Despite coming from opposing ends of the conventional political spectrum, it’s not that often that I find myself inclined to take issue with DK over one of posts, but every so often an exception arises as here with his comments on the spectacularly incompetent efforts of a would-be Christian suicide-bomber…

Now, many people have pointed out to me, in conversation, that there are Christians who are just as fanatical and dangerous as the Islamists that we encounter; this is not something that I subscribe to. Yes, there are fanatical Christians, but they are not as dangerous as the Muslims: why?

It is an interesting fact that the Muslim suicide bombers, who have so troubled the West, have tended to be well-educated and, other than their ludicrous belief in their invisible friend, intelligent men with a real dedication to their death wish.

Fanatical Christians, on the other hand, tend to be a little more like the man in this article; that is, they make two short planks look like fucking Einstein.

And…

Generally speaking, Christians are quite happy to protest and do stupid things as long as they aren’t put to too much trouble: there isn’t really a Christian plan to remake the world under their God, no matter what you think of the neo-cons. Sorry.

The Muslims, on the other hand…

More than anything, this last comment suggests that DK is as yet unacquainted with an unaccreditted educational establishment in Virginia by the name of Patrick Henry College, which exists specifically for the self-appointed purpose of training young men and women:

"who will lead our nation [America] and shape our culture with timeless biblical values"

Sorry DK, not only is there genuinely a Christian plan to remake the world under their god, and Patrick Henry College is part of it, but they’re actually going about it both in plain sight and in a fashion that’s a damn sight more intelligent and hell of a lot scarier than any number of bearded wingnuts wandering round the public transport system with rucksack bombs.

If you’re out to try and take over the world then, as approaches go, suicide bombing suffers from a rather fundamental flaw – it has this unfortunate tendancy to kill off your own followers as well as those you’ve decided are the enemies of your particular cause. Martyrdom’s all very well and good but it does tend to have a bit of negative effect on your corporeal membership – it’s actually quite hard to build a viable revolutionary mass movement if your most ardent followers are off shagging celestial virgins.

By comparison, the fundies behind Patrick Henry College have chosen to adopt a much more subtle and dangerous approach; the systematic infiltration of the governement and administration of what is currently the most powerful military and economic nation on the planet, as Andrew Buncombe pointed out in a 2003 article in the Independent, reprinted here by the New Zealand Herald:

What makes this recently established, right-wing Christian college unique are the increasingly close – critics say alarmingly close – links it has with the Bush administration and the Republican establishment. This northern spring, of the almost 100 interns working in the White House, seven are from Patrick Henry. Another intern works for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, while another works for President George Bush’s senior political adviser, Karl Rove. Yet another works for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad.

Over the past four years, 22 conservative members of Congress have employed one or more Patrick Henry interns. Janet Ashcroft, the wife of Bush’s Bible-thumping Attorney-General, is one of the college’s trustees.

And this is no coincidence. Rather, it is the point. Students at Patrick Henry are on a mission to change the world: indeed, to lead the world. When, after four years or so, they leave their neatly kept campus, they do so with a drive and commitment to reshape their new environments according to the vision of their college.

DK’s got a valid point in the sense that when it comes to religious fanatics, its the educated ones you need to be keeping a close eye on, but when it comes to posing a threat to yours truly, I tend to figure that the odds of me getting on bus in Birmingham city centre and encountering a bearded guy muttering religious incantations to his himself in Arabic with electrical wires sticking out of his puffer jacket as still slim enough to thought negligible, while the thought of his Christian counterparts infesting the White House and Capitol Hill like a bunch of clean cut cockroaches make me rather more nervous.

Sorry DK, but I’m really with Bill Hicks on this one…

That’s another good thing about Bush being gone, man, cos for the last 12 years with Reagan and Bush, we have had fundamentalist Christians in the White House. Fundamentalist Christians who believe the Bible is the exact word of God, including that wacky fire and brimstone Revelations ending, have had their finger on the fucking button for 12 years. [Eyes roll back in head] "Tell me when Lord, tell me when. Let me be your servant Lord."

…and I know which I find the more threatening prospect.