Newt Gingrich is on a roll. Only a couple of weeks ago, Gingrich explained how his “passion” for the country led to his repeated adulterous affairs. Now, he is warning about the importance of the next presidential election — and presumably his election: “I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they’re my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American.” There you have it. Atheists and Islamic radicals will take over — a curious alliance to be sure.
What is always striking is the failure of religious conservatives to recognize that they have much more in common with radical Islamists than do liberals or secularists. Islamic radicals love the attacks on the separation of church and state, crackdowns on free speech in the arts, the anti-homosexual measures, and other morality issues pushed by some conservatives.
Gingrich also threw in the scourge of intellectuals — an issue that he picked up from Sarah Palin who made being smart a virtual sign of subversion. He reportedly warned about “college professors” who are secretly undermining Christian values. Anti-intellectualism has been the sign of radicalized movements throughout history. The Cultural Revolution was based on it. The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot actually arrested people for wearing glasses. In our country, we have had Joe McCarthy and others who told people not to trust intellectuals — and instead follow their own agendas. We are now seeing a concerted effort to demonize intellectuals and reporters to deflect criticism over the lack of knowledge or factual support shown by some candidates.
While speaking at the Cornerstone Church with the rabidly anti-homosexual, evangelical pastor John Hagee, Gingrich heralded his own Catholic faith (ignoring Hagee’s history of intense anti-Catholicism). It seemed to work. Without mentioning his multiple wives and admitted lifelong pattern of adultery, Gingrich insisted that the election was about protecting the faith and our Judeo-Christian beliefs — adding “bravery will come from our churches, our synagogues, everyday folks. It won’t come from the elites.”
It seemed to work. One member of the congregation told Politico “I was really impressed with his sincere faith. He didn’t brag, but you can tell he’s a man of God.”
Atheists appear to be the new specter for politicians and clergy alike from Tony Blair to a wide array of U.S. conservatives. Gingrich appears to want to create a trifecta of hate with atheists, intellectuals, and Muslims. (He will occasionally throw in “mainstream media” to encourage supporters not to watch news other than Fox). That has a nice ring to it . . . Atheists, Intellectuals, and Muslims, oh my . . . one can almost see Dorothy walking hand in hand with Gingrich through the forest now.
Source: Politico
I’m amazed that Obama has a very real chance of being given a second term. Remember Farakahn said he was selected before he was elected. Of course he’s the second man of color who’s made the same claim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynbkSo3j6Eg&feature=related
I can here it now.
FOUR MORE YEARS FOR MORE YEARS.
Apparently, credibility is a u-shaped function: you have a lot of it if you’re very smart and savvy or bat-shit crazy. Newt falls into the latter category.
And people, it’s not healthy for every discussion thread to degenerate into a Nazi rant.
According to Wikipedia,
” the Vatican felt it necessary to issue two encyclicals opposing the policies of Mussolini and Hitler: Non Abbiamo Bisogno in 1931 and Mit Brennender Sorge in 1937, respectively. Mit Brennender Sorge included criticisms of Nazism and racism. However, the exigencies of the geopolitical situation constrained the ability of the Vatican to act in opposition to these regimes.”
“John Cornwell claims that Pius XI disliked political Catholicism because it was beyond his control. According to Cornwell, a succession of Popes took the view that Catholic party politics “brought democracy into the church by the back door”. Cornwell asserts that the result of the demise of the Popular Party was the “wholesale shift of Catholics into the Fascist Party and the collapse of democracy in Italy”.
“Germany’s Catholic population, particularly in rural areas, consistently withheld support from the Nazi Party until its takeover of power in 1933. Before Hitler rose to power, many priests and leaders in the German Catholic Church vociferously opposed Nazism on the grounds of its incompatibility with Christian morals.”
“While numerous German Catholics, who participated in the secret printing and distribution of Mit brennender Sorge, went to jail and concentration camps, the Western democracies remained silent, which Pope Pius XI labeled bitterly as “a conspiracy of silence”
I am just amazed at the possible list of candidates…yeaah baby……..where’s my bently…. if they win we all get Bently’s in the garage right?
