"I am driven with a mission from God. God [told] me, 'George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did. And then God [told] me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq.' And I did… And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.' And, by God, I'm gonna do it ."[1]

- President George W. Bush.

In the run-up to the 2006 congressional elections, former deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, David Kuo, expressed, "Evangelicals are beginning to see the effect of their political involvement on those with whom they hope to share Jesus' eternal message: non-evangelicals. Tellingly, Beliefnet's poll showed that nearly 60 percent of non-evangelicals have a more negative view of Jesus because of Christian political involvement; almost 40 percent believe that George W. Bush's faith has had a negative impact on his presidency." Above all, Kuo came to see how the "dream" of having a so-called Christian-conservative in the White House was actually a domestic and international nightmare and urged Christians to abstain from politics.[2]  

"In Afghanistan we see al Qaeda's vision for the world… people have been brutalized -- many are starving and many have fled ."[3]

- President George W. Bush.

Since Kuo's op-ed in the New York Times, however, the Global War of Terror has continued unabated and well nourished by the support of Christian zealots who play both executioners and supporters of a self-perceived planetary errand of eradicating "evil doers" and establishing a worldwide Christian dominion. Millions are dead and millions have fled as a result of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The recent support for Mike Huckabee, the "Christian leader," displays the still vigorous and unwavering support for the radical conservative-Christian agendas of domestic religious incursion and international war on heathen masses.[4] Indeed, Kuo's words seem to have been largely ignored. 

Toward the end of 2007 the self-proclaimed "culture warrior," Bill O'Reilly, expressed, "The actions of a few… 1.2 billion Muslims all over the world… aren't killing people. But those who are… are killing hundreds of thousands of people. You see, a small percentage of 1.2 billion can do grave damage and they're doing it. They're doing it and nobody's stopping them from doing it… All 1.2 billion Muslims should rise up tomorrow…"[5]

Figures in the media—radio and television—persistently point to the actions of Islamic extremists and castigate moderate Muslims for supposedly not denouncing them. Yet, these corporate-state propaganda ministers consciously and consistently fail to acknowledge, discuss and censure those actions committed by Christian extremists. Indeed, it is those like O'Reilly—the self-asserted warden of American ethics and morality—who fall silent and purposely fail to confront the reality of symmetric extremism. This is a state of hypocrisy that cannot afford to be overlooked. 

O'Reilly is right, however. A small percentage of a specific population can do grave damage. Currently, there are approximately two billion Christians all over the world.[6] A majority of them are not killing people, but those that are, have killed and continue to support the killing of hundreds of thousands of people. Indeed, a small percentage of two billion can do grave damage. They are doing it and no one is stopping them from doing it.    

"The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists …"[7] 

"We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for their great civilization and for the religious faiths they practice. We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people ."[8]

 - President George W. Bush.

Christian executioners, their supporters and enablers continue to aid the Radical Establishment's "Long War." Military, private security, governmental, and dedicated organizational crusaders continue to conduct themselves in an enthusiastic manner for the destructive foreign policy of the Bush Administration and its adherents. As a result, they continue to send the message that U.S. presence in the Middle East is not just about the acquisition of resources and the opening of new markets—even about the supposed deliverance of liberty, justice, and democracy—but also about Crusade, conversion via gunpoint. Indeed, in April of 2007 a poll taken by World Public Opinion found that a majority of the Islamic world "believe the United States seeks to undermine Islam and… spread Christianity in the region," among other suspicions about its ambitions to attain and control the flow of oil and macro markets.[9] The recent track record testifies to the fact that these suspicions are not unwarranted or too far from reality.

