Literally Militant Fundamentalists Taking Over

If you've read Freakonomics, you may remember Stetson Kennedy. In the 1940's he infiltrated the KKK, learned their up-to-the-minute secrets, then promptly turned them around to be broadcast on a Superman radio show - Superman vs. the KKK. The kiddie show spilled the beans on the "bad guys" code words and dastardly plans before they happened.

I guess my point is that exposing this faction of militants for what they are - either wannabe toy soldiers or the equivalent of the Taliban. Someone who lives where they do and speaks the language of the area will have to shine a light in their corner and see if they scatter.

If not we are forced to wait until a crime is committed, then press charges, and/or use it as a rallying point to stop them.

I recently got this response from an ex-Fundie on Yahoo Answers:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhBVuNbkdb_e0yesbMIG.q7sy6IX?qid=20070105151051AAc5J0j

(By the way, PLEASE read the response above before you comment on this post, because I HAVE known people on bulletin boards to ignore a link and reply without having read it. Gee, that never happens on the web. ;-) )

REALLY scary! I'm wondering what the best course of action is. The problem is that these religious fanatics really believe that they're right and that it's okay to literally murder people who don't believe.

I'm thinking, in terms of framing, that we need to get accross the following points:

* Many non-Fundies have a strong code of ethics that they follow.
* The Fundies are using religion as an excuse for murder.
* Fundie so-called morality is based on a card house of myths. They're myths HAVE to be true in order for them to be moral or for them to think that anyone else is moral. If anybody challenges their myths, they imply that they're immoral people and this sends them into murderous rages.
* Ethics based on reason and empathy, on the other hand, is strong because, instead of needing myths to be true, people can simply figure out what's harmful and what's helpful to the world and act in such a way that one avoids harm and tries to be helpful.

Beyond that, I think we should definitely get the word out to people about the Fundies, so that moderate and progressive religious people can stop them. But, I think what we really will need is to frame our values about what it MEANS to be a good person, because the Fundies really think that they're good, scarily enough. They'll certainly use all the propaganda they can. They are NOT rational and therefore reason alone is inadequate to persuade them. They REALLY have their propoganda down to convert people, too, because they have preachers on their side, and preaching can be used to very powerful and dishonest persuasive ends. What's more, they believe their own cons.

Are there ways we can reframe their propaganda to point out how bad they are and how good we are?

Oh yes, antother things to add to the list of suggested framing is:

* They're un-American. America was founded and defined on certain values of Liberty. One of these is freedom of religion. If you're opposed to freedom of religion, as they are, you're un-American.

- irichmond