Christians / Fear / Death

Having attended parochial schools from 3rd thru 12th grade, I was raised learning all about faith and dying. I had always thought and been taught not to fear death, for we would then be with Jesus. And although I have not been part of a organized church for many years, I still think this.

Could anybody then please explain why the religious right of this country are so afraid of terrorists and dying? Why they promote fear?

and it makes no sense to me. I've even said to people (Repubs in my church, who tell me "we have to fight 'em there, or we'll have to fight 'em here", that my faith tells me not to fear death--so I won't vote out of fear. They seem perplexed by this.

All I can tell ya is that I don't think they're as secure in their faith as they'd like to believe.

It first came about when I began volunteering in a program for street kids. Suddenly, I was no longer afraid to walk around downtown or wait for the bus at night. I knew that, sure, something bad could happen, but most likely it wouldn't, and that those "scary" people on the street were almost all just broken and battered--and harmless-- human beings.

I lived without a car in Portland for ten years, walking around at night, waiting for the bus or light rail downtown, and I was never attacked or threatened.

Now in the matter of terrorism, after 9/11, I at first reacted reflexively and nearly cancelled my reservations to fly to a convention in November. But during that same week, two acquaintances died suddenly and completely unexpectedly, one being a 23-year-old counter attendant at the coffee shop I frequented, who died of a brain hemorrhage, and the other being a healthy 60-year-old woman who died of a blood clot after routine surgery.

Did that ever give me perspective! I realized that there are countless ways to die suddenly, and terrorism is statistically one of the least likely.

I went to that convention (on wonderfully uncrowded flights) and had a great time.

that they are not good enough, that they are sinners had will have to spend time in painful purgatory, or perhaps eternal hell. If they had stronger faith, and less doubt, perhaps they wouldn't feel that way.

It is tough, if one is a literalist, to reconcile all the different demands of the faith.

why can the people of the religious right by their actions that are wrong, greedy, unethical, unkind, mean-spirited - ask for forgiveness (and presume to receive it) and then continue in the same path?

I listened to the John Dean book, Conservatives Without Conscience, at least three times last fall to grasp the depth of how people are grouped. It was revealing and has brought me to question their boastful remarks about themselves and their faith.

I have not been part of an organized religion for over 25 years and it was because I saw the "politics" involved in these groups... those who had more money and volunteered were favored over those with less money and yet volunteered. I also saw so many times that they did not practice what they preached so I left them but still have a spiritual side of me.

And I understand the fear some people in the major cities such as New York may have, but yet cannot grasp how somebody in tiny town, central USA can believe some terrorist would want to kill them, especially the people who claim to be Christians.

were in the best place to be. Kill us?! Hell, if Osama was like a lot of Americans, he wouldn't be able to find us!! We also laughed when we were warned by the state about people wanting to fly crop dusters, but not loading with chemicals, etc. It was as if some people wanted to make believe the bad guys were interested in us--like they didn't want to be left out.

The funniest thing, though, was a conversation I had with a colleague at lunch one day. She sat down and leaned across the table to whisper. I leaned forward and she said, "Don't look now but Osama bin Ladin is in town."
Me:"In THIS town?!"
Her: Apparently.
Me: What are you talkin' about?
Her: I just got scolded by a parishioner for not having a flag or flag sticker on my car. She said we need to have them so Osama will know we all stand together, to let him know he hasn't won.
Me: Doesn't mean he's here.
Her: Must be. How else would he know whether I've got an effin' flag on my car!

Well, let me tell you, I kept an eye out for him after that!

After my long walk home from the World Trade Center, being at the center of things, I managed to catch some news of my former home state of Wisconsin and how gas prices were going up quickly AND how people were stockpiling shitloads of bottled water.

I thought, "Gosh - you know, there's panic here in NYC, but for the most part people are just hanging out in the parks with their strollers and dogs, subdued and quiet like. Back in Wisconsin - one of the very last states that will ever see any real terrorist action - they're FUCKING HOARDING WATER?!?!?!!"

I both laughed my ass off because it was really fucking dumb, and also felt a surging rage because those imbeciles were letting stupid and utterly unwarranted fear control their actions, and, I have to admit, I also felt that their idiotic actions (that is, feeling like they were under threat at all) was insulting to me and my people, a poke in the face of our suffering and our REAL immediate situation of fear, death, mayhem, and chaos.

I shouted at the news, "You stupid jackasses! What're you thinking! If you are ever in a position to actually have to fear terrorist attacks, your last concern is gonna be water BECAUSE IT MEANS THE REST OF THE FUCKING COUNTRY IS GONE!! GONE!!!!!"

But, fear is a powerfully irrational emotion, and leads all sorts of emotionally immature or vulnerable people to do stupid things, whether it's fear of death, fear of terrorism, fear of loss of money, fear of sickness, or fear of the guy burgling your house.

..."Everybody wants to go to Heaven; nobody wants to die." ;-)

...because fear works to keep people in line. (Simple answer, obviously incomplete.)

Why do so many people buy into it? Personally, I'm not sure how scared I am of death. I'm by no means a brave person, but I've gotten to the point where I more or less expect it'll happen sometime.

What scares me half blind is the thought of watching people I care about die. So when the members of the Religious Right (I'm not talking about fearmongering leaders now, just your average everyday right-wing Christian) seem to be scared of dying, maybe some of them are really more scared of the fear and powerlessness of watching their friends, neighbors, loved ones die under random and malevolent circumstances.

Just a thought, maybe not a very good one.

motivator than love, forgiveness and understanding.

The vast majority of those who accede to fear have no concept of what the religion espouses.

In a nutshell, if one even attempts to follow the "decent" tenets of any religion, they should have no fear in the future after one dies. Very few religions have a tenet that demands destruction, and those religions are populated by very few individuals that seem to have some psychological/sociological problems.

Fear is born of ignorance; and those who fail to look in depth to their religion suffer from a lack of faith, an enduring sense of helplessness, and the terror that they will be cast into some form of hell.
Each of us can do things to help in our spheres of influence. If we choose to portray hate and fear, we lose; if we show mercy, empathy and love, we can be assured that we have done something that can have rewards we can be proud of.

"Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." (Phantom Menace)

"Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny." (The Empire Strikes Back)