"Al Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money; its goal is remaking the world -- and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere ."[10]

"There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries ."[11]

"They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions -- by abandoning every value except the will to power -- they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism ."[12]

- President George W. Bush 

The global cowboy crusaders of Blackwater Worldwide, pet project of Catholic fundamentalist Erik D. Prince, which operates in over 50 countries, continue to terrorize and butcher Iraqi civilians at taxpayer expense. Blackwater is probably one of the most, if not the most, zealous Department of Defense (DOD) sponsored agents of death. Comprised of battle hardened Christian extremists acting in the name of God, Blackwater's role in overseas territories, particularly in the Middle East, is a dedicated one "to a Christian-supremacist agenda."[13] Prince and his organization are intimate with "some of the country's most militant Christian extremists."[14] As Jeremy Scahill explains in his study Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army: 

What is particularly disturbing about the "expanding role" of Blackwater specifically is the issue of the company's right-wing leadership, its proximity to a whole slew of conservative causes and politicians, its Christian fundamentalist agenda and secretive nature, and its deep longstanding ties to the Republican Party, U.S. military, and intelligence agencies. Blackwater is quickly becoming one of the most powerful private armies in the world, and several of its top officials are extreme religious zealots, some of whom appear to believe they are engaged in an epic battle for the defense of Christendom. The deployment of forces under this kind of leadership reinforces the worst fears of many in the Islamic world about a neo-Crusader agenda masquerading as a U.S. mission to "liberate" them from their oppressors. What Blackwater seemingly advocates and envisions is a private army of God-fearing patriots, well paid and devoted to the agenda of U.S. hegemony…[15] 

In mid-September of 2007, Blackwater employees, in a long line of such activities, massacred Iraqi civilians "from an American diplomatic convoy."[16] A month after the incident an FBI report concluded that the Blackwater rampage was "unjustified."[17] A Congressional panel also later concluded that this kind of crazed conduct has been quite a normative function for the security firm. It continued to state, "Employees of Blackwater USA have engaged in nearly 200 [similar] shootings in Iraq since 2005, in a vast majority of cases firing their weapons from moving vehicles without stopping."[18]  

There have been continuous reports regarding the Iraqi government's "advancement" toward the annulment of Blackwater's license to operate in the region. However, there has been no word on the extent, or progress, of this discussion or what kind of operations will be excluded from the security firm's future agenda. Meanwhile, these predatory millennialists scour overseas territories with "immunity," an edict of the State Department.[19]  

"These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to disrupt and end a way of life ."[20]  

 - President George W. Bush.

Others groups have followed suit not through violent measures, but in the support and enabling thereof and proselytizing of others to add numbers to their extremist ethos and worldwide crusade. In August of 2007, it was discovered that the evangelical group Operation Straight Up (OSU) planned to send U.S. troops in Iraq "Freedom Packages." Each included Bibles, English and Arabic conversion material, and the apocalyptic computer game Left Behind: Eternal Forces, based on the popular Left Behind book series created by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. Left Behind: Eternal Forces' litigious nature was quickly detected among vigilant oppositionists and "inspired controversy among freedom of religion advocates." The DOD was quickly pressured to compel OSU to excise the game from its "Freedom Packages." Reverend Timothy Simpson of the Christians Alliance for Progress rightly summed it up when he expressed it as "a horrible game." The reverend continued, "You either kill or covert the other side. This is exactly what the Osama bin Ladens of the world have portrayed us."[21]

The OSU is an official arm of the DOD's "America Supports You" program and "actively proselytizes among active-duty members of the US military." The organization has recently become quite a force having a helping hand from NASCAR and celebrity heavyweights such as Evander Holyfield and Steven Baldwin, among others, who have undergone Christian re-births. The group has also made it known their intentions to deploy its Christian force into the region of Iraq to conduct a sweeping crusade of the territory. "We feel the forces of heaven have encouraged us to perform multiple crusades that will sweep through this war torn region… We'll hold the only religious crusade of its size in the dangerous land of Iraq."[22]

It was also discovered in August of 2007 that a "former Pentagon chaplain and several generals inappropriately loaned the prestige of their positions — and that of the Pentagon and the U.S. government — to make a fundraising film for a [radical] evangelical group, the so-called Christian Embassy." A report from the Inspector General's office of the DOD concluded that Christian Embassy was affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization of evangelical militants that has been pressuring Air Force Academy cadets "to participate in religious activities" and become gun-toting, "government paid," millennial missionaries when they leave.[23]

