I'm fully aware that "jihad" is a term that applies to Islam. But I'm so very tired of hearing about "Islamic terrorists" yet nothing about the Christian terrorists in this country. Terrorism is, at its root, the use of fear to attempt to force others to change their behaviors. Often, maybe even usually, that fear is brought about by acts of violence. In this country, we have many well-known Christian terrorist organizations who do resort to acts of violence. The KKK, Aryan Nation, Rescue America, Army of God, Neo-nazis and Posse Comitatus just to name a few.

Others use fear in a much more subtle manner and I refer to these groups as spiritual terrorists. I include in their ranks groups like the Christian Coalition, The Moral Majority, Focus on the Family, Traditional Values Coalition, Westboro Baptist Church and many, many others. (I profile many of these groups in the Exposed! section of my personal website.) Rosie O'Donnell drew a lot of flak for saying that the radical Christian right was as dangerous as radical Islam, but she's exactly right. The radical religious right (which I refer to as the RRR) are out to destroy the US Constitution because it prohibits the formation of a theocratic government. Without the ability to create a theocratic government, they're unable to make this the "Christian nation" they claim it was meant to be. To this end, the RRR uses fear as a weapon.

• "If we allow gays to marry, we'll destroy marriage as we know it."
• "If we allow gays to marry, pretty soon we're going to have to allow a man to marry his dog!"
• "Outlawing school prayer [which isn't outlawed, but facts don't matter to the RRR] is what leads to things like Columbine."
• "If we aren't allowed to post the ten commandments in public buildings, soon we won't be able to say 'Merry Christmas' in public buildings either."
• "If we don't stop these 'activist' judges, they're going to keep promoting the homosexual agenda in our schools."
• "If we don't stop them over there, pretty soon we're going to be fighting them in the streets of America because Islam demands they kill any infidels!"

While paraphrased, every one of these has been used as a "fear tactic" by members of the RRR in fund-raising letters. I know. I have the letters. I started to get them after I wrote a letter to Pat Robertson telling him I thought he was the closest thing to the anti-christ we have in the world today (an opinion I no longer hold: James Dobson now holds that honor). I received a letter thanking me for my support and asking me to contribute to help then spread the word of God. Funny, I don't remember Jesus soliciting donations to spread the word of God. But I don't want to get off on that tangent.

I was horrified when I read an article and watched the video about a new movement within the evangelical Christian church. A movement in which young people are essentially encouraged to die for their faith. As the director of one camp put it:

"'I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are in Palestine, Pakistan and all those different places,' Fisher said. 'Because, excuse me, we have the truth.'"[Emphasis and italics mine.]

Please read that again. And let it sink in. We have Christian church camps here in the US teaching young children of both gender that they need to be willing to die for their faith as those in Palestine and Pakistan die for theirs. In Palestine and Pakistan, the ones who die for their faith are suicide bombers. Essentially, we have in this country a very rapidly growing movement of radical evangelical Christians teaching our children to be suicide bombers. Recently, a documentary called "Jesus Camp" that follows three children through one of these camps, was nominated for an Academy Award.

More and more, this is becoming the tactic. Groups like Battle Cry invoke images of soldiers fighting a holy war for Jesus in order to attract the younger generation who have grown up in a culture that glorifies and rewards violence. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University is seeking to master the skills of debating in order to put its graduates in law firms and corporate offices to change policies to, in the words of one freshman debater, "get back to Americans' godly heritage". And recently, John McCain hired the debate coach from Liberty University to help him with his debating skills. (You remember John McCain: the guy who once called Jerry Falwell an "agent of intolerance"....)

In my humble opinion, the RRR is even worse than the suicide bombers so prevalent in the Middle East because they use the fear of "what if". It's a fear based on a hypothetical outcome that there is really no reason to believe will come to pass any more than any other hypothetical outcome. At least with the suicide bombers, their actions are motivated by very real situations in the present day. The fear we feel is a reaction to their present-day actions. The RRR uses fear to make people afraid of what MAY happen in the future, not based on what IS happening. And often, the fear they use strikes at the very soul: fear of going to hell. (In principle, their recruiting by fear of hell is no different than those who recruit suicide bombers by the promise of heavenly rewards: both are using something they cannot even prove exists as a recruiting tool. A tool their faith says is real, but other faiths say is not. People may not die a physical death like they might if they're caught up in a blast set off by a suicide bomber, but the fear slowly kills many from the inside out until they are suspicious of anyone or anything different from what they've been told is "safe". And since the fear spewed by the RRR goes out of the airwaves and through the internet, it affects far more people than those who get caught up in the blast of a suicide bomber even when we include the families, friends and neighbors of the victim.

The teachings of the Christian church from about the time of Constantine are based largely on the writings of Paul as opposed to the teachings of Yeshua bin Josef— more commonly referred to as Jesus. The two teachings are not the same since Yeshua's teachings are aimed at teaching us how to be more loving. Paul's teachings, on the other hand, are, in my humble opinion, aimed at teaching us to be more fearful. These teachings are, again in my humble opinion, one of the main reasons that this world is in the predicament it is right now. There is no room for tolerance in the teachings of Paul and there is no room for tolerance in the RRR. Mind you, I'm not suggesting we prohibit anyone's faith. But we MUST maintain (actually at this point, it's a matter of almost completely rebuilding) the wall of separation between church and state so that these Christian jihadists don't succeed in turning our nation into a theocratic hell on earth.

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