white Protestants hell-bent on strengtheningtheProtestantEmpire

[Mark Graber]

May I add my coice to those who think that while the discussion of the
Protestant Empire is important, given the sensitivity of ther terms, a
good deal of precise qualification is necessary.  Consider the
following, gleaned from a very nice book, JUDING JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES.

1.  Members of Jehovah's Witnesses believe they have an obligation to
convert the entire world to their faith.  In this sense, they are bent
on world domination.

2.  Many members of that faith has made severe personal sacrifices in
their attempts to convert others.  In this sense, they might be said to
be hell-bent on world domination.

3.  But I take it that there is nothing particularly offensive (outside
of the use of "hell") in this description.  Lots of people in an
important sense are hellbent on world domination.  Pacifists might be a
good example.  The real issue is what means are being used, and this is
muddied by the expression "hell-bent," and the extent to which those
means are seen as fair, legitimate, or whatever.

Mark A. Graber
mgraber at gvpt.umd.edu