In addition to these revelations, there is the blunt and daunting testimony of Christian fundamentalism in the US military mirroring that of Islamic fundamentalism. The Fort Jackson Military Base Ministry was recently purported to have uploaded pictures on their website of two US soldiers in uniform, holding rifles in one hand and Bible in the other.[24] Michael Weinstein, author of With God on Our Side: One Man's War against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military and former Air Force and JAG Officer, expressed how "the recent promotional video for Campus Crusade for Christ, and the photograph of US soldiers holding Bibles in one hand and rifles in the other posted on the Fort Jackson Military Ministry web site, gives the impression the Pentagon endorses the fundamentalist Christian organization and underscores that the occupation of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan appears to be more of a modern-day fundamentalist Christian crusade" than anything else.[25]

As Weinstein asserts, the US Air Force Academy has "been producing a cadre of zealous evangelical Christians intent on creating a fundamentalist power base at the highest levels" of U.S. institutions, most notably the military and political establishments. There resides, according to Weinstein, a covert "program of indoctrination sanctioned, coordinated, and carried out by fundamentalist Christians within the U.S. military."[26] 

Similarly, retired United States Air Force Colonel and Vietnam Veteran David Antoon recently described the radical Christian supremacist presence in the military as "endemic." "From the top down," Antoon said, "there has been a complete repudiation of constitutional values and time-honored codes of ethics and honor codes in favor of religious ideology." The peril America's limited democracy and moderate society is facing "cannot be overstated."[27] This large minority of cancerous, radical Christians continue to worm their way into the center of American society and attempt to hijack powerful institutions and influential organizations. Vigilant and moderate citizens must continue to discuss and speak out on this issue, among many others, and expose this Christian extremism for what it is: a threat to the country, the world and democracy.

"The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics -- a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam ."[28] 

"The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself ."[29]

– President George W. Bush.

In the lexis of the "culture-warrior," this small percentage of the Christian population is doing grave damage. The majority of Christians are not zealous eradicators of life or supporters thereof. A vast majority of them are not killing people, or supporting such conduct. Those that are, however, have killed and continue to enable the killing of hundreds of thousands of people. Indeed, a small percentage of two billion Christians can do grave damage. They are doing it and nobody is stopping them from doing it.

As part of an ethos nourished by a robust ecclesiastical and mythical concentration that is deeply rooted in American history, they view themselves as God's chosen vanguard of the millennium, "successors to the ancient Israelites."[30] They perceive themselves as the ultimate instrument of Christ. Make no mistake about it, however. They are an advancing army of butchers, a cancerous sect cavorting under a perverted banner of Christendom. They have established a vision, an invented binary saga in which they are to play a starring role as self-proclaimed world redeemers.

All this in know way discharges Islamic extremism, of course. Radicalism of any kind—whether religious or political, Christian or Muslim—is deplorable. Indeed, all acts of terror and fanaticism, and the support thereof, are reprehensible. Thus, they must be denounced and vied against. The principle point, however, is that while moderate Muslims are urged to stand up to, and denounce, extremist conduct, it must also be stressed that moderate Christians stand up to their fringe counterparts as well. Failing to do so will only enable them further.

Academics have advanced the warning, for some time, regarding mainstream disciples' too often and "comfortable conclusion that any form of announced religiosity is acceptable," that silent toleration towards the intolerant exhibits the ability of a liberal-democracy to be inclusive and sustainable.[31] This is a fallacy. As Chris Hedges explains in American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, if there is no bulwark against this variety of Christian fanaticism, "then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance along with them."[32] This aggression for Christian domination will continue unless we protest, write and make others aware of this dangerous advancement. As citizens within a diverse liberal-democracy, tolerating of the intolerant is a virtue that sustains our freedom. It is also one of the most difficult things to do. In the current climate, however, the majority should not tolerate this intolerant faction. If good, responsible and moderate citizens who care about peace, democracy, religion and the separation of church and state do nothing, the task to achieve a global Christian dominion through wanton violence, destruction and trickery will continue.

