An open letter to right wing fundamentalist Christians

To all right wing fundamentalist Christians supporting McCain-Palin:

You are being played. Played like fools.

You are blind to the real evil behind the McCain-Palin ticket. The true evil whose name is Karl Rove.

Karl Rove has been called a genius. Now, genius can be a force for good or evil. Karl Rove is a sociopathic elitest, and Karl Rove thinks that you, collectively are fools. In fact, Karl Rove called you "nuts," a fact never widely reported, but nonetheless true. He has nothing but contempt for you.

From Chuck Baldwin, 10/17/2006:

"No president in American history played the 'God card' any better than George W. Bush. Early in his 2000 presidential campaign, Bush convinced fundamentalist/evangelical Christian leaders that he was 'their' man. Those Christian leaders went on to promote and support Mr. Bush to the tune of two successful presidential election victories. To this day, they comprise his most loyal base of support.

"But was it all a sham? Did G.W. Bush and Karl Rove simply dupe the Religious Right? A Bush insider now says that is exactly what happened: GOP strategists played evangelical believers for suckers.

"David Kuo has a long record of Christian conservatism. His resume includes tenure with such notable Republican leaders as William Bennett, John Ashcroft, Bob Dole, and Congressman J.C. Watts. Most recently, he served as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and Deputy Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

"In his column, Shooting from the Heart, Kuo wrote that receiving President Bush’s invitation to become Deputy Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives 'was a dream come true for me.' Kuo believed he had teamed with a man who sincerely intended to promote Christian conservatism in and through his administration. Now Kuo believes that he (and the entire evangelical community) had been duped.

"Kuo has written a new book entitled Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction. He also sat down with CBS reporter Lesley Stahl for a 60 Minutes interview that aired this past Sunday.

"Kuo writes in his book that White House staffers would roll their eyes at evangelicals, calling them 'nuts' and 'goofy.' Asked if that was really their attitude, Kuo told Stahl, 'Oh, absolutely. You name the important Christian leader and I have heard them mocked by serious people in serious places.'

"Kuo said that people in the White House referred to Pat Robertson as 'insane,' Jerry Falwell as 'ridiculous,' and James Dobson as having 'to be controlled.'

"Kuo believes that GOP strategists successfully convinced Christian leaders 'that Jesus came primarily for a political agenda, and recently primarily a right-wing political agenda-as if this culture war is a war for God. And it’s not a war for God, it’s a war for politics. And that’s a huge difference.'

"Kuo points out that President Bush would use catch-phrases to convince believers. For example, in one speech Bush said, 'There’s power, wonder-working power in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people.'

"The phrase 'wonder working power' sailed over the heads of the media, but most evangelical Christians recognized it immediately from the great old hymn, Power In The Blood.

"Kuo went on to say that 'God and politics had become very much fused together into a sort of a single entity. Where, in a way, politics was the fourth part of the trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and God the politician.'

"Kuo now feels badly for allowing politicians to use Christians (and the issues they embrace) as they did. He said, 'I feel like it was more spiritually wrong. You’re taking the sacred and you’re making it profane. You’re taking Jesus and reducing him to some precinct captain, to some get-out-the-vote guy.' Kuo added, '[T]he name of God is just being destroyed in the name of politics.'"

So now, they are doing it again. McCain's acquiescence to choosing Sarah Palin as his running mater is simply more of the same strategy to galvanize your movement in the hopes that any edge held by Barack Obama will be destroyed. So who is this evil genius who still lurks behind the curtain of the Republian campaign for the Presidency?

"In their book The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power, James Moore and Wayne Slater identify Rove as an agnostic.^[105] Slater reaffirmed this claim in a National Public Radio interview.^[106] After this was mentioned by Bill Moyers on PBS, Rove was asked about it in an interview by Chris Wallace on Fox News and denied being an agnostic, saying 'I'm a Christian. I go to church. I'm an Episcopalian.'^[107]

"When discussing his new book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens was asked by New York Magazine if 'anyone in the Bush administration confided in [him] about being an atheist?', he replied, "Well, I don’t talk that much to them — maybe people think I do. I know something which is known to few but is not a secret. Karl Rove is not a believer, and he doesn’t shout it from the rooftops, but when asked, he answers quite honestly. I think the way he puts it is, 'I’m not fortunate enough to be a person of faith.'^[108]

Fact is, I believe that Jesus was a liberal.

Peacemaking, not War Making: Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. [Matthew 5:9]

Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. [Matthew 5:39] I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despite-fully use you, and persecute you; [Matthew 5:44]

The Death Penalty: Thou shalt not kill [Matthew 5:21]

Crime and Punishment: If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to cast a stone at her. [John 8:7] Do not judge, lest you too be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. [Matthew 7:1 & 2.]

Justice: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. [Matthew 5:6] Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy [Matthew 5:7] But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. [Matthew 6:15]

Corporate Greed and the Religion of Wealth: In the temple courts [Jesus] found men selling cattle, sheep and doves and other sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. [John 2:14 & 15.] Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. [Luke 12:15.] Truly, I say unto you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. [Matthew 19:23] You cannot serve both God and Money. [Matthew 6:24.]

Paying Taxes & Separation of Church & State: Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. [Matthew 22:21]

Community: Love your neighbor as yourself. .[Matthew 22:39] So in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you. [Matthew 7:12.] If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. [Matthew 19:21]

Equality & Social Programs: But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. [Luke 14:13 & 14.]

Public Prayer & Displays of Faith: And when thou pray, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou pray, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret… [Matthew 6:6 & 7]

Strict Enforcement of Religious Laws: If any of you has a son or a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? [Matthew 12:11] The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. [Mark 2:27.]