Racing Toward Armageddon, by Michael Baigent

Review by W. J. Rayment / ConservativeBookstore -- The fundamental extremists of the three major religions claiming the ancestry of Abraham all have a violent belief that the end-times are coming and the events leading to them are centered in Israel. This is the starting point for Michael Baigent's Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World. It is a good place to start.

Mr. Baigent accurately portrays the views of religious extremists and indicates that they are creating much of the trouble in the world. But he way overstates his case. It is a fact that there are kooks in every religion. There are also wingnuts in every political party. There are even crackpot scientists, philosophers, and even nutty professors, novelists, film stars and, dare I say, authors. However, most groups are not dominated by their fringe. Yes, it is the case that in some places Muslim fanaticism has taken over. In these places, the extremists have stirred up a huge base and have access to considerable organizational, military, and ideological power (Iran for example). This power is currently being mobilized to attack western civilization, not least Israel.

In fact we are currently in a war with Al-Qaeda largely as a response to this fanaticism. Mr. Baigent seems at times to acknowledge this. But he also seems to be under the misapprehension that if the West somehow reigned in its own religious fanaticism and Israel reigned its fanaticism that there would be no struggle. He makes a big deal about the Protestant belief in the apocalypse, especially the rapture. He forcefully states that it was this belief by Reagan and both Bushes that stirred the middle eastern pot. He seems to completely miss the fact that there were very sound geopolitical reasons for both Gulf Wars as well as Reaganite foreign policy.

Unfortunately, Mr. Baigent is a bit of a fanatic himself. He is so blinded by his own prejudices that he seems to erroneously believe that the Republican party is entirely in the hands of evangelical protestants. Such a contention is laughable as one can easily discern by remembering that McCain, pretty much a liberal himself, was the presidential candidate put forth by the party in 2008. Mr. Baigent contends also that home-schooling in the U.S. is used primarily for the indoctrination of children into a fanatical belief in holy war. I myself home-schooled my own children for eight years. There was NO religious component to their education. They were taken out of the public school because the school system could not teach math in a manner that kept pace with my children's abilities. I know several parents who have withdrawn their children from the public schools for the same reason.

Mr. Baigent often makes broad sweeping statements that have no resemblance to reality.

Racing to Armageddon could have shed light on the issues that really mattered. Instead of trying to disprove the literal words of the Koran and the Bible, Mr. Baigent could have focused more on demographic trends, geo-political movements, historical background, and perhaps some constructive scenarios to help solve problems. Instead he dives deep into mysticism. He uses the same scare tactics that he accuses the "religious right" of using, saying if we do not reign in the evangelicals they will destroy the world! He even attaches immediacy to his words, by saying the time is already too late! One gets the impression that he is preaching his own version of the apocalypse.

He accuses religious fanatics, especially Muslims of paranoid adherence to conspiracy theories. This may be the case, but Mr. Baigent has his own brand of liberal fanaticism and his own conspiracy theories to bandy about. He sees a vast conspiracy that includes evangelicals trying to instigate a takeover of the U.S. military. While he pooh-poohs the Protocols of Zion (indeed, they are a bunch of baloney) he constructs his own Zionist conspiracy. His leftist mania comes through when he spouts off, out of the blue, on Global Warming. Had he been living in Michigan for the last year, he would find reason to doubt his blind faith based on no real empirical evidence.

Well, this has turned into a total rant. Probably because this book was written to make liberals feel warm and superior about their own agnosticism or atheism. It was written to discredit the religious right and portray the Republican party as their lap dog. It is meant as a justification for harshly clamping down on religious people. Baigent certainly advocates taking away the individual rights of Americans. One gets the feeling he would outlaw the Republican party if he could. In every foreign policy decision he sees the insidious hand of religious fanaticism.

Luckily, Mr. Baigent is not terribly persuasive to anyone with a lick of common sense or any experience in the real world. His book will be popular among his own choir, but his sermon will not likely have any effect on the rest of humanity.

Racing Toward Armageddon, by Michael Baigent is available at Amazon.