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.Through such groups Bush has become identified as ourman in the White House by ultra-conservative Christians,including many like LaHaye who are strict biblical reconstruc-tionists believers in the literal truth of the Bible and the needto actively prepare the world for the Second Coming, if neces-sary by triggering the Apocalypse.For instance, ChristianZionists believe the Bible makes it clear that all of Israel mustbelong to the Jews before the Second Coming can happen, andthat all the Palestinians must therefore be ethnically cleansedfrom the Holy Land.The Christian Reconstructionists want toturn America into a theocracy, a kind of religious dictatorshipwhere strict religious law applies (eg abortionists and homo-sexuals should be imprisoned or executed).These may sound like fringe groups, but they or those closeto them have the ear of the White House and other senior gov-ernment figures, and in the light of the ultra-conservativeChristian agenda it is illuminating to re-examine many of thepolicies pursued by the Bush administration since achievingoffice.Domestically, Bush is coming down hard on abortionand homosexual rights, and ramping up the role of religion ingovernment with faith-based policy initiatives.On the interna-tional stage, he supports controversial Israeli treatment of thePalestinians and portrays himself almost as a holy warrior inthe fight against terrorism, while the invasion of Iraq shouldperhaps be seen in the context of reconstructionist beliefs thatArmageddon will be unleashed from Babylon ie Iraq.Increasingly it sounds as though ultra-conservativeChristians are attempting to subvert constitutional separation70 Secret History Book 23/9/04 4:08 pm Page 71C ONSPI RACI ES, S ECRET S O CI ETI ES AND C ULTSof church and state in America and take control of US domes-tic and foreign policy.Some groups raise funds and mobilisesupport using methods fairly traditional to US politics; othershave a long history of secretly building a covert coalition ofultra-right religious and political interests from around theglobe and peddling this influence to further their repressiveagenda.Lining up alongside the Gehlen Org, P2 and Opus Dei,American groups such as the Fellowship have played their partin the secret history of post-war anti-communism, and maynow be setting the agenda for the War on Terror that hasreplaced that crusade.Using the myth of secrecy and conspiracy: Ancient times tothe present dayReading, investigating and weaving conspiracy theories can beextremely entertaining, while keeping an open mind in rela-tion to the true causes of some historical episodes can be illu-minating.But any discussion of conspiracies, secret societiesand the like is irresponsible if it does not acknowledge thepernicious use and abuse of conspiracy theories to furtherbigotry, sectarianism, race hatred and even genocide.Throughout history all sections of society have made use ofmyths, fictions and folk tales about secrecy and conspiracy inorder to demonise ethnic or religious groups with terribleresults; disturbingly the process continues to this day.Todaythere are hundreds of millions of people around the worldwho routinely and unquestioningly believe in absurd anddemonstrably bogus conspiracies, and use them to justify actsof violence and persecution.The most obvious and consistent targets of these slandersare the Jews.Jews have suffered persecution throughout theirlong history, but particularly after the Diaspora the scatter-ing of the Jewish peoples around the world after the destruc-tion of the Jewish states by first the Babylonians and later the71 Secret History Book 23/9/04 4:08 pm Page 72S ECRET H I STORYRomans.Thereafter, Jewish communities in Europe in partic-ular suffered waves of persecution, with riots, pogroms andexpulsions.The sources of anti-Semitism are varied and com-plex, but major contributors were the myths and legends aboutJewish practices and conspiracies that were propagatedthroughout Europe.The most dangerous of the slanders was the Blood Libel the myth that Jews performed human sacrifices, usually ofChristians, for ritual purposes.The legend first appears inpre-Christian times, during the 2nd century BCE, when aSyrian gentile claimed to have escaped from a coven of Jewswho had held him captive for a year, planning to rituallymurder him.In medieval times the Blood Libel took on a lifeof its own, springing up around Europe, where it was used tojustify murderous riots against Jews in which debts could bewritten off and property stolen.For instance, in Norwich,England in 1144, the gruesome murder of a young boy wasblamed on Jews, who were said to have used his blood tomake matzoh (unleavened bread).The historian Thomas ofMonmouth, writing about the incident, linked the spuriousmurder to a global Jewish conspiracy, in which the Jews weresaid to plan the murder of a Christian every year, somewherein the world, for their own dark religious purposes
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