Karen Armstrong had a Guardian piece in July about the Christian Right, the Cheney-Bush administration and US Middle East policy that is really good, Bush's fondness for fundamentalism is courting disaster at home and abroad 07/31/06:
Is there a connection between a religiously motivated mistrust of science, glaring social injustice and a war in the Middle East? Bush and his administration espouse many of the ideals of the Christian right and rely on its support. American fundamentalists are convinced that the second coming of Christ is at hand; they have developed an end-time scenario of genocidal battles based on a literal reading of Revelation that is absolutely central to their theology. Christ cannot return, however, unless, in fulfilment of biblical prophecy, the Jews are in possession of the Holy Land. Before the End, the faithful will be "raptured" or snatched up into the air in order to avoid the Tribulation. Antichrist will massacre Jews who are not baptised; but Christ will defeat the mysterious "enemy from the north", and establish a millennium of peace.
This grim eschatology, developed in the late 19th century, was in part a reaction to the "social gospel" of the more liberal Christians, who believed that human beings were naturally evolving towards perfection and could build the New Jerusalem here on earth by fighting social injustice. The fundamentalists, however, believed that God was so angry with the faithless world that he could save it only by initiating a devastating catastrophe; they would see the terrible battles of the first world war, which showed that science could be used to lethal effect in the new military technology, as the beginning of the End. ...
Fundamentalists do not want a humanly constructed peace; many, indeed, regard the UN as the abode of Antichrist. (my emphasis)
One qualification here: some fundamentalists claim reservations about the "dispensationalist" theology Armstrong describes. But it's often hard to know whether such reservations are substantial, or just relate to some (for outsiders) obscure detail, or whether it's just plain old deceptive talk, since even those critics also seem to sharer total enthusiasm for supporting hardline Israeli policies and the extremist settler movement.
The more grimly explicit Christian Reconstruction or dominionist view tends to be more overtly anti-Semitic and more explicitly hostile to Israel. If dominionist ideas continue to gain in popularity among the Christian Right, their "pro-Israel" views may become more and more explicitly hostile to Jews. Even as it is, you don't have to look too hard and long at the Christian Right End Times theology to see that it relies on old-fashioned Christian Jew-hatred at its core.
She makes an important connection between fundamentalist anti-science attitudes and this kind of apocalyptic theology:
The fundamentalists' rejection of science is deeply linked to their apocalyptic vision. Even the relatively sober ID theorists segue easily into Rapture-speak. "Great shakings and darkness are descending on Planet Earth," says the ID philosopher Paul Nelson, "but they will be overshadowed by even more amazing displays of God's power and light. Ever the long-term strategist, YHVH is raising up a mighty army of cutting-edge Jewish End-time warriors." They all condemn the attempt to reform social ills. When applied socially, evolutionary theory "leads straight to all the woes of modern life", says the leading ID ideologue Philip Johnson: homosexuality, state-backed healthcare, divorce, single-parenthood, socialism and abortion. All this, of course, is highly agreeable to the Bush administration, which is itself selectively leery of science. It has, for example, persistently ignored scientists' warnings about global warming. Why bother to implement the Kyoto treaty if the world is about to end? Indeed, some fundamentalists see environmental damage as a positive development, because it will hasten the apocalypse. (my emphasis)
Armstrong, who is the author of a book on Genesis, also mentions that their basis for those particular end-of-the-world views is a sloppy reading of Scripture:
This nihilistic religiosity is based on a perversion of the texts. The first chapter of Genesis was never intended as a literal account of the origins of life; it is a myth, a timeless story about the sanctity of the world and everything in it. Revelation was not a detailed programme for the End time; it is written in an apocalyptic genre that has quite a different dynamic. When they described the Jews' return to their homeland, the Hebrew prophets were predicting the end of the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BC - not the second coming of Christ. The prophets did preach a stern message of social justice, however, and like all the major world faiths, Christianity sees charity and loving-kindness as the cardinal virtues. Fundamentalism nearly always distorts the tradition it is trying to defend. (my emphasis)
She argues, correctly I think, that fundamentalist End Times views actually do play a significant role in Bush's particular approach toward Middle East policy:
Whatever Bush's personal beliefs, the ideology of the Christian right is both familiar and congenial to him. This strange amalgam of ideas can perhaps throw light on the behaviour of a president, who, it is said, believes that God chose him to lead theworld to Rapture, who has little interest in social reform, and whose selective concern for life issues has now inspired him to veto important scientific research. It explains his unconditional and uncritical support for Israel, his willingness to use "Jewish End-time warriors" to fulfil a vision of his own - arguably against Israel's best interests - and to see Syria and Iran (who seem to be replacing Saddam as the "enemy of the north") as entirely responsible for the unfolding tragedy. (my emphasis)
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