by Gerard Donnelly Smith
What has been done is the greatest achievement of organized science in history. It [the atomic bomb] was done under high pressure and without failure.
We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war.
—US President Harry S. Truman, "Statement on the Bombing of Hiroshima," August 7, 1945
(Swans - April 24, 2006) Faith, either secular or religious, in absolute truths may inhibit the believer from accepting the consequences of his/her actions. For example, the unnecessary deaths of soldiers may seem an acceptable consequence if the commander in chief has absolute faith in the righteousness of his mission. Especially if that leader believes he has been ordained by god to wage the holy war. The recent exposure of Bush's plan to bomb Iran using tactical nukes proves that this commander in chief doesn't care about the consequences of his actions, perhaps even believes those who would die deserve to die. The death toll from the bombing and its nuclear fallout is predicted in the tens of millions, including children, the elderly, the crippled, the mentally incompetent. The deaths will be indiscriminate, thus as I have written before, those who use or even plan to use nuclear weapons should be charged with crimes against humanity.
But why does George Walker Bush even consider using Weapons of Mass Destruction? He has declared that nations and leaders who "even consider" using WMDs are part of an "axis of evil." Does one counter evil with an act of evil? George Walker Bush would. Why?
According to the Charlotte, North Carolina, Paw Creek Ministries, in "George W. Bush And Bible Prophecy" (April 2004):
Bible Prophecy is unalterable truth set in the halls of heaven. It cannot vary. Israel is going to be safe until the middle of this Great Tribulation but will survive the relentless attack of the Antichrist. Iraq must be in place to become the center of the Antichrist Kingdom. Israel will have America as her defender even when the Antichrist seeks to eliminate every Jew from the face of the earth. The terrorists that claim Allah as their god will help lead this campaign of Jewish eradication, but they will fail.
Certain sects of the Rapture-Christians believe that the Antichrist will be an Assyrian who will set up an Assyrian nation. According to political analysts, 30% of George Walker Bush's base believe in some version of the Apocalypse.
All of them must, as do all proponents of Armageddon, believe in Revelation 16 12: "the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East." Some interpret "kings" as meaning "troops." So far the river's flow doesn't seem to be diminishing, but end-timers argue that the dams now in place would make it easier for a modern army to divert the waters so they could easily cross. Once might wonder why a modern army would need to dry up a river when it could just as easily bridge it, airlift over it, or just go around it. George Walker Bush's army will "fly" across the Euphrates, delivering death from the sky.
In response to Seymour Hersh's article in The New Yorker (April 17, 2006), George Walker Bush dismisses the accusations as "wild speculation." However, George Walker Bush has made it clear that he will use all weapons at his disposal to protect national security and to fight the war on terror. He has never disavowed the use of nuclear weapons. Mr. Hersh has argued that the United States has been taken over by a cult; he may be right.
Rapture-Christians may even promote disasters as a necessary component of the divinity's greater plan for humanity, such as the belief in the end times, or the belief in a vengeful god who uses natural disasters, disease, and war to smite sinners, heathens, and infidel: e.g., the Asian tsunami wiping out pornographers, Katrina and AIDS wiping out gays and lesbians, Bush wiping out his god's enemies.
Such faith has in the past caused mass hysteria that has lead to the violent suppression of "others" and to acts of genocide (the Holocaust), or in some cases group suicide (Heaven's Gate).
Similarly, faith in absolute scientific truths led to the development of "Race" and its subsequent use to oppress and enslave entire peoples. Faith in technology's absolute ability to solve the world's food and energy problems has lead to air, water, and soil pollution, which in turn has caused the diminishment of biodiversity.
Technology and faith combined have produced such disasters as Chernobyl and absolute faith can be a dangerous belief. Often, when those in power have absolute faith, they commit crimes against humanity.
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