Why the Christian right is backing a brutal despot

[cleanhippie]

Why the Christian right is backing a brutal despot
An Ivory Coast leader accused of widespread human rights abuses finds a pocket of support in the U.S

The west African nation of Ivory Coast has been in turmoil ever since incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down after losing an internationally certified election in late November. As forces loyal to Gbagbo have killed civilians and been accused of crimes against humanity, and as the number of refugees from the country has ballooned to as many as 1 million, observers have described the situation as worse than the Libyan conflict.

--snip--

That includes a U.S. senator and acquaintance of Gbagbo who declined to intervene in the crisis when asked by the State Department earlier this year, a former congressman who was hired by Gbagbo as a lobbyist, and a Christian right TV network that ran a fawning profile of Gbagbo, even as violence engulfed Ivory Coast. The senator, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, today released a letter to Hillary Clinton calling for new elections in Ivory Coast, putting him in direct opposition to the view of the Obama administration, the United Nations and the African Union that Gbagbo lost a fair election.

Gbagbo, along with his influential wife, Simone, are evangelical Christians who are known for lacing their speeches with religious rhetoric. "God is leading our fight. God has already given us the victory," Simone Gbagbo, who is both first lady and politician in her own right, said at a rally in January. Both Gbagbos have attended the National Prayer Breakfast, a big annual Washington event run by the secretive Christian group known as the Family, or the Fellowship.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/30/ivory_coast_christian_right_gbagbo/index.html


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WHy are they supporting this man? Because he shares the "faith", the "vision" and is a test case for the takeover of THIS country by the Evangelicals.

Will the so-called liberal christians ever stand up to the hijacking of their faith by these fundamentalists, or do they actually approve?

[annabanana]

1. Because the C Stree cultists really believe that they "are chosen

by Jesus to do whatever they want". .If God wasn't on their side, he'd stop them.

[cleanhippie]

2. Thats some crazy shit, huh?

But where are the rest of the "christians" that do not subscribe to such wing-nuttery?

[RKP5637]

3. Evangelicals is now a code word for Evil. n/t

[cleanhippie]

4. Is it?

Was there a memo or something?

[RKP5637]

5. Yep, I just issued it! n/t

[cleanhippie]

6. Ahh, ok. I cannot disagree.

[RKP5637]

8. Ha, thanks! I figured it was time for someone to make a proclamation!

[struggle4progress]

7. I might guess that coffee and cocoa interests are supporting Gbagbo, and that the high-profile

rightwing "religious leaders" know who's most likely to keep them funded

[rug]

9. The Ivory Coast is a test case for a US coup by evangelicals?

:rofl:

[humblebum]

10. And then at the other end of the spectrum we have the good old Chinese promoting atheism

in Tibet.

http://www.friendsoftibet.org/main/today.html


China has launched a 'Final Solution' — a systematic state-sponsored movement and encouragement of ethnic Chinese into Tibet — to overwhelm and expunge the Tibetan nation. Besides, it has embarked upon a three-year mission to promote atheism among Tibetan Buddhists as "the key to economic progress".

Get 'em out of the temples and into the fields. Why do we support China?

[dimbear]

12. It's in the book......

Matthew 6:21

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

[darkstar3]

13. I think most people here would agree with the idea of "Free Tibet".

However, as to everything else that was said here, consider the source: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x274866#275087

[humblebum]

14. Which of course was followed up by this :

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=274866&mesg_id=275088

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Do you have anything to say about the OP?

[laconicsax]

17. LOL!

Why would it have anything to say about the OP? :rofl:

[LeftishBrit]

18. The West, especially America, supports China for economic reasons

Not religious or atheist reasons.

I have never heard any atheist, however 'militant', express support for China's actions in Tibet, or justify Chinese autocracy in general because of solidarity with atheism.

This story is about an American politician who apparently supports a tyrant *because* he is an evangelical Christian.

[humblebum]

19. That doesn't excuse the fact that the West still supports

a primary offender of human rights in the world. "Economic reasons" are non-religious and wholly material by their nature. Atheism is non-religious and wholly material by its nature.

[LeftishBrit]

20. Atheism is non-religious by its nature - and that's ALL it is.

Is it acceptable that the West supports Saudi Arabia, which is also a primary offender against human rights, and is certainly not atheist? Is it acceptable that Reagan and Thatcher supported Pinochet who was certainly not atheist?

'Economic reasons' are not religious or atheist. Atheists are no more economically cynical than anyone else. Do you think that most Western supporters of China are atheists?

[humblebum]

21. You are I both know that atheism is generally very materialistic.

And Saudi Arabia hardly comprises a quarter of the world population. Hard to find goods made in Saudi Arabia at Walmart.

[LeftishBrit]

22. Atheism is no more materialistic in the financial sense than religion.

Unless you are using 'materialistic' simply to refer to explanations for the origins of things - *not* the same thing as materialism in the financial sense.

There are some monks and nuns who take vows of poverty; some sects of various religions that reject the 'world'. There are some atheist 'hippies', founders of small communes, and others who also reject the materialistic 'world'. But most people, whatever their religion, do not make vows of poverty, or go and found a commune based on living the simple life. (Of course, many people have poverty forced on them, but that is another matter.) Look at the grandeur of many churches and cathedrals; of the treasures that many of them possess. They're in many cases gorgeous; a great contribution to art and architecture - but hardly 'non-materialistic'.

As regards China in particular, people do not support it for atheistic reasons! America is China's top trading partner, and is a very Christian-dominated country. Do you honestly think that if America had no atheists in it, it wouldn't trade with China? The person on the American side, who opened relations between America and China, was Richard Nixon: not an atheist!

[cleanhippie]

23. You are talking to a brick wall, you know.

No matter how much fact, proof or evidence you supply, it will just ignore you and reply with its disingenuous, dishonest, and denialistic nonsense.


Good luck.

[darkstar3]

24. I'm sure there's a word

for people who get off on doing that...I think it starts with a "T"...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

25. And a statue of it in Seattle. Holding a car.

[skepticscott]

11. Not the first time

Pat Robertson was in bed with Charles Taylor for a long time.