Doomsday 2012?

An article by the Associated Press discussed a recent attack by the conservative Christian Right group, Focus on the Family Action, against Barak Obama.  This attack went beyond showing voters Obama’s voting record on abortion or his healthcare plan or even his tax increase on people making over $250,000 a year; the attack instead attempted to give a picture of what America would be like in 2012 under Obama’s presidency.  In this future America is a stark contrast from what it looks like today. A radically different America takes shape in only four years of one man’s presidency.  Among the claims in the attack:

·         A 6-3 liberal majority Supreme Court that results in rulings like one making gay marriage the law of the land and another forcing the Boy Scouts to “hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys.” (In the imagined scenario, The Boy Scouts choose to disband rather than obey).

·         A series of domestic and international disasters based on Obama’s “reluctance to send troops overseas.” That includes terrorist attacks on U.S. soil that kill hundreds, Russia occupying the Baltic States and Eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic, and al-Qaida overwhelming Iraq.

·         Nationalized health care with long lines for surgery and no access to hospitals for people over 80.

Carrie Gordon Earll, who is the senior director of public policy for Focus on the Family Action, stated, “If it is a doomsday picture, than it’s a realistic picture” as a reason for using this type of tactic so close to election day.  Focus on the Family Action also said that the overall reason for the article was to give the big picture of what America will look like if Obama wins the election.  Conservative Christians have been using doomsday rhetoric since the Moral Majority used it during the Reagan election in the 80’s.  Fear tactics are not uncommon during any election year; yet it seems that conservative Evangelicals are able to take this tactic to a new level when they use theological rhetoric in speaking to voters.

In this article two things struck me the wrong way.  The first is the audacity of Carrie Earll to say that, “If it is a doomsday picture, than it’s a realistic picture” and the second is that actually feel the need to use this tactic as a way to get young Evangelicals to side with them.  Both thoughts are wrong and they start to give the picture that conservative Christians just need to show a very radical future and people will start to see the errors of their ways and agree with their views.  It is also easy to see why this tactic has seemed to work in the past.  It’s hard to walk into a Christian bookstore and not see some book, DVD, or a t-shirt that has something to do with the “End Times.”  Many of my friends one time or another have gone to a “Hell House” (depicts what who is in and what hell would be like) or a “Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames” play or just read some or all of the books in the Left Behind series.  All of these sources use doomsday rhetoric as a means to show the audience what it might be like if they do not turn to God.  As a kid growing up in Texas this kind of tactic was common and easily accepted as a means to reaching the lost.  Preachers have been using hell’s fire and brimstone sermons for decades or more and for some they work. 

However, fear tactics do not show the whole picture and those who are affected by them trend to have a shallow faith.  This is why the tactic by Focus on the Family Action is not getting the positive feedback they desired.  Young Evangelicals, me included, are tired of being treated as if all that is needed is to see the big picture around us so that we would know what they know.  The reactions to this tactic will hopefully start to show this organizations that when they result to this act they will not gain the support they so desire.  If you cannot convince us by showing us the facts (hopefully listening to our facts too) then please accept our no and do not try to scare us into supporting you.