SecondEdition wrote:I don't begrudge them their beliefs - they can believe in whatever the hell they want.

And they believe that Barack Obama is the Antichrist.

Is it any more ridiculous then anything else they believe? Personally I should say not. The idea that Obama is Satan is is no more ridiculous than the Immaculate Conception, water to wine, Noah's Ark etc. It's a more recent display of irrational insanity but it's no more crazy.

Let's say for the sake of argument, he's not the Antichrist, but an Antichrist. It makes for a more compelling discussion, and lets us group politicians accordingly. With people like Napoleon, Sarkozy, Bush, etc. there's a long line of "antichrists".

tommydski wrote:

SecondEdition wrote:I don't begrudge them their beliefs - they can believe in whatever the hell they want.

And they believe that Barack Obama is the Antichrist.

Not all of them do. That's a blanket characterization which is unwise to make. A few moderate evangelicals are friends of mine, and I know for a fact they don't believe Obama is the Antichrist.

I meant the people who do believe he is the Antichrist.

Why is that the watershed? Why up to that point are they entitled to their belief until they decided that Barack Obama is the Antichrist? What's the difference between that and any other bit of absolute madness we have come to accept?

Rick Reuben wrote:

SecondEdition wrote:And anyone - anyone - who thinks Obama is the Antichrist is a racist, pure and simple, full stop.

Huh? That's a little hard to follow.

If someone believes in the concept of an antichrist, then why are they prohibited from believing that a half-black man could be the antichrist? Many people think that Christ could have been as dark as Obama. Are they racist for imagining that Christ was coffee- colored? If not, then why is anyone who imagines a coffee-colored man as a false savior automatically a racist?

Seems to me that saying 'only a white man could be the antichrist and if you believe otherwise, you're a racist' is a racist statement, against whites.

I don't believe that the concept of an Antichrist is racially exclusive. If that was implied, sorry. What I meant was that I believe that many people are threatened by Obama's political rise solely because of the fact that he is a black candidate, who has gotten closer to the presidency than any other black candidate in U.S. history. However, the guy is just a politician and a human being. So are John McCain, Ron Paul, Hillary Clinton, and whichever other candidate you want to name. My point was that calling any politician an Antichrist is irresponsible, foolish and potentially dangerous, and especially dangerous to a seemingly "foreign" candidate such as Obama. Basically, it seems to me that prejudice against Obama would play a role in designating him, rather than John McCain, an Antichrist. How many people honestly and seriously believe that John McCain is an Antichrist? I think most people would laugh at the idea. The fact that some people take the idea of Obama as an Antichrist seriously seems a little suspect - it doesn't seem as if it could only be because of his politics and persona.

Rick Reuben wrote:I find it interesting to see how the rules change depending on who we are talking about.

Second Edition can say, "I do begrudge the evangelicals exerting disproportionate amounts of influence on national politics", and what is a common response here? 'Yeah, fuck those crazy Christian nuts and their disproportionate influence on politics'.

Now try this statement out:

"I do begrudge the Jews for their disproportionate amount of political influence, which far exceeds that of any other group that only represents 2.2% of the U.S. population."

How well does that statement go over?

If you're calling me out for preaching to the converted, go ahead - it's nothing new and I totally admit it, and besides, I already called myself out for it when I stated that "my biases are completely coming into play here, too."

The fat Christian woman here at work, the same one who loved Juno....she was speaking about Obama being the antichrist out loud to nobody.
She said 'and he was born in the middle east too! It says he'll be born in the middle east!'
I said 'I am pretty sure he was born in Hawaii'
she said 'No, he was born in Kenya, which is in the middle east'
I just said 'ok' and she kept ranting

Ace wrote:By the way, my best friend's grandma is utterly convinced obama is the antichrist. she is constantly sending her emails with scripture and stuff all about how obama is going to bring the armageddon.

Well, of course, he's a black guy. And an uppity one at that. We need a pair of rappers, Gog and Magog, that rap about anti-christ matters. I'd wear that t-shirt.

What a relief it must be for white middle-class christians to know that the anti-christ isn't one of their own.

I was kind of hoping that the anti-christ was going to be American Indian.

The giant 3-headed squaw of Babylon chases pasty doughy christians around the suburbs, shooting exploding arrows.

"I'll show those pale-faced motherfuckers a reservation! (boom, kapow) Happy fucking Thangsgiving you trinket-giving sons of bitches"

Rick Reuben wrote:

SecondEdition wrote:...calling any politician an Antichrist

Yes, but remember- liberals have been calling Bush and Cheney very similar things, like 'demonic' or 'satanic' or 'evil' or 'possessed', and they can do so without being branded as racists against whites.

I'm going out on a limb and guessing that few if any "liberals" truly believe that Bush and Co have supernatural powers or are mentioned in prophesy.

Johnny C wrote:I worked for a Dairy Queen and all the double-dipping we ever did was under the table.

I know a guy whose brother jerked off into a Dairy Queen shake machine.

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:

Johnny C wrote:I worked for a Dairy Queen and all the double-dipping we ever did was under the table.

I know a guy whose brother jerked off into a Dairy Queen shake machine.

Jes' chillin'.