Are Democrats also running against the Fear of Hell and Satan?

Being in a mashochistic mood, I was watching one of those Fundamentlist networks the other day, and something struck me.

One of the political arrows in the GOP/CONservative's Fear Campaign is unspoken. It's the Fear of Hell.

Vote Democratic and You Will Go to Hell.

The Fundamentalist Christians are driven by, among other thing, the fear of going to hell, along with the Unsaved. Along with the carrot of promise of the heavenly kingdom (and prosperity on earth) they do everything they can to avoid being caught by Satan

Thus they toe the line with what their conservative ministers tell them about how to think and behave and believe in. And they stand foursquare against anything they are told is associated with Satan.

And, according to the CONservative Christian orthodoxy, the list of Satan's tricks is long -- sexual freedom, Gays, abortion, socialism and communism, other religious or spiritual beliefs, freedom of thought, alternatives to traditional families...etc. etc. etc.

And, conveniently, most of the list has been associated with liberals, Democrats and other Secular Progressives (the new buzzword).

I'm just wondering how much of a factor this Fear of Hell and Satan is among the hard core GOP Christian Fundamentalist base.

Is there any way to break the spell of this programmed belief that a political ideology is not the same as whether someone is "saved" or not?

repeated so often..

Republican politicians don't get up and say "Vote Republican or you will go to Hell."

However, it's in the background noise of the propaganda matrix they have constructed.

Ever so helpful, that.

eom

In the Old South, Christianity was pounded into the slaves, as one way to get them to endure their condition. They may have been living in a hell on earth, but they would be rewarded in the afterlife.

I wonder how much of that is part of the current matrix.

Most of these memes, moral panics, talking points are all social constructions created by non-religious neocons who are in it for the money and power. In another thread a couple of weeks ago I posted about a GOP operative who has immense power with the fundies. With mass mailing/email he connects to preachers/ministers all over the country and feeds issues to them, and they in turn feed their congregations. It makes sense in a lot of ways, and it's even easy to feel sorry for some of the fundies. Who wants to admit going to a church where the preacher lies to them? Of course, the preacher isn't actually lying, but is only repeating the memes, moral panics and talking points and may believe it. There is a lot of Cognitive Dissonance going on.

No doubt, one of the reasons Rove calls them "the nuts" is because they are so easily manipulated. Even so, most are actually good people who mean well. And we Democrats can't get too self-righteous about it because we are sometimes manipulated in exactly the same ways: memes, moral panics and talking points. Some even created by neocons.

So, yeah, fear of hell must play a role, but the person going to hell is always the other person and almost never the person who regularly attends OUR own church, since WE know the truth. This brainwashing makes more sense when viewed in terms of http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/dissonance.htm">Cognitive Dissonance.

I think they are created by religious zealots and then exploited by non-religious opportunists.

Their beliefs didn;t start out as political. Over the years the fundie right has evolved from being a relatively small number of true believers who believed they are being persecuted and marginalized by mainstream society into a large and unfortunately powerful political force.

The GOP and CONservative opportunists saw an opening there and exploited it. But the underlying religious dogma was there before that.

I won't get self righteous about them, but I do resent their trying to impose their own religion on everyone else.

Honestly, I haven't researched it enough to know which came first, the chicken or the egg. But you point is well taken and is likely. Either way, it is a machine and following the money applies here as much as anywhere, maybe more so.

We can't run against them specifically this time. It's a midterm election. The White House is not up for grabs for another two years. But in another respect, yes, we ARE running against Fear of Hell and Satan. We're Democrats. Fear of Hell and Satan are leading members of that other party.

But they can all go to hell, as far as I'm concerned.

down there

:evilfrown:

:argh:

This year will be my first time voting democratic so I'm kinda not sure where I fit in. I am a pentecostal and pro life. But I'm leaning towards Obama.