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Antichrist ’08

Posted by xJane on August 19th, 2008 at 2:01 pm · 7 Comments

I enjoy Religion Clause, because it gives me bite-size news about religion & the government. More often than not, there is an article about the election. But this one just blew me away.

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I showed this to my husband, who has no background in Apocalyptic mythology, and he said, “I don’t get it. It doesn’t make any point.” But when I watched it, I was aghast that McCain would so blatantly link Obama with the Antichrist. The fact that a major party’s presumed candidate is so comfortable with such Zionist imagery that he uses it in his campaign videos does not bode well for freedom of religion in this country.

According to Religion Dispatches, the video has been “described by the McCain campaign as merely a light-hearted attempt to show that Obama “gets carried away” when he speaks”, which is interesting since it does not appear that “getting carried away” is a theme in the video or that it could be described as “light hearted”. The battle lines are drawn and if you’re not with us, you’re already in hell.

Tags: Activism · Belief · Bible · Christianity · Church and State · Current Events · Ethics · Law · Media and Design · News · Politics · Religion · Video

7 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Brian // Aug 19, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    Maybe I don’t get the subtext because I’m Catholic, haven’t read the Left Behind books, and don’t buy into dispensationalist rubbish. I hear the symbolism mostly borrows from those kind of sources, if it exists. To me, the harshest message from this is “Obama can’t put his money where his mouth is.”

  • 2 JohnW // Aug 20, 2008 at 12:33 am

    I don’t get it. It doesn’t make any point. Or is the critique that Obama is comparing himself to God? I think it really takes creative editing to make that point.

    But I don’t really get the Antichrist link. Can you clarify that?

  • 3 xJane // Aug 20, 2008 at 6:07 am

    My background in end-times theology comes from Left Behind and neo-conservative/Zionist politics. Oh, and Good Omens…

    In the video, the first shot, with the sunrise/white text immediately put me in mind of the LB series. But, of course, that could already have been in my mind after reading the article.

    “World will be blessed” and “the One” are oblique references to the Anti-Christ, and if this were a campaign commercial for Obama, it likely wouldn’t occur to me.

    Again, the sun-thru-clouds imagery. This time with adoring people. The Antichrist, when he comes, will be loved by all, and unite the world in peace (I know, that sounds just awful).

    “Can you see the light” again seems to me to be an oblique reference for those ‘in the know’: the Light of Jesus, who would show you that this man is not right for the world…but I could agree that this is a stretch.

    “The world shall receive his blessings” is again a reference that the antichrist is supposed to confuse people by being nice, good, and likable.

    Moses may just serve to put us in a Biblical mind-set, as there’s really no End-Times piece that this fulfills that I can tell.

    End with the oval office: after telling us how great Obama is, why is it now questioning a decision to vote for him?

    I think the fact that it doesn’t seem to have a point is indicative of the fact that we may not be the audience for it. It seems to be a completely positive ad until the end, when it turns out it’s paid for by the other candidate.

    Perhaps it is ado about nothing: anyone else out there want to weigh in?

  • 4 Eugene // Aug 20, 2008 at 7:50 am

    I’m afraid that you are only proving that anybody can read anything into anything, and then take offense at it. Iterate into infinity.

    And if the Right did indeed intend the message, then they are indebted to the Left for so assiduously taking said offense and spreading it far and wide. It takes two to tango here.

  • 5 xJane // Aug 20, 2008 at 4:57 pm

    Eugene, I’d be ready to concede the point that it can be read into if you can give me reading that is not “doesn’t make any point”, which seems to be what most people take away from it.

  • 6 wren // Aug 26, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    From my perspective it’s more of the Messiah/celebrity tag that’s been applied to Barack.

    I don’t get the anti-christ vibe from this particular one but those whackos are out there for sure. I’ve had to to block more than one person on Flickr who commented on my Obama photos with links to anti-Obama sites including a blog proclaiming him the anti-christ.

    It seems to bug the bejesus out of some people that Barack is popular and well-liked here and notably abroad. What? An American leader who thinks we should partner with our fellow Earth dwellers instead of dominate them? Oh, the horrors! I didn’t like Kerry but I remember him being reviled for his French connection and thought that was stupid. But then that was the era of “freedom fries”.

    Most importantly, I would like to point out that McCain was a P.O.W. Ergo, who are you to criticize his ad? /sarcasm

  • 7 JohnW // Aug 29, 2008 at 1:24 am

    There was a comment on the Left Behind anti-christ imagery on Fresh Air a few days ago, so you’re not the only one who got it.

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