Christian extremism threatens America

By Dan W. Holst | Tuesday, May 06, 2008

We are not God, Christ or even Elijah. Yet 15 years ago, I attended a church that spouted name calling, judgments and dissent. Why? Because since Christ called Pharisees vipers, then so can we.

This church supported evangelists that proclaimed salvation only through the King James Bible and not Christ alone. These Evangelists degraded, judged and name-called other Christians because they didn’t believe like them. Today, Fred Phelps in Kansas states that it is OK to sow hatred against America because of the homosexuals. Those who support gays will also burn in hell.

Extremist anti-abortionists succumb to the same basic philosophies by using belligerent means to stop abortions. Today, a friend of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on CNN’s Lou Dobbs show defended the statement “God damn America” because God himself damned other nations. The Rev. Wright is not God, Fred Phelps is not God, that evangelist is not God, yet throughout America, religious leaders spew forth these “Godly” hatreds and judgments.

The Bible does not tell anyone to hate and condemn others. Only God knows the heart, and he alone will judge. A hypocrite, I’m not; without knowing the heart, I do not condemn anybody.

I simply call our nation, our people, and our neighbors, to stop this divisiveness, this disunification, this extremism.

We battle extremist terror across the world, but it is this, and other extremists in our own backyards. that will eventually pave America’s downfall.

Dan W. Holst

Bettendorf