I’ve never understood the White House’s argument against disclosing who was present at the secret energy policy meeting with Vice-President Cheney and what was said by whom. Or, if there is an argument, why anyone would accept it. Where is the press on this? Why aren’t their lawsuits and subpoenas and Freedom of Information Act requests? This would seem to be a U.S. v. Nixon issue. Or at least a Clinton v. Jones.

Now I read that there is something apparently called the Council for National Policy, a “low-profile but powerful coalition of billionaire industrialists, fundamentalist preachers, and right-wing tacticians. Though it’s membership is secret, the rolls have reportedly included Falwell and Pat Robertson; top right-wing political strategists Richard Vigeurie, Ralph Reed, and Paul Weyrich; Republican Senators Jesse Helms, Lauch Faircloth, Don Nickles, and Trent Lott; and Republican Representatives Dick Armey and Tom DeLay. The late Rousas John Rushdoony, the right-wing theologian who hoped to reconfigure the American legal system in accordance with Biblical Law, was said to be a member. ‘Ronald Reagan, both George Bushes, Senators and Cabinet Members – you name it. There’s nobody who hasn’t been here at least once,’ says Falwell, who confirms that he is a member. ‘It is a group of four or five hundred of the biggest conservative guns in the country.’ The CNP has access to the highest powers in the land. Since the start of Bush’s Presidency, Falwell says, the CNP has enjoyed regular access to the Oval Office. ‘Within the council is a smaller group called the Arlington Group’ says Falwell. ‘We talk to each other daily and meet in Washington probably twice a month. We often call the White House and talk to Karl Rove.’ In 1999, George W. Bush courted evangelical support for his presidential candidacy by giving a speech before the council, the transcript of which remains a highly guarded secret.”

What?

How is that possible?

Where is the press on this? Where are the lawsuits and the subpoenas and the Freedom of Information Act requests?

This is absolutely unbelievable.

The Vanity Fair article in which this is reported goes on to talk about the CNP’s founder whom you probably know as one of the co-authors of the Left Behind series, Tim LaHaye.

Apparently, before he was an author, LaHaye did groundbreaking work in mobilizing the forces of right-wing Evangelical Christians to tear down the walls between Church and State.

“In the early days of his ministry, Falwell, like other Evangelicals, had made a policy of not mixing religion and politics. ‘I had been taught in the seminary that religion and politics don’t mix,’ he says. ‘Conservative theologians were absolutely convinced that the pulpit should be devoted to prayer, preaching and exclusively to spiritual ministry.’”

But then, in 1979, Falwell came upon LaHaye who had founded Californians for Biblical Morality, “a coalition of right-wing pastors who fought against gay rights and sought to ban the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons. Falwell was impressed with how LaHaye had organized the other pastors to confront the state government on moral and social issues” and soonafter, with LaHaye, launched the Moral Majority, to lobby for prayer and the teaching of Creationism in public schools, and against abortion, equal rights for women, and gay rights.

I bought Left Behind a few years ago in an effort to expand my research for a book I have been trying to write about a pilot, (the protagonist of the Left Behind books is an airline pilot). I think I got to around page five.

Apparently, LaHaye and perhaps as many as 70 million Americans believe in the End Days of Rapture and Tribulation from the book of Revelations. In an instant, the millions who have accepted Christ as their Savior will be called up to Heaven to meet Him. The rest are left behind. Some form the armies of the Antichrist, others form a Tribulation Force, taking up the fight and seeking to win redemption. Apparently, the End Days Christ is not a Prince of Peace, but a vengeful Messiah, bringing death and destruction to anyone who is not born again. When He arrives on the scene in Glorious Appearing, Christ speaks and “men and women, soldiers and horses, seemed to explode where they stood. It was as if the Lord had superheated their blood, causing it to burst through their veins and skin.” Soon, tens of thousands of foot soldiers for the Antichrist are dying in the goriest manner imaginable, their internal organs oozing out, “their blood pooling and rising in the unforgiving brightness of the glory of Christ.” As the battle for Armageddon wages, Christ harvests the Grapes of Wrath. “Tens of thousands burst open at the words of Jesus” and the Holy Land is awash in a river of blood. “According to LaHaye, it is Christ’s intent ‘that the millennium start with a clean slate.’ Committing mass murder hundreds of times greater than the Holocaust, the Lord – not the Antichrist – makes sure that ‘all unbelievers would soon die.’”

I don’t know how many people truly believe this. I have to imagine that many Evangelicals “believe” it in the general sense that they know the story. They teach it to their kids. They repeat it at church. The like to read about it. They would say that they “believed” it responding to a poll. But at an unreflective, conscious, superficial level. I have to imagine that most people, even Evangelicals, truly don’t believe this in the sense that they actually believe that it will actually happen to them.

Nevertheless, there are two things which strike me about this type of religious faith.

First, where it’s real, you can’t reason with it. It’s no different than trying to reason with a suicide bomber who thinks he’s going to spend eternity in Paradise with 72 virgins.

Second, it’s completely personal. There is really nothing moral, social, or political about it. If you believe the prophecy, nothing that you do – other than accepting Jesus as your Savior – really matters. You can tolerate evil. You can tolerate abortion. You can tolerate evolution. You can even tolerate death. Because as long as you believe in Jesus, you will meet Him in Heaven. I don’t know what happens to aborted souls or others who have been short-changed in this life, but they will presumably get their chance for redemption during the time of Tribulation. And everyone else will get what he or she deserves.

So why should Tim LaHaye or Jerry Falwell care whether the Republicans or the Democrats are in the White House? Why should they care about the Supreme Court? Or politics? Or anything else?

They are masters of their own destiny. They are saved.



[Notes - See Craig Unger, “American Rapture” Vanity Fair, December 2005, p.204. - The views expressed on this political blog and legal blog about Bill O'Reilly, gay marriage, the secularist agenda, intelligent design, and other issues are the personal views of Steve Herman and are not intended to represent the views of Herman Herman Katz & Cotlar, LTLA, TLPJ, the Civil Justice Foundation, or any other organization.]