Obama Not the Antichrist : Dispatches from the Culture Wars

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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)

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Obama Not the Antichrist

Posted on: August 16, 2008 9:23 AM, by Ed Brayton

So say Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, authors of the Left Behind series. Don't you feel better now?

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Comments

Awesome. Back to the smear buffet. Dibs on the arugala!

Posted by: FishyFred | August 16, 2008 10:22 AM

Well, now that their prophets, who so powerfully distilled god's message into the form of a series of glossy paperbacks, have said so, I'm sure the wingnuts will stop believing it *rolls eyes*.

Posted by: Julian | August 16, 2008 10:40 AM

Lots of right-wing Christians think the Antichrist is supposed to be a gay Jew. They've been so busy smearing Obama as a supposed Muslim that they disqualified him from the Antichrist sweepstakes.

Posted by: Zeno | August 16, 2008 11:45 AM

Zeno:

Lots of right-wing Christians think the Antichrist is supposed to be a gay Jew.

Citation? I usually have some exposure to some fairly right-wing stuff (I'm a Baptist), and I've never in my life heard this claim.

Posted by: The Christian Cynic | August 16, 2008 12:24 PM

Lots of right-wing Christians think the Antichrist is supposed to be a gay Jew.

Harvey Fierstein?

Posted by: Dr X | August 16, 2008 12:39 PM

Dr X wrote:

Harvey Fierstein?

Look, I know you're not the Antichrist, but if you were....would you find me attractive? I just wanna lead the world during a thousand year reign of terror. Is that so wrong?

Posted by: Ed Brayton | August 16, 2008 12:46 PM

They should know, they helped the current anti-christ get selected. On a happier note, I was at the $ store yesterday and saw a large pile of Thomas Kinkead crapola for sale. I know that the asswipe's been paid but it's just good to see that the shit's not selling.

Posted by: democommie | August 16, 2008 1:43 PM

So is the Pope as Antichrist out of fashion these days?

Posted by: V Profane | August 16, 2008 2:05 PM

On a happier note, I was at the $ store yesterday and saw a large pile of Thomas Kinkead crapola for sale. I know that the asswipe's been paid but it's just good to see that the shit's not selling.

Wow, demo. That seems kind of neurotic. Why do you care so much about if Thomas Kinkaid's paintings sell or not? Do you hate him that much simply because he is Christian? If you don't like his paintings, don't hang one on your wall. I don't see what the big deal is.

Posted by: mroberts | August 16, 2008 2:32 PM

Since all these beliefs are hardly coherent in the first place, it won't do much good. Hagee also said that Obama isn't the Antichrist for doctrinal reasons ... but those who believe this stuff will still think that Obama, if not the Antichrist, is paving the way for Antichrist. That's precisely what Hal Lindsey wrote at World Net Daily, and like LaHaye and Jenkins he thinks the actual Antichrist will be Roman/Italian.

CNN HN was featuring comments that they recieved on this matter the other day, and one of the comments said that Obama is not the Antichrist but that he's pushing America in the direction of Antichrist with his liberal politics.

Posted by: Hume's Ghost | August 16, 2008 3:24 PM

Wow Finally something I agree with democommie and mroberts at the same time. mroberts for the comment that demo was being neurotic in his Kincaid comment and democommie for mocking Kincaids "art" which I would never consider at my gallery because it really is comercialized crap.

I am enjoying the lightheatedness of this thread :)

Posted by: Anna | August 16, 2008 3:55 PM

Of course Obama is not the anti-christ, this is just more man made mythology from a book of myths written some thousands of years ago by bunch semi literate sheep hearders

Posted by: Ex Partiate | August 16, 2008 4:10 PM

I, for one, am glad that Sam Neill isn't standing.

Posted by: V Profane | August 16, 2008 5:15 PM

Not "Roman/Italian" - Romanian. Or, as LeHaye said in the WSJ: "The Antichrist isn't going to be an American, so it can't possibly be Obama. The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place, like Romania."

Posted by: The Ridger | August 16, 2008 7:12 PM

It's incredibly depressing that millions of Americans apparently still believe in the literal truth of a randomly preserved, frequently mistranslated, often self-contradictory, politically motivated assemblage of myths dating back thousands of years. It is even more depressing that the Washington Post, and other "serious" newspapers are willing to devote even one column inch to the lunatic ravings of obvious cretins and conmen. Perhaps most depressing of all is that presidential candidates feel that it is necessary to pander to this kind of nonsense and pretend to believe in it (and yes, I think, although I certainly cannot prove it, that both McCain and Obama, as well as most, if not all, major presidential candidates in my lifetime, are merely pretending about their religious beliefs).

