighbors and outspokenly Christian neighbors. The Christians were much, much nicer to live next door to.
What does Bush "get?" He is stuck in a little war in Iraq while stringently ignoring the Adolph Stalin entity across the border in Iran.
There is a huge difference between secular Jews (read atheists) and practicing Jews who believe in God. That difference shows in many ways, including voting patterns. There are many Jewish FReepers. May there be many more.
Good article, but about 50 or so years to late.
It is past time to stop it. It is now considered "conventional wisdom" that Christians are a threat to peace and for the betterment of all that religion needs to be abolished. Even here on FR, a conservative forum, I have had quite a number of people say "You know, you Christians scare me."
The night is falling, when no one can work. Our calling is pray and labor in this twilight time for the souls that can be saved.
The dirty little secret of Christianity is that most dedicated Christians are cowards when it comes to public controversy. They seem to want what the anti-Christians want for them: To keep it all within four walls. That way lies death.
Not even that. The Saracens will write the only history books that will exist and Islamic history begins with Mohammed and includes nothing that is not Islam. All the non-Islamic past will be eradicated.
Lapin's message seems to be that Americans are being softened up to accept anti-Christian laws in the future. Like prohibitions on the preaching of the Gospel, or on preaching some of the moral principles of Christianity, like monogomous marriage between man and woman. In some European countries - and Canada - the "hate crime" laws already seem to come close to making conservative Christianity illegal. This is what Lapin's getting at: The popular culture is pushing a pervasively anti-Christian message (through books, TV, music, movies), and after that, Americans could be willing to accept laws that effectively criminalize Christianity. It's happened before - in communist countries - so it would be denying history to say it can't possibly happen again.
"It's already over ... the only point now is influencing how your kids or grandkids die."
Whoa. Our usually sunny, chipper Tax-chick has turned bleak on us. There's always hope, TC.
Once the voice of the Bible has been silenced, the war on Western Civilization can begin and we shall see a long night of barbarism descend on the West.
Who has the loudest voice, the Muslim terrorists or the Christians in America?
We both know that answer, and it's not good is it? :(
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