I think the devil makes them do it--Evangelical rantings and scheming:

Monday, May 01, 2006 at 04:39 PM

I'm not a big fan of proselytizing evangelicals who think God is a corporeal presence hiding just out of sight and ready to swing his Godly sword down on the heads of all who do not believe as the evangelicals believe.  In fact, evangelical Christians of that stripe seem to me more representative of evil than divine good.  And every day they do something else to reinforce that opinion.

For example:

1. Bush "surrendered" to gays and their "trophy children" at the White House Easter egg hunt

John Haskins at Renew America offers up a hyperbolic bolt of dumb that would make Ann Coulter smile:

More denial, folks. As always, every politically aware liberal and homosexual activist in the country knows what many on "Our Side" have scrambled to deny. Here's a little reality pill to nibble on: another incremental surrender DID occur and history WAS made in this White House Easter Egg Roll, in an almost irreversible way. Homosexuals, bearing their trophy children -- helpless prisoners in the War Against Future Generations -- were welcomed without so much as blink of an eye at a family event on a high Christian holy day.

Make no mistake: those who plot and scheme tirelessly against the innocence of our children, and against our rights as parents to defend them and who have sworn enmity against our God, know that they won that Easter egg roll and we lost. No, once again, we didn't lose. We surrendered. Our specialty. And we then chastised those among us who warned against one more polite, quiet, peaceful, dignified, lazy, little surrender.

Why don't pro-family people understand how much the "little" things like this advance society's acceptance of homosexual "families," homosexual child rearing and homosexual "marriages?" How blind can we be? WHY did homosexual activists even bother to strategize, attend and publicize their attendance at this egg rolling? What do they know that we REFUSE to know? There is GENIUS in first portraying George Bush as "anti-gay" and then showing that even an "anti-gay" Christian, Republican stands by politely and lets a White House children's event on a Christian holy day be used to mainstream a homosexual revolution that represents the total and final defeat of Judeo-Christian civilization and morality. Consider: if even an "anti-gay," Republican, Christian like George Bush silently surrenders little propaganda victories without a fight, how would one of those ridiculous, long-bearded, extremist, homophobic Old Testament prophets look protesting at the White House? The entire Gospel is compromised by our determination to avoid girding for war -- to shun the "extremism" of our own Scriptures.

Those who plot the undoing of all that is good for your children and grandchildren are the "enemies" of your children and grandchildren. Yes, folks, "enemies" IS the word, and they are girded for war and we are not. They have what we still do not have: a clear, honest knowledge that their homosexual revolution gains VITAL propaganda value in such successes. Why do we not see this, when they regard it as obvious enough to sacrifice their free time to pull this off? Because we are mired in layer after layer after layer of denial. As the Russians used to quip satirically under Stalin: "The streetcars are running, so this must be a normal country."

2. The evil possibilities of June 6, 2006 aka "666"

ELECTRIC NEWS reports:

The prospect of giving birth on that date has prompted talk of spawning devil children on Armageddon day, reported London's The Sunday Times.

A UK self-help group that usually exchanges routine tips on parenting has turned its attention to the dangers of a date marked by the satanic symbol.

The approach of the sixth day of the sixth month of a new century's sixth year has prompted animated discussion among women participating in the website of Mother & Baby, a British parenting magazine.

One pregnant woman, Ms Francesca Renouf said she was so worried that she has booked a doctor's appointment to ensure that she can avoid giving birth on the sixth.
...
Crown Forum, a US publishing giant, has seized on 666 as the perfect date for the launch of Godless, a new anti-liberal political polemic by Ms Ann Coulter, a prominent right-wing columnist.

The only devils in Ms Coulter's book are Democrats, but that hasn't stopped her publisher making the most of 666. Coulter, a tall blonde with a mean anti-liberal streak, is the bestselling author of How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must).

Her new book, subtitled The Church of Liberalism, has chapters such as 'On the seventh day God rested and Liberals schemed', and 'The holiest sacrament: abortion'.
...
The Internet is awash with frenzied doomsday debate and 666 speculation.

Some Armageddon believers fear that 6/6/06 will be 'a day of satanic power' that may be marked by a comet hitting the Earth.

Others believe that the world is coming closer to what is widely known as 'the rapture' - the moment the Lord calls the Christian faithful home and millions of born-again evangelicals will suddenly disappear from the Earth, leaving non-believers behind.

On one popular evangelical website last week, a 'rapture index' that calculates the likelihood of the Lord's arrival stood at 156 - which the website declared was time to 'fasten your seatbelts'.

By contrast, another website claimed that the Antichrist had already arrived - George (six letters) Walker (six letters) Bush Jr (six letters), the president whose name adds up to 666.
...
However, the majority of people may well conclude that if the last 6/6/06 (in 1906) failed to end in apocalypse, they might survive this one, too.

3. Use video games to proselytize

The Windsor Tribune reports that:

There is currently a nationwide movement to use pop culture to bring teens to God through use of a video game called Halo 2. A Methodist church in Windsor used it recently as a fundraiser, and the pastor's son says this was done to show that "church doesn't have to suck."

Nice.

The idea is that the premise of Halo 2 is based loosely on themes found in the Bible, mainly good versus evil. What youth ministries around the nation are hoping will happen is this: A bunch of kids (mainly guys, because they are the primary audience and users of this game) get together to play Halo 2 during youth group time. Some of these kids are members of the church, others are outsiders, invited by their friends.

While playing the game, believers are to approach their nonbelieving friends with, and I take this quote from a Christian Web site called eteamrevolution.net: "Hey, have you ever wondered what happens when people die? I mean, in this game you can start over after you `die,' but I don't think that's the way real life works. What do you think?"

After the unsuspecting friend has been blindsided with this evangelical bait, the Christian kid is supposed to ask his friend if he can share his beliefs. You can figure out the rest.

I think that saying the devil makes them do it is being about as kind as you can be.  And after all, wouldn't the first thing a smart and sneaky devil did to get his way be to convince everyone that he wasn't the devil?