According to Melani McAlister's analysis of the Left Behind series and "fan fictions" derivative of it (cf. <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2003/2003-December/031297.html>), the series seeks to be -- and, to a surprising extent, is -- racially liberal, though its racial liberalism is limited by the novels' self-consciousness about it and Christian Zionism's vision of Israel. In other words, Left Behind Christians are very accepting of individuals from races and nations other than whites in rich nations, as long as the latter accept the former's vision of Christianity. So, though clearly religiously intolerant and given to zealous evangelizing, they are not racists in the traditional American sense. McAlister says, however, that there are two conspicuous absences in the Left Behind series: Palestinians and American Jews. These two categories of people defy the politico-theological narrative of Christian Zionism -- hence they are literally unmentionable. McAlister's essay was published in 2003, though, so her analysis obviously does not include the latest installment in the series. I wonder if there is any Palestinian or American Jewish character in "Glorious Appearing" and, if there is one or more, what roles they play in the novel.
>On Jul 17, 2004, at 11:21 AM, Bill Bartlett wrote:
>> Books advocating racism should indeed be banned (and their authors
>> imprisoned.)
>
>You guys in Oz are welcome to do whatever you like, but the First
>Amendment in the U.S. is something I'm rather fond of, and would
>hate to see trashed.
>
>The Second, however, is another matter...
>
>Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org
There are many First Amendment liberals and leftists. Why aren't there more Second Amendment liberals and leftists? -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>