I want you all to know that a reason I take potshots at the religious isn’t because it feels good. It’s not that I consider it sport and take glee in mocking anyone. No, the reason that evangelicals scare me is that they foster a worldview that can lead to absolutely disastrous policies.
That Sarah Palin believes the Earth is 7,000 years old and claims to have seen dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them is scary. Scratch that, it’s terrifying from a general standpoint; an adult in 2008 should not harbor such misguided “knowledge”. But no, here’s the real issue:
[Valley activist Philip] Munger also asked Palin if she truly believed in the End of Days, the doomsday scenario when the Messiah will return. “She looked in my eyes and said, ‘Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime.’”
Now let’s first remind ourselves that everyone thought Jesus was coming back during their lifetime. That’s why the “Wandering Jew” concept came around. The claim was that he’d come back within the lifetime of at least one person who saw him the first go-round. So pastors and zealots from every century between the the 1st and the 21st have been dead-set positive that the messiah was coming back.
I digress. What scares me is that this worldview is, as Sam Harris often points out, completely counterproductive to any kind of long-term policy. When you believe, in your heart, that Christ is coming back to whisk his followers to Heaven and bring about the end of times, why bother with environmentalism? Who cares if Social Security will be bankrupt by 2050? What does it matter if the United States is making enemies? By the time any of that comes around, Jesus will have already taken the true believers to paradise and we’ll all be in the midst of Armageddon. No reason to piss around with Medicare during the apocalypse.
Someone who genuinely believes in the End of Times, and that it’s coming soon, will likely not be reserved with the red button. We cannot expect someone of that mindset to think of long-term consequences when discussing nuclear war (which may explain Palin’s glib comments about Russia and Israel/Iran).
Don’t forget that part of the End of Times is that Israel is destroyed. So when Palin shrugs off talks of Israel attacking Iran with “we shouldn’t second guess them” four times, is she showing unity, or is quietly excited at the prospect, as it signifies the end of times? Does she really want Israel to remain safe, protected, and war free when the destruction thereof is a major part in getting Christ back?
This is why evangelicals scare me, folks.
A few things don’t make sense to me about evangelicals.
First of all, going off your point, if these Evangelicals believe the End Times are right around the corner… why do they even bother going into government? Why have ambition or aspirations at all if you expect to be hanging out with Jesus in ten, twenty years? Why become lawyers, owners of businesses, etc?
Secondly, why do evangelicals have such a boner for ushering in the End Times themselves? Jesus is coming back, right? He’ll be here eventually, right? So what is the benefit of rushing? Either way you’ll eventually get to heaven, whether you’re raptured in or you die and go the regular route.
I’ve never quite understood that myself. There seems to be a disagreement about whether we should sit around and wait for signs, or if we have to force all the precursors. No one seems to agree on that one.
Furthermore, evangelicals trying to rush the End Times seems pretty full of hubris. Thinking you can force God’s hand, or that they have the right to decide that now is the time for the End Times. To hold their decisions above God’s, that’s hugely sinful.