Christian Fundamentalism Inspiring Radical Muslim Theology?

October 2, 2001 8:04 PM

Christian Fundamentalism Inspiring Radical Muslim Theology? Arab fundamentalists long ago woke up to the potential of European anti-Semitic literature such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Now, in a truly bizarre piece of cultural miscegenation, they are turning to the Bible belt for inspiration.
posted by tpoh.org (12 comments total)

you know, i got to ask... why is everyone so hot to be dead, and can't they just get along with their business without the rest of us? sheesh.
posted by eatdonuts at 8:27 PM on October 2, 2001

Scary, of course, but it's been going on for ages. Everybody always gangs up against the minority; in this case a really small minority, the Jews. Or a tiny little country, like Israel. There are other threads around, even here at MeFi, trying to play the same, tragic "blame the Jews" game, even for the WTC attacks.
Perhaps the saddest thing is how you get used to it and yawn.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:58 PM on October 2, 2001

So we should crack down on Arabs and Christain Fundamentalists now right? Give them all a big fat tatoo on their forehead. What a troll this thread is. And while I am venting: what a waste of energy our efforts in Afghanistan will be. Only the middle east will directly benefit. We are going to waste all our energies on some big fat military effort. Of course this is all speculation but these ppl are experts at guerilla warfare and that's very expensive for us to fight. I thought the US, historically, was not very effective at countering guerillas. We should send all the Palestenians to Afgphanistan so they have a place they can call HOME and can quit blowing up night clubs and innocent settlers in Israel and instead the Afghans and Palestinians can use each other for their terrorist urges.
posted by greyscale at 11:05 PM on October 2, 2001

I see what you mean, Miguel. The poor Jews! The world can't sit back and allow this persecution to continue! Maybe we should find some little corner of the world that they can call their very own, provide them with everything they need to establish a new nation. Of course, any hospitable parcel of land will already have its own inhabitants, but we can certainly trust that the Jews, after all of the suffering they have endured, would be sensitive and reasonable to any ethnic group with whom they would have to share their borders ... surely the Jews, more than any other people, would have some special insights about the value of human life and the need for tolerance, and bring these thoughts to bear in their dealings with their neighbors. It is inconcievable to think that anyhing but peace and goodwill would flourish under the rule of those who know so well the results of blind, militaristic nationalism. And if anyone dares to threaten them ever again, even 10 year old boys with rocks and bricks, we will come to their aid, provide them withall of the monetary and military resources necessary to protect themselves and decimate the menacing threat. And if they end up invading their neighbors, well surely, these neighbors were hostile, and we ecourage our friends to demonstrate their might, show that they will not be intimidated by anyone. If they insist on expanding their borders in the process, well, it wasn't part of the deal, but they wouldn't take the land unless they really needed it, and rest assured they will find a way to treat the people in these new territories fairly . . . no camps or segregated ghettos . . . its not as if these victims of hatred would ever be capable of acting with hatred against others, desecrate religious sites, torture people, fill mass graves with the bodies of their enemies . . . no, no, these people are a tiny minority, a tiny nation, victimized and mistreated for millenia, they could never fall into the same kind of religious or racial supremacist attitudes that have caused them so much suffering. None of this could ever exist in a Jewish state.
posted by hipstertrash at 11:40 PM on October 2, 2001

greyscale: This was not a troll. It was simply an article that I found interesting - as one who a) came out of a fundamentalist Christian background, b) worked among quite a few disciples of Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, Texe Marrs, and the like during my five-year stint working in a Christian bookstore, and c) currently lives in the Buckle of the Bible Belt.

By the way, BBC America has been playing the two-part "Peacekeepers" this month. I recommend it.
posted by tpoh.org at 12:08 AM on October 3, 2001

Rock on, hipstertrash, it's about time the Israeli govt were called on that. Progress in the middle east can't happen unless it too realises that it has things for which to make amends.
posted by jackiemcghee at 4:30 AM on October 3, 2001

Fundamentalism exists in all religions and in most institutions. I personally see no benefit to it.
Open hearts, open minds, open doors. Methodism. Great commercial.
Go away fundies! Die if you must but leave the rest of us alone.
posted by nofundy at 6:24 AM on October 3, 2001

The article's mention of Arab fundamentalists, draws from the stereotype that all Arabs are Muslim, which is simply false. Large christian minorities exist in the Arab world- according to the CIA factbook: 6% in Jordan, 10% in Syria, 6% in Egypt, 30% in Lebanon.
Afghanis are definitely not Arabic BTW and neither ar the Iranians (the name Iran derives from the word meaning Aryan...)
posted by talos at 6:45 AM on October 3, 2001

"The plane in the painting is not being flown by a suicide bomber, of course. In fact, it is not being flown by anyone at all, since its Christian pilot has just been raptured. Hence the crash. "
So maybe we shouldn't let fundamentalist christians become pilots, since there is a risk that they may unexpectedly abandon their post.
posted by yesster at 7:35 AM on October 3, 2001

Favorite bumper sticker (seen by my brother in Texas):
"In case of rapture, can I have your car?"
posted by Fley Mingmasc at 8:07 AM on October 3, 2001

Post-rapture party at my place.
posted by yesster at 8:28 AM on October 3, 2001

Just a minor nit-pick, talos, but it's 'Afghans,' not 'Afghanis.' Of course, I only know this because of a whole article in Slate a day or two ago about how everyone gets it wrong. Would have never known otherwise.
posted by rutgersgrad00 at 9:18 AM on October 3, 2001