Seriously, before Bush got in office, did you know there were this many...

[FormerRepublican]

...totally whacked out of their mind religious fanatics in the US? Did you know they were totally crazy about their fundamentalism? Has this been a distressing and distasteful look into the disgusting minds of a too large number of our fellow Americans?

How do we stuff the slimy genie back into the dark hole (and away from the light) where it belongs? What's the best strategy to get the fundie nut cases to simply shut the freak up?

Worse - is there a remote possibility that they could have become a majority while we weren't looking? :scared:

[PatrioticLeftie]

1. Before Bushco...

I was completely apolitical.

[amitten]

3. Ditto. The guy is a freaking lightning rod. n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. Before Bushco

I thought they were only in Utah.


(sorry Utahians)

[Initech]

27. Before Bushco, I almost joined the fundie nutcases...

I finally saw the light a couple days after 9/11 and realized just how fucking insane they really are. I decided I didnt want to become one of them.

[NYC]

2. No, I didn't know.

I don't know how to stop them.

[leftofthedial]

5. I didn't know how many

but I knew they were insane

[Serenades]

6. Answers

Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
In some places you can't. It's hard to shut people up who think God is telling them to hate "fags."
Ignore them while rejecting their idiot beliefs.
No. Loud mouths get attention but most people are quite normal unless there is some type of catastrophe that gets everyone fighting one another. Most fundies don't act according to the laws they want to implement. Seriously, how many people do you know that wouldn't think about an abortion if their 14 got pregnant?

[rpannier]

7. I knew of about 50

But I served at Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs, CO. And there are like 20 of these militant American Taliban organizations in that city.

[Warchild]

8. I knew there were some kooky spooky sumbitches out there...

..but I never ever guessed they'd gain access to the high corridors of power.

[Wetzelbill]

39. this is true

No doubt that is effed up. :)

[cynatnite]

9. I thought they were snake-handling in the hills...

They were the ones who said they had enough faith to survive being bitten by a poisenous snake.

The best strategy to get them to shut up is for Jesus to appear to them and tell them to shut up.

I don't believe for one second these people are the majority.

[spag68]

10. religous ferver

your disregard for fundimentalists is misplaced. In a vast majority of cases they are good people who have for whatever reasn been led astray. don't forget they also work two jobs to support their familys. A condesending atitude is the easiest way to turn them off. they are wrong yes, but they are americans. our attitudes must be better then the repubs. oops sorry about that. we need to be tuff yes but if we display the same qualities of the opposition we are no better then them. I really doubt they are not the majority let alone 30%

[Erika]

16. Are you aware this site has spell check? n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

52. You spelling nazi!

:P


I share you beliefs... praise Ms. Clark! (3rd grade) I am her disciple!

:rofl:

[Hekate]

54. I find it best to be very precise: extreme right wing fundamentalists

Welcome to DU, Spag68. :hi:

We know that not all fundamentalists are extreme right wingers. Not all evangelicals are, either. On this board we have voices that periodically remind our people here of that -- because in moments of deep frustration we can sometimes lash out.

As others here have noted, we have friends among the evangelicals, people like Pres. Jimmy Carter and the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners. Both of them are deeply committed to peace, reconciliation, and social justice. They are not extreme right wingers, just deeply faithful people who try to live the message of Jesus.

You are right about some of the factors like needing to work two jobs, and about large numbers of fundamentalist Christians being decent average people.

Unfortunately for them -- and for us -- a lot of these decent folks were taken in by Bush's religious posturing. He claims to be born-again, and in the State of the Union address and elsewhere he makes a point of quoting from the Bible and the hymnal. This is a smoke screen for the anti-democratic activities of him and his friends.

The people that Bush appoints to positions of power are extreme in both their religion and their politics. If you get past the surface -- the nice moderate face they wear for their confirmation hearings -- you find out that their idea of Christian fundamentalism has a lot to do with control, forced submission, prying into private lives to make sure individuals aren't sinning, and a belief that Armageddon is very, very near.

You can learn a lot about this extreme religious philosophy (Dominionism; Christian Reconstructionism) by going to Theocracy Watch http://theocracywatch.org/ This site also explains how deeply entrenched these believers are in the Republican Party and the power structures of our federal government. They say: "Today's hard right seeks total dominion. It's packing the courts and rigging the rules. The target is not the Democrats but democracy itself."

Before I came to DU I thought such extreme beliefs, including a desire to get rid of democracy itself because it is not part of God's plan, were the province of only a small number of Americans on the fringes of society. Then I did the research.

Other posters in this thread point out how small in number the extreme right wing fundies are -- but as DUers are aware and as Theocracy Watch shows, they have virtually taken over the government by now. That's why they are so scary. That's why they provoke such anguished outbursts here from time to time.

