Okay, Dems, What Went Wrong? And How Can We Fix It?

For starters, it's worth pointing out that those predicting an apocalypse have a long and lousy record. In America, tens of thousands of followers of William Miller waited eagerly for Jesus to reappear on Oct. 22, 1844. Some of these Millerites had given away all their belongings, and the no-show was called the Great Disappointment.

In more recent times, the best-selling nonfiction book of the 1970's was Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth," selling 18 million copies worldwide with its predictions of a Second Coming. Then, one of the hottest best sellers in 1988 was a booklet called "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988." Oops.

Being wrong has rarely been so lucrative.

[...]

So I challenge the authors to a bet: if the events of the Apocalypse arrive in the next 10 years, then I'll donate $500 to the battle against the Antichrist; if it doesn't, you donate $500 to a charity of my choosing that fights poverty - and bigotry.

Gentlemen, do we have a deal?

You ought to walk into a religious studies survey course at any university, finn. Liberals as far as your myopia might peer. Or pick up a book by someone like Elaine Pagels, professor, Christian and as intelligent a lady as you are ever going to bump into.

Back in 2000, Al Gore tried to revive southern populism with his talk of fighting for "the people against the powerful". ("There aren't many Tom Joads in the exurbs," says Marshall Wittmann of the Democratic Leadership Council. "If you're fighting for anything, it's probably a parking space.")

We welcome back to the area Senator Hillary Clinton (D., N.Y.), who has been spending so much time here in Little Rock lately that she's practically joined the church choir! "I'm here spending time at my husband's library," she told the Lamp when we caught up with her after a Sunday camp meeting, "and of course, I always take time to worship God in as evangelical a way as is feasible, given time and location constraints. As you know, I consider myself an evangelical Christian, really a Christian conservative, if you want to know the truth, so it's nice to be 'home' again in the South, which I really consider my quote-unquote home even though I live in New York most of the time. Well, Washington, D.C., most of the time, actually, but if I'm not there I'm in New York, of course, but always thinking about being here, in the South, my spiritual home, where I shared so many wonderful evangelical . . . moments and . . . events.

Hillary Clinton: interview appearing in "Light the Lamp!", the monthly newsletter of the Holy Flame Pentecostal Church of Little Rock, Ark.

How silly this is. Who, after all, would be the converse of 'intelligent sia'? The unbright ians. There's a community of achievers to clambor towards.

But you intend, of course, a cliched hack at the educated. Education makes you stupider and if you stay uneducated, well boy you are then really at the peak of intellectual achievement. So puff up with pride, Mr Everyman, for not reading.

You ought to walk into a religious studies survey course at any university, finn. Liberals as far as your myopia might peer. Or pick up a book by someone like Elaine Pagels, professor, Christian and as intelligent a lady as you are ever going to bump into. And then compare her book to one by Falwell or Robertson or Grapham. Disdain is an appropriate response for that group of three dwarf-minds.

Contempt for all things Christian? No, I didn't read it that way. I read it as contempt for any brand of Christianity that doesn't measure up to the snooty, presumed-to-be-intellectual, arrogant, condescending liberals who consider the only Christianity worthy of respect is that which fits with their own elitist views. John Kerry unintentionally projected that elitist image. The vast majority of Americans are more comfortable not with intellectual elitism but with the more down-to-earth using kind of religion as is portrayed by the president.

Be contemptuous of that if you wish. But it will cost you many hundreds of thousands if not millions of votes at the polls.

Be contemptuous if you wish. But it will cost you many hundreds of thousands if not millions of votes at the polls.

Shhhhhhhh .... over the last decade, that's cost 'em scores upon scores upon scores of millions of votes ... why tip 'em to it?

Oh good. Just keeping thinking that way Cyclop. We can look forward to the Republicans staying in power for a very long time and you can be happy with your principles.

And then compare her book to one by Falwell or Robertson or Grapham. Disdain is an appropriate response for that group of three dwarf-minds.

Unlike the rich Catholic and Anglican traditions, the protestant community in America has produced no religious philospher worth a pinch of coonshit. The best they've got is Alvin Plantinga, and that's not saying much.

I'm not sure I buy into the logic of this. It sounds a bit like saying: "Unlike the rich mammal tradition, the birds of the world have produced no ornithologist worth a pinch of coonshit. The best is my parrot, but that's not saying much." Or in other words: As an ex-Lutheran atheist, I don't see why the merits of a religious denomination should be measured by its ability to produce theologists.