On Jerry Falwell's talk show Listen America, Timothy LaHaye used stark language to describe the state of the nation: "We're in a religious war and we need to aggressively oppose secular humanism; these people are as religiously motivated as we are and they are filled with the devil."

His religious war includes antigay, antiabortion, and antipornography campaigns, as well as campaigns for prayer and creationism in the schools. He believes that secularists are in a quest for "world domination" and that Christians have no choice but to fight back. This kind of aggressive political speech has fueled the public image of Left Behind as reactionary and even dangerous.

In Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America, Amy Johnson Frykholm explores why such rhetoric is dangerous:

Outside evangelical circles, Left Behind is frequently viewed as evidence of a perilous shift toward apocalyptic, fanatical, fear-based thinking on the part of the American public. Many believe that Left Behind participates in hate-mongering and coddles people’s worst fears so that they will embrace a conservative political agenda.

Rhetoric like LaHaye’s divides the nation into two groups — the good and the evil. Such division eliminates all shades of gray, all room for various understandings, and the viability of diversity of opinion. From there, many conclude that LaHaye’s fictional series also promotes hostility and a politics of fear.

It’s not a problem when people from different political parties disagree, even if they disagree very strenuously, so long as they are willing to work out their disagreements through the normal political process of negotiation and compromise. This, however, is an impossible requirement for people who accept LeHay’s premises and this is why it’s so dangerous when religion intrudes on politics.

When you believe that those who disagree with you are “filled with the devil,” negotiation and compromise with them simply isn’t a viable option. Who wants to compromise with Satan? Who will be interested in compromising on what God wants for humanity? These are religious categories, not political ones, and they don’t belong in political discourse. Governing a liberal democracy requires a commitment to compromise; so long as religious extremists like LeHay are uninterested in compromise, they don’t belong in the political process.

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