Even if a recovering Southern Baptist, I can still recall a little. And truly some of what I learned isn't always a negative. Let's look at Matthew 7:3-5 and see how it might relate to the Reverend Wright scandal.  I have essentially the same post up on Captain Plaid but wanted to use the Daily Kos poll feature to ask why Reverend Wright's remarks are causing such a stir while a good number of the right wing nut jobs seem to get mainstream love or at least tolerance.

During the last election cycle, the religious right organizing of the Patriot Pastors in Ohio, led by  Rod Parsely and Russell Johnson received a lot of attention. Much less well know, was the organization’s meltdown in the wake of charges of electioneering in violation of the non-profit, tax-exempt status of Parsely and Johnson’s churches as well as that of the original Ohio Restoration Project.   But meanwhile, the Patriot Pastor model was exported to Texas -- where the Texas Restoration Project it is not only thriving, but serves as a national model of organizing -- according to a pair of articles in The Dallas Morning News.

Or, if you prefer, Goon in Chief, Blackwater USA.

Troy A. Lyndon, CEO of Left Behind Games, Inc., and developer of the critically panned "convert or die" videogame Left Behind: Eternal Forces, claims to advocate free speech, but has instructed an attorney to foment a flurry of form letters threatening to sue bloggers and their readers into silence. Lyndon’s attorney is demanding that all blog posts and reader comments that contain unspecified information that Left Behind Games deems false or misleading be deleted immediately or bloggers will face legal action, including damages and requests for attorney’s fees.

Here’s what’s happening, why Lyndon is worried, and a revelation about the identity of the attorney and his "Administrator."

Cross-posted with illustrations on Talk to Action

Providing entertainment for the U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq is one thing; the Pentagon’s promotion of a Trojan horse tour that preaches eliminationist theology and crusades for Christ in Islamic nations is another. It is a small wonder that the Department of Defense lends its imprimatur to a conservative Christian organization that invites current as well as former military commanders to help proselytize on military bases. And given the Pentagon's policy of discrimination against gays in the military, it is ironic that the Christian missionary group that they promote sells T-shirts that display what can only be described as homoerotic art. In short, the Pentagon seems to have adopted a new missionary position for the Operation Straight Up Tour and its "Tough-Men Meetings." Basically, the OSU Tour is promoting a holy war against the alleged enemies of Christ -- not unlike, say, a jihad. But there's a difference: jihad does not come with a homoerotic T-shirt.

NOTE: This story, like the Christian Embassy story I've been writing about recently, derives from the investigative research work of Mikey Wenstein's Military Religious Freedom Foundation. If you like this work and want it to continue, please consider making a donation to MRFF. You could also help out by writing to Olberman, Colbert, or John Stewart to suggest they have a MRFF representative on their show to discuss the Pentagon's endorsement of promoting ideology apocalyptic religious warfare among US troops in combat ; Osama Bin Laden is surely cheering from the sidelines, and US troops will probably die due to this PR disaster that will suggest to the Islamic world that, yes indeed, the Pentagon really does want to wage a religious crusade. I don't think most Americans want that, and it's up to us to get that message out.

Courtesy of the US Pentagon, troops in Iraq can now unwind after a hard day's urban warfare and play a video game in which they command a Christian fundamentalist army waging urban warfare in America ! On the streets of New York City !

In the first chapter of his 1964 book entitled "The Far Left", founder of the "Christian Crusade" Billy James Hargis wrote:

The entire left-wing movement is of the devil. As Christians, the first way in which we can recognize the devil and his presence is that he is a liar. He speaks lies, he uses lies, his conspiracy is built on lies. Hear the words of Jesus and His controversy with the Jews: "Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do....

consider: Pastor John Hagee, to address perhaps 1/2 of the Senate, has written that the Nazis functioned as God's "hunters" to drive surviving Jews to settle in Israel. By Hagee's moral calculus, anti-Semitism directed against Jews living outside Israel, and even their mass murder, will help fulfill a "divine plan" if those action drive surviving Jews to flee to Israel where, per Hagee's religious beliefs, they will mostly die in the Mideast conflict Hagee envisions and lobbies for.

Remember the late Carl Sagan?

Never afraid to venture into global politics, Sagan warns us at one point of the danger that a leader under the sway of religious fundamentalism might not try too hard to avoid nuclear Armageddon, reasoning that it was G-d’s plan.

"He might be interested to see what that would be like," Sagan wrote.  "Why slow it down?"

• From an article by Dennis Overbye printed in the International Edition of the Miami Herald

Those of you who are unfamiliar with the writing of Joe Bageant are in for a treat. Those of you who are familiar with the writing of Joe Bageant know the kind of treat you are in for.

Most readers here, have probably heard about the Left Behind series of novels, by Christian right leader Tim LaHaye; and the nasty spin-off kid vid Left Behind: Eternal Forces. Turns out, my friend Joe Bageant (who is hanging out (fishing) in an undisclosed location, but most certainly not with Dick Cheney)wrote an essay about the Left Behind novels awhile back, and he has kindly posted it over at Talk to Action. I can't post the whole thing here, but I can give you the beginning and if you are in the mood for a good read, come on over and check it out. No  hurry of course, unless you need it right now. It will still be there tomorrow.