Pre-war Germany was a predominately Christian country and Hitler was a Catholic.
Adolf Hitler’s religious views have been a matter of dispute, in part because of apparently inconsistent statements made by Hitler, and those attributed to him. The relationship between Nazism and religion was complex and shifting over the period of the Nazi Party’s existence and during its years in power.
According to historian Bradley F. Smith, Hitler’s father Alois, though nominally a Catholic, was somewhat religiously skeptical,[1] while his mother was a practicing Catholic.[2] According to historian Michael Rissmann, young Hitler was influenced in school by Pan-Germanism and began to reject the Catholic Church, receiving Confirmation only unwillingly. A boyhood friend reports that after Hitler had left home, he never again attended a Catholic Mass or received the Church’s Sacraments.[3] Georg Ritter von Schönerer’s writings and the written legacy of his Pan-German Away from Rome! movement, which agitated against the Catholic Church at the end of the 19th century, may have influenced the young Hitler.[4] At the Benedictine monastery school which Hitler attended for one school year as a child (1897–98), Hitler became top of his class, receiving 12 1’s, the highest grade, in the final quarter. He also sang in the choir at the monastery.[5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_religious_views
subscribing is not happing….
To control….offer fear mongering…we are right….they are wrong….offer no solution that is reasonably attainable….and you win….control…control…
anon – if you think Nazi Germany was a secular atheist country please explain “für Gott und volk”. But please study some actual history from actually knowledgeable sources before you attempt to reply. (BTW Hitler was not a vegetarian either)
Really Newtie is just continuing the distillation of the Republican message of the last 30 years. Eventually it will consist of candidates just jumping out from behind a screen yelling “OOGA-BOOGA!” to scare the morans.
anon,
Pre-war Germany was a predominately Christian country and Hitler was a Catholic. Rwanda’s problems were primarily tribal and resultant from countries in Africa being created by imperialist powers putting arbitrary lines on a map. Christianity is also their dominant religion.
He’s dogwhistling. He’s saying “the President is a secular humanist with a Muslim background. Be very afraid.”
Hasn’t there been genocide in “secular athiest” countries such as Nazi Germany and Rwanda?
America In Danger of Becoming Secular Atheist Country
If only that were true.
Without a common conviction about the course and direction of human history, it is inconceivable that foundations can be laid for a global society to which the mass of humankind can commit themselves.
According to Bahá’í teachings, religious history is seen as an evolving educational process for mankind, through God’s messengers, which are termed Manifestations of God.
The doctrine of Divine Manifestations is the central plank of Baha’i theology. Through this doctrine Baha’is are able to take seemingly amiable positions toward members of the major world religions, for each of their founders were manifestations of God and thus each religion has a measure of truth.
I just realized I should have said the 1960s not the 1970s.
Religion does have something to offer society. Apparently many or most Moslems actually have very similar values to mainstream Christian churches. We should work with them in a new Ecumenical movement for world understanding and peace.
In the 1970’s I attended two years of weekend religious education in a Lutheran church. Our minister claimed he had weekly meetings with leaders of local churches of other denominations and that in those they discussed issues involving teenagers. Our Lutheran minister took our class to meet with a Rabbi, a Catholic priest, and a Seventh Day Adventist. We also went as a group to services in the other churches.
I saw one Ecumenical announcement of a progressive dinner where the public was invited to go from church to church visiting and eating.
When we decided we were too sophisticated for religion and focused on the flaws of our religious institutions, we “threw out the baby with the bath water”.
Earlier crazy talk:
Gingrich has nothing to offer and so has no choice but to bake up a red white and blue cake of stupid he can sell. It’s weird how someone as aggressive and smart as he claims to be can evolve into such a shameless loser. He sure has a low opinion of the American public.
Anti intellectualism is probably why I was demonized as a pro se litigant– that I had the courage to quote laws even though I didn’t go to law school. The Courts are OK with pro se litigants who beg for a lawyer-less divorce or who fill in forms claiming that they were discriminated against in their minimum wage job.
How can somebody be an atheist and an Islamist?