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Kossacks Learn To Love Religious Extremism

By Shawn Macomber on 3.17.08 @ 10:34AM

After comparing the sermons of Jesus ("not the kind of preaching that nets you space on Fox News") to those of Jeremiah Wright, regular DailyKos contributor Devilstower explains:

Is the vision of a pastor standing in his pulpit shouting "God damn America" shocking? Yes. But don't mistake Wright's (or Jesus') statement for what some drunk in a bar would mean using the same phrasing. Wright isn't saying "FU America!" he's saying "these actions of America are worthy of God's condemnation." Â He's just saying it in a way that cuts through the Sunday morning sleepiness and makes people sit up in their pew.

And further:

A dangerous religion isn't one that challenges people and makes them squirm. Makes them angry. A dangerous religion is one that is too amicable to what you already think, one that pats you on the head and sends you forth in assurance of your own righteousness. If you want to search for "traitors" in the pulpit, turn your eye toward those who never find anything wrong in the actions of this nation.

Keep in mind this holier-than-thou kicker comes a couple paragraphs after the writer acknowledges, "Do I think that 9/11 was the 'chickens coming home to roost?' Yeah, I pretty much do." In other words, Devilstower defends Pastor Wright because...Pastor Wright's views are "amicable" to what he already thinks. The sentiment of seeking intellectual and spiritual combat is fine, of course, but I don't think we'll be seeing Kossacks flocking to midwestern evangelical churches or Catholic Latin masses to have their views challenged anytime soon. The "shocking" aspects of the religious right's beliefs are no doubt somewhat less thrilling to the religious left than they assume hating anyone in a higher tax bracket than them is to the rest of us.

In other words, more self-righteous blather of the sort Obama devotees and their Dear Leader will probably soon be able to trademark.

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