On Tuesday the mainstream Muslim civil rights group, Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) denounced the hate-based video game, Left Behind:  Eternal Forces. This followed an international media firestorm resulting from a press teleconference last week by DefCon, Christian Alliance for Progress (CAP) and Talk to Action. These groups called on WalMart to stop selling the game. DefCon reports that more than 30,000 people have contacted Walmart so far.  CAIR also called on WalMart to withdraw the game. Meanwhile, several progressive Christian groups led by Crosswalk America, CAP and the Beatitudes Society had also asked the manufacturer to withdraw the game and consumers not to buy it.  The matter has issue has now escalated in both activism and in media coverage.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has joined a growing chorus of groups that have asked WalMart to stop stocking Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a video game based on Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series of novels, that promotes religious warfare to children.  The recent press conference held by DefCon, (Committee to Defend the Constitution,) Talk to Action and Christian Alliance for Progress to announce the effort to get WalMart to stop stocking the game made news around the world.

[image: detail from a painting depicting the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in which French Catholics slaughtered thousands of French Protestants.

The media is beginning to sit up and take notice of citizen concerns about the first Christian instructional video on religious warfare for children.  This morning the San Francisco Chronicle had a front page story describing citizen concerns about the video game Left Behind:  Eternal Forces, which is based on Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series of novels.  The story is titled: 'Convert or die' game divides Christians: Some ask Wal-Mart to drop Left Behind.

At a press conference today in Phoenix, Arizona, a coalition of progressive Christian groups will call for the recall of the hate-based video game Left Behind:  Eternal Forces. Talk to Action's Jonathan Hutson's ground-breaking series remains the definitive critique of the game. Chip Berlet's series on  Tim LaHaye, the author of the series of novels on which the game is based, explains the games' underlying ideology.

CrossWalk America, the Beatitudes Society, Christian Alliance for Progress and The Center for Progressive Christianity will also urge consumers to boycott the video game, which is being released "just in time for the holidays," according to the manufacturer.

Talk to Action co-founders, Bruce Wilson and me,issued a statement at the request of the organizers of the event; posted below.

Well, after many false starts, the video game based on Tim LaHaye's best selling "Left Behind" novels, has finally been released. In diaries here and at Talk to Action, my colleagues Jonathan Hutson and Chip Berlet and I (among others) have been writing about Left Behind:  Eternal Forces for months.  I don't want to reprise all that we have had to say, but I have included some links below.  The game is now on the shleves in thousands of stores, just in time for the Christmas shopping season. How it will be recieved, of course, remains to be seen. It is worth reminding ourselves that this is but one of a number of strong currents in American religious culture promoting an ideology of religious warfare.

Those of you who know my work, understand that I do not obcess on worst case scenarios and confuse them with reality. And you also know that I avoid tarring people with unfair negative labels. I try to use fair and accurate terminology.  And in attempting to adhere to these principles, I never make analogies to Islamic fundamentalism. I do try to offer clear analysis of the religious right in our country without clouding the picture with demonization tactics that seek to link people with whom I may disagree politically and in terms of religious belief.   (No mention of Hitler, Stalin, Osama Bin Laden or the Taliban in my posts.)

I stress this, because in light of my headline, I urge you to take a deep breath, and settle in for a careful and considered read. I say none of what your are about to read in any way lightly or gratuitously.

Since I didn't do a round-up last week, this week in blogging the religious right is really more like, recent blogging on the religious right.  But there is still lots of good stuff you wouldn't want to miss. With any luck, we will return to a weekly schedule from here on.

Originally posted on Talk to Action

It is unprecedented for conservative and progressive Christians alike to close ranks in condemning a Bible publisher. It is unheard of for Christians to call for a boycott of a Bible publisher for licensing a real-time strategy videogame that caricaturizes Christianity as a crusade, puts modern military weapons in the hands of children, sends them on a mission to convert or kill infidels, and even lets children role play commanding the armies of the AntiChrist, unleashing demons that feast on Christians.

"Does it sound like fun, or does it sound like the way homicidal Muslims think?" asks Marvin Olasky, editor of the conservative Christian World Magazine in a blog post dated August 21, 2006, and titled Convert Them Or Kill Them? That's Not Christianity. His piece links to a recent Washington Post article, "Fire and Brimstone, Guns and Ammo." But the Post and World Magazine have barely touched the hem of the garment, in terms of understanding and exposing the game for what is truly is. Yet word is getting out, and a boycott is picking up steam.

John Gorenfeld has posted a video clip of Sun Myung Moon appearing before the Judiciary Committee on June 26, 1984. In the clip, Moon acknowledges that by then he had already poured hundreds of millions of dollars into America from overseas.

Quoting Moon from Gorenfeld's clip:

Several hundred million dollars have been poured into America because this nation will decide the destiny of the world. These contributions are primarily coming from overseas.

That quote was from 1984. As of today the amount Moon has "poured" into America has reached well into the billions. Stay with me on the flop and I will interpret the Mooneeze in that quote and tell you where billions Moon used to bring the right to power in America originated...