Hekate

[Erika]

11. Rove was a genius. I saw it in the attacks against McCain

W was able to unite the fundies and the rich who wanted to profit from having one of their own in office. Rove attacked all others with the force of a pit bull. The fundies hoped for Armageddon and the rich wanted the bucks. Absolutely brilliant.

Of course, the American working class lost out as did our needy.

[TomInTib]

12. Just consider the sales numbers of that "End Times" insanity...

scares the crap out of me.

[CoffeeCat]

13. These freaks are NOT a majority...

...the problem is that they are a concentrated demographic. They are easily reached and communicated to--because they can be found in the radical churches. Furthermore, they vote in extraordinarily high numbers.

BushCo has figured out how to appeal to these people--by pretending that he's one of them and that he agrees with their policies--and how to get them to the polls.

That's all.

These people are insecure and they should be. Usually, people like this hide in the shadows with their ridiculous views. Bush has empowered them and validated them. These freaks aren't letting go of the ego boost that BushCo provides. That's why they still hold on--supporting him, rationalizing his crimes and praising his every move. For once, their freaky ideas are "cool" and these insecure lunatics will not let go of that easily.

It used to be uncool to drive around, dragging a Jesus statue on a trailer hitch--but now these people feel emboldened--because BushCo makes them feel special and important. In exchange--these people give him their votes.

It's sickness, is what it is.

[Erika]

19. Yeah, he hooked up the rich who want their tax cuts with them

Rove was brilliant.

[kenny blankenship]

14. You have to get middle of the road people to wake the fuck up

already, and realize that these religious whackjobs will drag their children's hopes for freedom and a better life back into the Dark Ages (when freedom and material advancement didn't exist).
Why middle of the road people? Well frankly they couldn't give a shit about freedom, really : they're kept too busy, they're too incurious and lazy and comfortable with bad diet, luxury goods and ephemeral gadgets. And there are a lot of them. But because they do care about materialism so much, they have a lot at stake in continued material, technological advancement. They care a great deal about the advancement of medical technologies and lifespan extension for one thing. In fact, everything they care about is wrapped up in materialism. There's no advancement of mankind's material well-being without advancement of science, and science requires the spread and improvement of learning. Ultimately freedom is implicated as the necessary factor in education, science, and consequent material progress. By some means of argumentive shorthand, then, the middlers, muddlers, materialists and muggles have to be brought to value freedom--freedom from religious militants trying to direct society and hijack its value system for their otherworldly psychodramas--and defend progress by opposing the assertion of supremacy and power by organized religious nutcases.

[lpbk2713]

15. I thought everyone knew Limbaugh was a flake and a nutjob.

I was surprised to learn how many took that asshole seriously.

[Erika]

18. He's just another rich druggie

who collects the naive. A snakeoil guy.

[Wetzelbill]

17. hell no

I didn't know there were so many racists and just general nutjobs either. I'm a pretty religious guy myself, and I find it embarassing that people equate religion to intolerance and hatred because of the people who embrace a warped spiritual ideology. When was Jesus so hateful? He wasn't. Ever. Jesus was loving and embraced those who were different. Whether a person is a believer or not, Jesus is someone worth listening to. I often find that the most obviously religious people don't follow the teachings of Jesus. It's odd to me.

[Erika]

21. Ah, Bush is fighting against a country that never harmed us

because of evil doing on their part. -?-

Tell me what is Christian about that? But the far right wing fundies love him for it.

[Wetzelbill]

23. they love the death penalty too

They also believe that a woman's place is behind a man, at all times. It's pretty sick out there. You'd think we'd have a little progress in this world by now. Instead, we just seem to be regressing into the worst parts of our culture. It's not a good thing at all. This division is terrible. Yet it's exploited and fomented by shallow people for their own gain. Go figure.

[Erika]

29. Some women need domination and the GOP party is their for them

American Taliban supported by women who won't stand on their own two feet. Look at Laura and Babs Bush.

Let their rich men deal with problems. They want to keep their beautiful minds intact.

[Wetzelbill]

35. thank Dubya

that they have someone to look out for them. I just don't know what women would do without Rick Santorum and the boys taking care of their interests. :)

[Erika]

37. The poor women enlist to go to Iraq

what a choice they have.

[Katherine Brengle]

20. No one was giving them the time of day before Bush--it's the VRWC--

seriously. They aren't a majority of Americans, but they hold a majority of the power.

[Wetzelbill]

24. yeah, now they have a lock on the Republican primaries

You won't see a moderate Repub get out of the GOP primaries. Not by a long shot. At least Dems aren't owned by them. Republicans on the other hand will sift out any decent candidate that they might have just on the basis of how sick a portion of their primary voters are.

[Katherine Brengle]

59. Yep. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

22. I ran around trying to warn people...

And got a lot of blank stares and "Naaaah, they'd never try to overturn Roe..."

