25 May 2006

BattleCry

Enjoy the t-shirt for a moment. I know I want one.

Alas, you're not going to like where I got the image. It's from an account on dKos of a Christian Right youth rally that will make your blood run cold.

After Franklin “Islam is a Wicked Religion” Graham came out to thunder against the evils of homosexuality and the Iraqi people (whom he considers to be exactly the same people as the ancient Babylonians who enslaved the tribes of Israel and deserving, one would assume, the exact same fate) we heard an explosion. Flames shot out on stage and a team of Navy Seals was shown on the big TV monitors in full camouflage creeping forward down the hallway from the locker room with their M16s .... 10 seconds later they rushed out onstage and pointed their guns in our direction firing blanks spitting flames. About 1000 shots ...
That account has lots more. And then there's these quotes from another firsthand account at Truthdig:
Luce, the BattleCry founder, hammered away at the dominant theme of the night: his contention that “pew-sitters ... passive Christians ... the Christians who just want love, joy, peace ... ” were the problem, and that the world needed more radical and extreme God-worshippers—those who would be obedient and fully submit to Christ.
....
“He doesn’t just want to be in your heart, He wants to own your heart.... There’s only one good reason to come to Christ: because He’s the rightful owner of your life.... You don’t have to know much about Jesus, just enough to surrender your whole life.”

Throughout this section, a loud crowd from the back of the stadium would periodically erupt, “We are warriors!”

Yeah, what's with those “love, joy, peace” Christians? Where do they get the idea that Christianity is about all that hippie dippy crap?

And most of the t-shirts lacked the ironic charm of the one I started with:

sported by many attendees that night: Jesus on the cross, robes waving, and emblazoned across the front the words “Dressed to Kill.”
Lots more if you follow the links, and Orcinus, of course, has a long, scary post full of additional analysis.

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