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"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying the cross."
~ Sinclair Lewis
A small but extremely vocal sub-group of radical conservatives within the Christian Church, also known as The Religious Right, believes itself to be the savior of an American Republic which has lost its way. It envisions a theocratic form of government based entirely on "Christian" principles, which members incorrectly believe to have been the original intent of the country's founders. A look into the heart of this ideology reveals a greater threat to authentic American democracy than any present external agent.
Heaven or Hell?
The primary force motivating the Religious Right is fear, which gives rise to a preoccupation with issues of authority, power, and control. Its singular purpose is to promote a restrictive social agenda, based on a narrow fundamentalist understanding of Christian doctrine, cloaked in a fanatical form of pious patriotism that masks an intense fear and disdain toward anything seen as different or outside its sphere of influence. In short, it is a zealous form of modern-day puritanism, demanding primacy for its own authoritarian and parochial beliefs while denying the validity of all others. The Religious Right's own version of the Constitutional separation of church and state is not only intolerant of other faiths, it is in fact overtly hostile toward any perceived challenge to its sense of unique legitimacy.
Members of the Religious Right equate Godliness with the observance of a strict conservative morality, and while not always stating it openly, liberals are nonetheless regarded as instruments of the devil, doomed to the hell which is their deepest fear as well. That same all-consuming fear projects the image of a world contaminated by liberalism and its permissive secular excesses, whereby conservatives too are in danger of being swept into the abyss via guilt by association.
May I Ask A Question?
How is it that an ideology professing to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, can then ignore the biblical call to minister to the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned, or the warning to avoid preoccupation with the accumulation of wealth, as well as the danger of elevating patriotism to the level of idolatry? Why the chasing after self-serving causes such as a misplaced pseudo-concern for the unborn, and a perverse adolescent-like compulsion to play with guns, disguised as a noble defense of constitutional rights? Why the push to increase the power and wealth of corporations that poison the earth and exploit the underprivileged? How is it that an ideology proclaiming the centrality of scripture, and strict adherence to it, can find ways to ignore so much of it?
The issue of hypocrisy concerning the disconnect between the Religious Right's stated beliefs and its conduct extends to its adherents as well, with the leadership being especially vulnerable. From the Swaggarts and Bakkers, to the Sanfords and Ensigns, individuals have been repeatedly exposed as ardently professing one thing while "living in sin" with a presumption of impunity. Invariably, after being caught in the act, the transgressor will play his trump card, making a grand display of repentance, thereby laying claim to God's limitless loving forgiveness. Once the penitent is back in the fold with the disturbance in the force removed, the reconstituted (albeit dysfunctional) family can settle back into its pietistic pretense.
The Cover-Up
In truth, the distorted ideas and values expressed publicly by members of the Religious Right as a virtuous love of country, conceal a layer of repressed anxiety-producing desires, as evidenced by the contempt shown for their own holy book, as well as the scandalous behavior of their moral exemplars. While they are quick to point out that liberal politicians have been guilty of misconduct as well, this argument fails to stand up by virtue of the fact that their liberal counterparts do not claim to hold the "family values" high ground. While all who cross the same moral or ethical line are equally guilty, an obvious betrayal of beliefs which an individual has openly advertised, tends to add weight to the transgression and signify deeper psychological issues.
While recent studies of the human brain are said to reveal structural differences between liberals and conservatives which may in part account for their contrasting world views, authoritarian zealotry of any persuasion is never more than a smoke screen. According to psychoanalytic theory, whenever a part of the self can't be integrated into the ego, it is repressed as a defense mechanism. Ideological fanaticism is simply a device to camouflage aspects of the self which can be found in anyone, but simply can't be faced head-on by some. It is an example of how the thing being repressed will always find some way to express itself, and how whatever form that expression of fragmented psyche takes is never good for anyone. This is true for conservatives and liberals alike. (Recall the left's anti-establishment fanatics of the 1960s, some of whom are now right-wingers)
My Name Is...
While the points raised here help to better understand the ideology, there is another which perhaps holds even more significance in fleshing out the dynamics -- religious fanaticism meets the criteria to be classified as an addiction, with the same characteristics as any other addiction. Indeed, many religious addicts are former alcohol and drug abusers, who just traded one form of dependency for another. Addictions function primarily as a way to eliminate anxiety and pain. Just as substances accomplish this for some addicts, religion can serve to eliminate or at least reduce emotional pain as well. The following is a description given by Patricia Anne Vanderheyden in her book titled, Religious Addiction: The Subtle Destruction of The Soul:
"Rigidity, black and white thinking, low self-esteem, magical thinking, judgmental attitudes are but a few of the symptoms of this complex phenomenon described by myself as destructive soul work. The religious addict seeks to avoid pain and overcome shame by becoming involved in a belief system which offers security through its rigidity and its absolute values".
As with all addictions, the religious type involves an overpowering compulsion, capable of taking complete control of a person's life and interfering with normal functioning. Indeed, while the addicted person may have the outward appearance of a rational adult, emotionally they are adolescents who respond to the world on an adolescent level. While this is not to say that everyone on the Religious Right is an addict, many are, thus making it an important factor with implications beyond simple neurotic behavior. If nothing else, it helps demonstrate with even greater clarity the futility of attempting to deal with the zealot as a rational adult.
A Fine Madness
The Religious Right believes its religious and political principles stand alone in their validity. The Bible is the absolute and inerrant "Word of God" simply because they say it is (the Bible itself makes no such claim). Salvation literally means deliverance of the eternal soul from the fires of hell, and is only possible by believing the truth as they see it. Since members see theirs as the only religion possessing this truth, all others are false and exist only as lures used by Satan to snatch up the vulnerable. Deliverance from evil is also derived from being wrapped in the cocoon of authoritarian security once a person has proven able to pass the social/political litmus tests: opposition to abortion, universal health care, the theory of evolution, gay marriage, etc.
The Religious Right's zealous self-declaration of moral and patriotic superiority belies an underlying self-doubt and insecurity about the values it claims are universal and inviolable. This doubt can only be compounded by the habitual inability of its adherents to walk the talk and measure up to its arbitrary moral standards. Moreover, the demand for complete philosophical uniformity and behavior is more like the fascism it rails against than any of the people or organizations it accuses of so being.
The ideology also presents a mind-set marked by intellectual laziness, preferring catchy slogans over serious creative thinking. Anything resembling original thought is criticized and ridiculed. Propaganda is preferred to serious news. Indeed it frantically clings to rigid beliefs and claims to absolute authority as if life depended on it, and in fact, for the Religious Right, it does. Like anyone suffering from severe neurosis or addiction, only therapy can lead someone through the fanatical madness to a place where healing can begin. Appeals to reason are hopeless, as are shaming and threats.
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