[Erika]

25. Me. too about Roe

They all said that W was a moderate married to a pro-choicer and he'd never endanger Roe v Wade. The amusing part is that they were Republicans whose family members had abortions.

[AndyTiedye]

26. They Are Not A Majority, But That May Not Matter Anymore

They own the voting machinez! :argh:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

28. I had no idea

In my wee little community we've always had a small group of them. They were and still are on the fringe. How so many managed to work their way into the mainstream is beyond me.

I just wish more communities would have done like as we when they got out of control...call the freaking FBI on them. They're scared of that, trust me.

[melody]

30. 20% of the population is at least borderline sociopathic

That accounts for a whole ton of them -- their unrecovered victims with borderline personality disorder take up a big chunk of the rest.

The majority will always be sane. Unfortunately, these slime creatures have been fine-tuning this takeover for years by ruining our educational system. Now all they have to do is plug-and-play the BS to the arrogant, ignorant sector and voila ...

[Erika]

31. voila, they are ignorant and GOP

They vote against every school bond issue,etc. Those damn public schools. They aren't smart enough to know they are damning the American child to inferiority and damning themselves in the process.

[Denver Devil]

32. Just how many are there?

What percentage of Republicans are religious fanatics/fundamentalists? Knowing the exact numbers (insofar as possible) would help in determining how much of a problem this actually is.

[Erika]

34. Enough to swing the vote

Ask McCain. Rove was brilliant in his campaign against McCain in South Carolina in picking up the fundie votes.

[Denver Devil]

44. I prefer numbers.

I'm not gonna worry about something that's only a speculation.

[Emit]

43. This site might be able to answer some of your questions

http://www.theocracywatch.org/

[Denver Devil]

47. Thank you.

eom

[renate]

60. welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Ino]

33. I blame Quayle

I got a chill when Quayle started his "family values" crusade.

[Erika]

36. What was wrong with that?

What I hold against Quayle is he didn't know how to spell potato and made a first class ass out of himself.

[nonconformist]

38. Hell no. I thought that there were some small, very marginalized groups

of whackos out there, but I could have never imagined it was this rampant. Even more disturbing, their fundy viewpoints are becoming increasingly acceptable to the masses.

[Erika]

41. I see no proof that they are becoming acceptable

Just the opposite as the GOP sees who hijacked their party.

[nonconformist]

48. Before, when they were more marginalized, they're ravings were just that

Ravings. Most people thought they were insane, and they didn't have any real influence on policy. Now they do, and look how far they've been allowed to go by everyone.

[Hippo_Tron]

40. Just look at the electoral maps of 1996 and 1992

If you look at these maps it looks as though the fundies are confined to a few small western states and only a few southern states, not nearly enough to be a problem.

[nonconformist]

46. Damn, what's Indiana's problem? nt

[Hippo_Tron]

49. Watch the West Wing episode: 20 Hours in America

It shows two of President Bartlet's liberal staffers wandering around conservative rural Indiana trying to get to Indianappolis to catch a flight back to DC. If you don't find the political message particularly valuable you will at least get some great laughs from the episode.

[WernhamHogg]

50. You noticed that, too?

I post on another forum and it seems that the majority of the totally batshit insane fundie posters come from Indiana. Obviously, I realize that there are good, sane, decent people from the state of Indiana, but the crazies from that state sure are loud (although, if you've read one of their posts, you've pretty much read them all...)

[BrotherBuzz]

42. In all fairness I think Ronald Reagan opened the floodgates....

when he embraced the christian coalition. The disease grew from that.

[Erika]

45. Yeah, I agree

He had health care benefits that he cut off from the average worker.

[Daphne08]

53. Yes, I remember it well. n/t

[oasis]

51. Fundies are feeling the rapture is just around the corner now that Bush

is in charge.He's such a man of God, you know.:eyes:

[greekspeak]

55. Yes, my home town is full of them

I had a pretty good idea most of America was full of foaming, fuming, Bible-thumping wack-jobs. I have been hearing every day of my life the kind of ranting that is now writ large in America since at least the time Rush LimpBalls came to town. Before that I was a little mini-Kool-Aide drinker myself. Back in the 80's, it was "We need a savior like Pat Robertson to free the world of Godless Communists." My paternal grandmother, who had a PhD mind you, kept files on countries all over the world, who their leaders were, how communist (evil) they were. She had lists of evil communist organizations that wanted to take church away from us. People with AIDS should be sent to an island so we don't all get infected. This sort of crap. My whole life.

[Hubert Flottz]

56. Yes I knew!

I knew the SCOTUS had opened Pandora's old box!

[SoCalDem]

57. I started noticing them with Jim Jones..1978

They started getting bolder and bolder, and after that debacle, they kind of ebbed, but they are back..bigger than ever :(

[Ganja Ninja]

58. I don't see how you could've missed it.

I saw it when I was growing up and I grew up in Michigan not the Bible belt.