An Important Distinction from Joel Richardson

A hilarious clarification, from Christian fundamentalist blogger Joel Richardson:

Now, please do not get me wrong, I am not comparing Barack Obama to Satan. I’m comparing him to Hitler.

Glad we’ve got that straight, otherwise we might have thought that Richardson was someone who perhaps should not be taken particularly seriously:

After comparing the design of Obama’s podium to the Pergamum Altar, it is clear that the two are nearly identical. While some are claiming that Obama’s Temple is modeled after the Russian Kazan Cathedral, it is clear that Obama’s Temple bears a much closer resemblance to the Pergamum Altar.

Fair enough. OK, so the kitschy Obama podium has some (naff) backlit windows, while the Altar doesn’t; the podium has only eight or so columns across its main part against the Altar’s dozen or so; the podium has Doric capitals while the Altar has Ionic capitals – oh, and the podium appears to curve – but other than that it’s nearly exactly the same! Amazing!

But so what? Well, the “Pergamum Altar” (also known as the “Pergamon Altar”) is a significant piece of Classical architecture, but for the author of the Biblical Book of Revelation it was also the “Throne of Satan”. And, as Richardson points out, it provided the model for Albert Speer’s Zeppelintribüne! Just two reasons why Obama is like Hitler:

They both found it appropriate to model their respective power-podiums after Greek Temples dedicated to the “gods”. Both have chosen to give perhaps the most important political speeches of their lives in replica Greek Temples, under the lights, in an open field, to the masses of their cheering fans.

This is, of course, a new spin on old conspiracy theories about how the neo-Classical architecture of  Washington D.C. is soem sort of occult plot. Perhaps McCain would be advised to go for a Gothic theme.

I last encountered Richardson – co-author of Why We Left Islamhere.

11 Responses

  1. Hi Bartholomew,

    Still having fun, I see. Me as well.

    Well, in case any of your readers are tempted to take you seriously, I must point out that the bizzaro nature of my comparison was entirely intentional. But either you have no sense of humor or you just like to act as though you don’t. God forbid that I piggy-back off of Reuters News Service and compare the set of Obama’s speech to a Greek Temple. Mocking Reuters is not nearly as fun as it is those mindless and nutty fundamentalists. That said, if you were honest, you would have mentioned that the whole point of my purposefully off the wall post was to lead up to the most important and very legitimate comparison: Both Hitler and Obama are proud to place their stamp of approval on the slaughter of millions upon millions of their fellow human beings. Unless of course you are among those deniers who do not believe that those tiny arms and legs, etc., in the trash are not human arms and legs.

    But I’m not surprised. Obama was dishonest enough to act as though McCain actually believes that middle class is defined as anyone who makes under five million dollars a year, so also are you dishonest enough to act as though I literally saw some dark omen in Obama’s tacky stage design. But I know that stereotyping and demagoguery is hard for you to resist.

    All said, the speech was just okay for me. Of course, I never looked directly into his eyes and I was also somewhat emotionally safe in that I wore a tin-foil helmet throughout the whole speech.

  2. are you dishonest enough to act as though I literally saw some dark omen in Obama’s tacky stage design.
    Most of your commentators seem to think you were being serious, and the idea of “dark omens” in the form of the podium is quite within the bounds of neo-Pentecostal “Third Wave” theology (e.g. C. Peter Wagner) and Christian right conspiracy-mongering (e.g. John Hagee). It’s certainly no more off the wall than your “Arabic 666” nonsense.

  3. Bart,

    Are there only kooks in the Christian fundamentalist camp or are there kooks everywhere? Rosie O-Donnell, posters over at the Huffington Post, eh emm…

    “It’s certainly no more off the wall than your “Arabic 666″ nonsense.”

    Which you still fail to understand the basic point that we are making. Whether purposefully or not, I am not judging…

  4. So you’re admitting John Hagee is a “kook”? Is that why Shoebat was dropped from the recent CUFI Washington conference?

  5. Like I said, there are kooks everywhere, and the Christian Church is certainly included there. In fact, both the Apostle Paul and even Jesus Himself specifically referred to His followers essentially as a family of fools. (Luke 10: 21; I Corinthians 1:27-29) But regarding Hagee specifically, I’ve never read anything that he has written, nor have I ever heard any of his sermons. So as for his kookiness or lack thereof, I cannot comment. I have no idea about the CUFI event. I will say this though; regarding Walid’s past, he is the real deal. His story and claims are legit.

  6. […] available on various sites’, including that of armageddonist Joel Richardson (blogged by me here), who is quick to point out that this is just another sign that the End is Nigh. According to the […]

  7. […] again, Richardson offers up a conspiracy theory rather than a considered evaluation, calculated to whip up fear and apocalyptic fatalism. But I […]

  8. […] in August 2008, Richardson claimed that a podium used as staging for Obama’s nomination acceptance speech was designed as a copy […]

  9. […] those who called him out have been shown up (He’s not alone in this: I had a similar response from Joel Richardson when I debunked his claim that the stage setting for Obama’s 2008 primary acceptance speech […]

  10. […] is not the first time that I’ve documented Richardson’s sloppiness: in 2008 he claimed that the backdrop to Obama’s podium at his nomination acceptance speech was based on a piece […]

  11. […] on a podium with a backdrop “nearly identical” to the Pergamum Altar. That was a farrago of nonsense, […]

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