Yes, there have been critics; there are individuals and groups of faith speaking out… but not enough. The reality of this symmetric extremism, so consciously ignored by corporate-state propagandists must be marked and properly confronted. If such an endeavor cannot be undertaken, then this dangerous extremism will only continue to flourish and assert control.

© Copyright 2008 by AxisofLogic.com

George Aleman III is an MA student in history. He is also a writer, activist and musician. His articles have appeared in Z Magazine, Dissident Voice, Third World Traveler, and Axis of Logic.

This material is available for republication as long as reprints include verbatim copy of the article its entirety, respecting its integrity. Reprints must cite the author and Axis of Logic as the original source including a "live link" to the article. Thank you!

Endnotes

[1] "George Bush: ' God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq,'" Guardian Unlimited, Friday October 7, 2005, ; "Did Bush Say God Told Him To Go To War?," CommonDreams.org , Monday, June 30, 2003.

[2] "Putting Faith Before Politics," New York Times, Thursday, November 16, 2006.

[3] "Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People," Whitehouse.gov, September 2001. 

[4] "Iraq deaths due to U.S. Invasion," Just Foreign Policy; "Statistics on Displaced Iraqis around the World," United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, September 2007 Report; "Casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq," Unknown News, Most recent update: July 16, 2007; "Afghan turmoil," Reuters AlterNet, Last Review November 16, 2007; "'Christian Leader,'" Washington Post, Friday, December 21, 2007; "Huckabee Wins Over More 'Christian Leaders,'" People for the American Way, Tuesday, November 27, 2007.

[5] Video of the conversation on the November 30, 2007 O'Reilly Factor (includes this treatise's concerned portions).

[6] "Religions of the World: Numbers of Adherents; Names of Houses of Worship; Names of Leaders; Rates of Growth," Religious Tolerance.org: Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.

[7] "Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People," Whitehouse.gov, September 2001. 

[8] "President Bush Addresses the Nation," Whitehoouse.gov, March 2003.

[9] "Muslim Public Opinion on US policy, Attacks on Civilians and Al Qaeda," World Public Opinion , Tuesday, April 24, 2007.

[10] "Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People," Whitehouse.gov, September 2001. 

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York, NY: Nation Books, 2007), xxv.

[14] Ibid., xxvi.

[15] Ibid., 374 – 375.

[16] "Iraq Ends Security Company's License After 8 Deaths," New York Times , Monday, September 17, 2007.

[17] "Report: Blackwater Killings Unjustified," ABC News, Wednesday, November 14, 2007.

[18] "Report Says Firm Sought to Cover Up Iraq Shootings," New York Times, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

[19] "Blackwater guards given immunity in Iraq killings," USA Today, Monday, October 29, 2007.

[20] "Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People," Whitehouse.gov, September 2001. 

[21] "DOD Stops Plan to Send Christian Video Game to Troops in Iraq," CommonDreams.org , Thursday, August 16, 2007.

[22] "Kill or Convert, Brought To You By The Pentagon," The Nation, Tuesday, August 7, 2007.

[23] "Evangelical video shows cadets pressured to be missionaries," The Raw Story , Friday, December 21, 2007; "Pentagon: Hold On, Christian Soldiers!," Time.com, Friday, August 3, 2007.

[24] "Military Evangelism Deeper, Wider Than First Thought," Truthout.org, Friday, December 21, 2007.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Michael L. Weinstein and David Seay, With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military (New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 2006), Front Flap.

[27] "The Evangelical Christian Takeover of the Military," AlterNet.org, Friday, November, 16, 2007.

[28] "Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People," Whitehouse.gov, September 2001, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html. 

[29] "Bush and the Ten Commandments," The Nation, Monday, June 26, 2006.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Chris Hedges, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (New York, NY: Free Press, 2006), 34.

[32] Ibid., 1.