Left Behind

I read the book Left Behind a few months ago, and was quite taken by it. I'm intrigued by how other people view their own faiths, and theological texts are often not the best way to do so; I much prefer things like literature or autobiography, things that give me a greater sense of the lived tradition.

I was doing some research on the No Child Left Behind Act, and something occurred to me. According the Left Behind series children will experience the Rapture for two reasons, they have not consciously sinned and they are ignorant of the world. The entire work, while not anti-learning, is quite adamant about appropriate forms of learning. After reading the criticisms of the act, most importantly that the funding has to come from the local level, limiting other educational endeavors, something occurred to me.

What if this book is President Bush's vision of the future? Make sure no child is Left Behind by ensuring their ignorance. Gut education at all levels and hope that this will save everybody. If you read what this administration is doing and what the signs of the end times are according to the series, you will notice some disturbing similarities. I'm beginning to get afeared.

Of course, purposefully causing all schools to fail could just be a ploy to get school vouchers to seem more attractive, irrespective of whether or not Bush-Cheney 2004 (notice the acronym is BC, before [the coming] of Christ) wins or not.

Comments

[Penny]

GW Bush is an evangical christian. The Left Behind books are based on evangelical teachings. On PBS's Frontline they are airing airing an episode called "The Jesus Factor". It's about GW and his faith. I haven't had a chance to catch it yet but it may reinforce your feelings....

[islamoyankee]

Thanks for the warning. I had heard that Frontline was doing a show with that title, but I honestly thought it was about the success of the Left Behind books. I'll try to catch it.

According to the website it will be available to view on-line tomorrow.

[Rachel]

Those books -- and the particular evangelical teachings they're based on -- really scare me. I have trouble entering into dialogue with people who genuinely believe I'm damned to hell.

I worked for a time last summer as a customer service representative for the company which publishes the Left Behind Prophecy Club online newsletter and message boards. (What can I say -- it was part-time work and I needed the dough.) It was pretty weird working for them -- especially when customers would call in and say things like, "What kind of Christian are you, charging money for this important information?" and I would have to bite my tongue not to say, "Er, actually, since you asked, not a Christian at all..."