APOCALYPSE (ALMOST) NOW
Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, 11/24/04
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/24/opinion/24kristof.html?oref=login

If America's secular liberals think they have it rough now, just wait till
the Second Coming.

The "Left Behind" series, the best-selling novels for adults in the U.S.,
enthusiastically depict Jesus returning to slaughter everyone who is not a
born-again Christian. The world's Hindus, Muslims, Jews and agnostics,
along with many Catholics and Unitarians, are heaved into everlasting fire:
"Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and . . . they tumbled in,
howling and screeching."

Gosh, what an uplifting scene!

If Saudi Arabians wrote an Islamic version of this series, we would
furiously demand that sensible Muslims repudiate such hatemongering. We
should hold ourselves to the same standard.

Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, the co-authors of the series, have both
e-mailed me (after I wrote about the "Left Behind" series in July) to
protest that their books do not "celebrate" the slaughter of non-Christians
but simply present the painful reality of Scripture.

"We can't read it some other way just because it sounds exclusivistic and
not currently politically correct," Mr. Jenkins said in an e-mail. "That's
our crucible, an offensive and divisive message in an age of plurality and
tolerance."

Silly me. I'd forgotten the passage in the Bible about how Jesus intends to
roast everyone from the good Samaritan to Gandhi in everlasting fire,
simply because they weren't born-again Christians...