chris hiosis - Arz-e-Pak

Faith 29
was an organized effort to persecute all who upheld God's law.
These carefully cultivated feelings of persecution foster a permanent
state ofcrisis, a deep paranoia and fear, and they make it easier
to call for violence-always, ofcourse, as a form ofself-defense.
It turns all outside the movement into enemies: even those who
appear benign, the believer is warned, seek to destroy Christians.
There are an array ofobscure, shadowy paramilitary groups, such
as Christian Identity, the members of which, emboldened by the
rhetoric of the movement, believe they will one day fight a religious
war. Military leaders who stoke this beliefin a holy war are
lionized. After leading American troops into battle against a Somalian
warlord, General William Boykin announced: "I knew my God
was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his
God was an ido1." General Boykin belongs to a small group called
the Faith Force Multiplier, whose members apply military principles
to evangelism in a manifesto summoning warriors "to the
spiritual warfare for souls." Boykin, rather than being reprimanded
for his inflammatory rhetoric, was promoted to the position of
deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence. He believes
America is engaged in a holy war as a "Christian nation" battling
Satan and that America's Muslim adversaries will be defeated
"only ifwe come against them in the name ofJesus."'"
These visions ofa holy war at once terrify and delight followers.
Such visions peddle a bizarre spiritual Darwinism. True
Christians will rise to heaven and be saved, and all lesser faiths
and nonbelievers will be viciously destroyed by an angry God in
an orgy of horrific, apocalyptic violence. The yearning for this
final battle runs through the movement like an electric current.
Christian Right firebrands employ the language ofwar, speak in
the metaphors of battle, and paint graphic and chilling scenes of
the violence and mayhem that will envelop the earth. War is the
final aesthetic ofthe movement.
"Now, this revolution is not for the temperate," the Ohio pastor
Rod Parsley shouted out to a crowd when I heard him speak in