I was reading a diary over at dKOS entitled Is George W Bush Planning to Trigger Apocalyptic War? and it chilled me. The diarist's quote of Jeff Sharlet caught me cold. Sharlet starts by saying "We keep trying to explain away American fundamentalism." Then goes on to describe where I find myself.

Those of us not engaged personally or emotionally in the biggest political and cultural movement of our times—those on the sidelines of history—keep trying to come up with theories with which to discredit the evident allure of this punishing yet oddly comforting idea of a deity, this strange god. His invisible hand is everywhere, say His citizen-theologians, caressing and fixing every outcome: Little League games, job searches, test scores, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, the success or failure of terrorist attacks (also known as "signs"), victory or defeat in battle, at the ballot box, in bed.... A divine love that speaks through hurricanes. Who would worship such a god? His followers must be dupes, or saps, or fools, their faith illiterate, insane, or misinformed, their strength fleeting, hollow, an aberration. A burp in American history. An unpleasant odor that will pass. ( Jeff Sharlet, from Through a Glass Darkly, Harpers Magazine, December 2006 )

They are, from my perspective, so surreal that I find myself simply reaching for denial or thinking that they are "dumb rednecks" who will have no long term impact. But armageddon fundamentalists are not as I would have them be. Many ETs (End Timers) have impressive secular educational credentials in the academic, legal, medical, and engineering fields (e.g. Olasky at UT). Still their religious born desire for the purification obtained from a great "die back" of humanity is crazy and must be resisted and fought. If the dKos diarist is right W is looking for a way to attack Iran before him term ends we are really in trouble.