Thanks to Michelle Goldberg for her eye-opening revelations about the "Left Behind" series. Those of us who can't imagine reading such potboiler nonsense had no idea what an influence it was having on the policymakers of our nation. Goldberg's piece was the most terrifying thing I have read in ages; I only wish it were fiction. Perhaps it's high time someone wrote a series of supernatural thrillers in which obsessive evangelical Christians destroy the world in the name of their Old Testament prophecies while the "unbelievers" are carried to Heaven by a righteous God disgusted by these mindless, soulless zealots.

I'm not sure which is worse: the fact that so many people are paying to read this drivel, or the thought that several of them wield positions of power and are working so hard to make the apocalyptic scenario a reality.

-- Chris Bolton

Though Ms. Goldberg bends over backward with her disclaimers of respecting Christian apocalyptic thinking in her review of the "Left Behind" series -- "everyone's entitled to his own opinion," etc. -- nearly all of her paragraphs include a disdainful quip for the right-wing conservatives she seems so wary of. In fact, in her opinion, the only reason the series should be reviewed is due to what she sees as the alarming fact that a "great many people in this country" actually believe in the apocalypse the books describe. How absolutely terrifying, Ms. Goldberg.

No one enjoys being pitied for their deep-seated beliefs. I am a huge Salon fan, but what is truly disappointing here is the language used to describe the readership of "Left Behind." Ms. Goldberg's descriptions of hard-core Christianity's main tenets -- that they include a "seemingly wacky ideology" and that they are "paranoid" -- reflect a disrespect and wariness regarding the Christian American, which seems antithetical to Ms. Goldberg's would-be tolerance for, at least, the Jewish religion.

Would any journalist today decry Islam or Judaism as a "wacky" religion without quickly backpedaling to praise its merits? Would the Jews be labeled as "paranoid" because they skedaddled out of Egypt? Unlikely. However, in America's intellectual circle, American Christians are viewed as handicapped children, too stupid to know what is good for them.

It is just this sentiment, echoed so exquisitely in Ms. Goldberg's writing, which helps to lead to a series such as "Left Behind," in which revenge seems to be sought especially upon liberal elite journalists.

Ms. Goldberg would have done better by doling out the same courtesy to the Christian religion as she does to the Jewish one. Belittling apocalyptic theory by calling it a "fantasy" at the same time that she covers her own ass by saying, why, of course, everyone (those poor, ignorant, uneducated things) is entitled to such, does not an admirable writer make.

-- Maggie Shnayerson

As a recently deconverted fundamentalist living in the Christian-militia-building deep South, I am deeply worried about our president's belief in this type of bloodthirsty prophecy. I spent the first 30 years of my life expecting to be tortured for my belief in Jesus Christ during the "Tribulation," but have come to see that it's really the followers of Christ who intend to bully, subjugate and otherwise force unbelievers into line with the "promises of God."

There is no doubt in my mind that the ignorant, superstitious "righteous" will -- if they are able -- bring about Armageddon without the necessity of any supernatural intervention. They have exactly the same mindset as Muslim fundamentalists who are eager to send Christian infidels to hell while they receive the ultimate reward of eternal bliss. Anyone and everyone in this nation who would rather see the next generation survive than this generation lit by the dancing flames of hellfire, must loudly and urgently add their voices to the chorus of dissent.

-- Cynthia Millaudon

I'm one of those few people who both frequent Salon.com and have read every book in the "Left Behind" series, so I feel qualified to comment on her article. I think that Michelle Goldberg is taking things a little to far with her analysis ... the average "Left Behind" reader is not reading these books because they hate "Jews and liberals" and want to see them punished (if only in a fictional story), but because they tell a interesting story backed up with religious doctrine. End-times novels have always been popular, so it isn't surprising that a Christian-themed series would be a bestseller.

I find it strange that the mainstream media are always so shocked when something with a religious theme becomes popular, from Christian books and music to church itself. Remember when Creed's first album came out?

Ms. Goldberg can laugh at the books if she wants, but she shouldn't label the "Left Behind" readers as anti-Semites and religious wackos.

-- Lauren Palm

As a Christian and a regular reader of most-excellent Internet magazine Salon (imagine that!), I feel compelled to comment on the "Fundamentally Unsound" article. First, let me define "Christian" as one who believes that Jesus was and is God incarnate and has accepted His gift of forgiveness and salvation and tries to follow what He has revealed to us through scripture (the Bible). That being said, not all Christians are on the "Left Behind" bandwagon.

The troubling thing from a Christian perspective of the "Left Behind" series is the way they tell the readers "this is the way that they (the end-times) are going to unfold." LaHaye and Jenkins have convinced uncounted numbers of Christians of a fiction masquerading as reality. The true reality is that written in the Bible, and it does not necessarily comport to the fiction created by LaHaye and Jenkins. To name but one example, there is no biblical evidence of a Rapture occurring before this world starts unraveling. The Rapture occurs when Christ finally comes again, and not before. I fear that once tribulation starts, faith will fail for many due to their continued presence on this earth, an earth that is about to undergo catastrophes as never before seen. Jesus promises us that He will "wipe away every tear" and that there "will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying." Those like LaHaye and Jenkins that try to avoid those tears have a rude surprise awaiting them.

The one good thing that "Left Behind" and its tediously long series of books has done is focus attention on the subject. I hope and pray that people will go to the source material, though, and see for themselves the Truth in the Bible. We are closer to the end than yesterday, that much is certain. How close? No one can tell. That day will come "as a thief in the night." Anyone who says different is trying to sell you something (like a book!).

The apostle John, in Revelation, warns, "If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book" (22:18). Something for LaHaye and Jenkins to consider.

-- Luis Garcia-Rivera

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