We face an uncertain future, in which our ONLY hope is in reason, rationality and science, and politicians still waste time on Ten Commandments postings and science bashing, ignoring the very real problems that are mounting in intensity daily. While I think I can probably get through the rest of my life (I am in my mid-50s, and extreme longevity does not run in either side of my family, at least among males) in modest comfort, but I am terrified (some nights literally sleepless) about the future our nieces and nephews face, and I have never been so glad that my wife talked me out of having kids.

Posted by: MTS | August 16, 2008 9:06 PM

Well, Hawaii, Kenya and indeed the whole of the US was far more obscure than the important Roman province of Romania when Revelations was written...

Posted by: wazza | August 17, 2008 12:07 AM

The notion that the Antichrist will be (or already is!) a gay Jew is an article of faith among those who follow John Hagee's special brand of Christo-fascism. Unfortunately, that's quite a few people. Check it out.

Posted by: Zeno | August 17, 2008 12:11 AM

Immensely better, Ed, thank you. Such a weight off my mind.

/sarcasm

I just want to know how the hell this shite ever ended up as part of our national discourse.

Excellent Harvey F. impression, btw.

Posted by: Dana Hunter | August 17, 2008 3:09 AM

mroberts:

"Do you hate him that much simply because he is Christian?"

Uh, no; I don't hate him at all. I dislike his art, which is crap (and probably not even done by him, in a lot of cases). But what I dislike about him much more than that is his sanctimony and hypocrisy and if that's what his KKKristianity is about then it must be why you think he's a christian.

Posted by: democommie | August 17, 2008 4:44 AM

Who would know the identity of The Antichrist better than the Pope?

And the Pope said the George Bush, not Obama, was the Antichrist:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MKY/is_9_27/ai_108881880

Posted by: Gingerbaker | August 17, 2008 10:26 AM

Since both Kinkaid and the anti-christ are in this thread, I can't help but report an amusing conversation I overheard, some years ago when Kinkaid was more popular:

First Mormon artist: I am so tired of how people who hear I'm an artist and then think I'll be excited to see the Thomas Kinkaid they just bought. His stuff is the most boring garbage I've ever seen on a wall.
Second Mormon artist: I know, he's like the anti-christ of artists. He's insanely popular, and yet, he's the opposite of the spirit of art.
Atheist artist: He's popular because the tv sitcom industry has trained everyone to like boring crap.
First Mormon artist: Yeah, I agree with both of you. He's like the anti-christ of art.

Posted by: llewelly | August 17, 2008 8:15 PM

This is an interesting topic that has raged on for years. It is a shame that people use it for political gain. I think the ONE references to Obama that even Oprah made are more about him being the right man to be the first black President. The silly thing is that many Christians spend more time worrying about this stuff than dealing with all the suffering in the world that we can do something about.

Posted by: King of Ireland | August 17, 2008 8:37 PM

KOI:

Those are the folks that I call "KKKristians"; sanctimonious, superstitious, hypocritical jerks who feel it's their job (and privilege) to dictate the morals that others should have while ignoring their own wickedness. "Fundifuckheads" is another term I use for them. Asshats for JESUS.

Posted by: democommie | August 18, 2008 7:25 AM

"This is absurd. It's obviously a lighthearted ad having some fun with Senator Obama's tendency to get carried away with audacious statements," campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said today in an e-mail.

Just like Ann Coulter's brain-dead fan base: when confronted over their ignorant, dishonest and just plain bigoted statements, they try to pretend it was all a joke and blame everyone else for not seeing the humor. (And what "audacious statements" of Obama's are they referring to? As usual, these asshats talk about Obama without referencing any actual words or deeds of his.)

Posted by: Raging Bee | August 18, 2008 1:04 PM

Like those 2 'Silent Apocalypse' idiots have a freakin' clue. Their bull story has tricked millions into thinking Jesus is going to snag people up to Heaven secretly and leave everyone else to rape-murder-kill each other.

Its well known that the Antichrist from the book of Revelation is the Catholic Papal system. The Mark of the Beast is believing in their Pope and following his anti-Biblical edicts about eating unclean animals, worshiping on Sunday, etc.

Posted by: Jeremy Davis | August 20, 2008 11:55 AM

They only said it was LIKELY that he wasn't the Antichrist. He's apparently not in the clear yet.

Posted by: Cappy | August 20, 2008 1:24 PM

I know all those Presidential Candidates look alike...but it's Coot McCain that is the AC http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/343356 check this out! lol

Posted by: IrishDave | August 21, 2008 2:35 AM