New York Times reporter, Chris Hedges, has written an extraordinary book, American Fascism: The Christian Right And The War On America. Having survived a Christian fundamentalist background myself, I marvel at the timely urgency of Hedges' book, but also, at the obtuse disconnect most Americans have with the pivotal thesis of his book: the power of the religious right in the United States to bring forth a nation whose totalitarian repression could dwarf that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. As Hedges notes, we are well on the path toward such a reality, and the Domionist Christian right is a principal player in the process. While the nucleus of that movement is small, measuring only about 1% of evangelicals and led by the likes of James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and John Hagee, those leaders are supported by throngs of evangelicals sympathetic to their theocratic views who dutifully preach the consummate tenet of the movement, submission. Citizens must submit to their government officials, particularly the ones who claim to be born-again Christians and receiving their orders from God; wives must submit to husbands; children must submit to parents; and everyone must submit to the teachings of the bible as interpreted by evangelical Christianity or burn in hell. I will herein use the term "Christian fascism" or "Cristo-fascism" as synonymous with a worldview and political philosophy which are both fundamentalist Christian and fascist in nature.
Recently, I viewed a chilling documentary "Jesus Camp", which examines "the evangelical belief that a revival is underway in America that requires Christian youth to assume leadership roles in advocating the causes of their religious movement." [1]The film follows a group of evangelical kids who attend a summer camp where they are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers in God's army. Under the leadership of control-freak youth pastor, Becky Fischer, who makes Nurse Ratchet in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" look like Snow White, the children are told that theirs is a unique generation-perhaps the last on earth before the return of Christ to rapture his church, and that just as Musilm children learn at an early age to carry and use automatic weapons so that they can die for Islam, Christian kids must learn to fight in the Jesus army in order to save souls and take back America for God-and be willing to die for Jesus.
One not need be a licensed mental health professional to find the emotional manipulation, indoctrination, and outright brainwashing of the Jesus camp both repulsive and enraging. Its squeaky-clean, almost exclusively white, puerile participants mouth all the right jargon, concepts, and scripture verses impeccably and robotically like good little Christian boys and girls-or more chillingly, like Hitler youth. Jesus Camp is nothing less than childhood spiritual abuse on steroids, leaving me personally and eternally grateful that as a child growing up in fundamentalism, I wasn't subjected to anything worse in the context of religious services than the raspy screams of bible-thumping preachers
Hedges' brilliant article, "The Christian Right And The Rise Of American Fascism" outlines several principles inherent in Christian fascism, and to his list, I will add a few of my own:
1)Apocalyptic Violence-A central tenet of Cristo-fascism is the belief that after the Rapture or Christ's returns to rescue Christian believers and take them to heaven, a period of seven years, or the Tribulation, will ensue in which an Anti-Christ will dominate the world, and every horror imaginable will be unleashed on humankind. Those who do not submit (again a pivotal word for Christian fascism) and accept Christ as their personal savior, will be martyred but will be assured of spending eternity in heaven with Christ. Those who do submit will be condemned eternally to hell. After the Tribulation period, Christ will return again with the "army" of Christians in heaven, and the battle of Armageddon will be fought against the Anti-Christ and his armies. The latter will be slaughtered by Christ and his followers who will set up Christ's kingdom on earth where he will reign for one thousand years, followed by the total and complete destruction of earth as Christ and his followers return to heaven.
Sounds like a scene from the movie "Independence Day"? Actually, that movie cannot begin to capture the heinous barbarity that Christian fascism fantasizes will befall the earth and those who reject Christ. That scenario is a bloodbath of unimaginable, avenging horrors. Note that not only will non-Christian human beings be decimated, but so will the earth itself, the outcome being twofold: Humans who do not submit to Jesus will be destroyed, and the planet itself will be annihilated. How delicious the vindication for the Cristo-fascist psyche! Not only will people who reject their Jesus be grotesquely punished, but their God will prove himself more powerful than the very planet on which they live. Obviously, no need here to worry about global warming-at least the kind created by humans. God will incinerate the earth--his own instantaneous global warming, triumphing over all enemies of both himself and the Christian fascists. As Hedges notes, these fantasies of monstrous cruelty are appealing to many within the Christian-fascist movement because "The loss of manufacturing jobs, lack of affordable health care, negligible opportunities for education and poor job security has left many millions of Americans locked out. This ideology is attractive because it offers them the hope of power and revenge. It sanctifies their rage."[2] And if any group of people on earth is enraged, it is the Cristo-fascists whose rancor is every bit as caustic and virulent as that of any Islamist fundamentalist on a suicide mission.
2) One reason Hedges labels these individuals fascist has not only to do with their positioning themselves on the political right, but specifically, their fanatical insistence on submission to theocratic government. Had George Orwell been a born-again Christian, twenty-first century Cristo-fascists would probably declare him a saint. (War is holy, and killing is sacred.) Their preferred polity is biblical totalitarianism in which the principles embraced by secular society are perceived as untrue and antithetical to their God and his Word. Unquestioning obedience to fundamentalist Christian theology and its resultant theocracy are the cornerstones of Cristo-fascism in twenty-first century America.
3) As a result, adherents are diametrically opposed to a secular world view and the tenets of modern science. As I have commented in other articles[3] in recent years, fundamentalist Christianity generally distrusts, and often despises human reason. Millions of children in America are being home-schooled, and 75% of them are children from fundamentalist Christian homes.[4] Home-schooling can offer an extraordinary alternative to attending public school, but for fundamentalist Christians, it serves, among other things, to shield their children not only from grappling with such issues as evolution and global warming, but learning the scientific method itself and the basic principles of critical thinking and logical analysis.
4)Cristo-fascism is overwhelmingly a white Anglo-American movement. While one sees growing numbers of African Americans and Hispanics joining their ranks, the movement remains predominantly white and rabidly Islamophobic. Most outspoken on this issue is San Antonio's megachurch pastor, John Hagee, who perceives Islam as the new Satan which must be destroyed by Israel and the United States.
5) While Christian fascism cannot give enough lip service to the "culture of life" it is morbidly death-obsessed in its raging support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and capital punishment. The popularity of the grisly, sado-masochistic "The Passion Of The Christ" among fundamentalist Christians, as well as the Jesus Camp's indoctrination of children to be willing and proud to "die for Jesus" further belie Cristo-fascism's death fetish.
6) A new Christian Gestapo is in the works as the Christian right is working vehemently to take control of military chaplaincies and create in Hedges words, "America's Holy Warriors." He points out that during the last century communist and fascist movements each built paramilitary forces that operated beyond the reach of the law. The frightening popularity and proliferation of the private security firm, Blackwater, founded by a mega-millionaire right-wing Christian, Erik Prince, has not only become a giant mercenary force in Iraq, but was heavily used in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Increasingly, Cristo-fascists are becoming more blatant about their wish to force conversion to Christ through the barrel of a gun. A typical image of this concept, dripping with testosterone, may be viewed at the website of Force Ministries.
Just this week, conservative theologian, Doug Giles, appeared on Fox News arguing that Christian males should be tougher because "Jesus wasn't a bearded lady". Christians, he said, should stop raising nice boys and raise warriors who can fight terrorism.
In answer to the question of what is to be done, I would assert as I usually do: Knowledge is power. Fundamentalist Christianity is inherently delusional. One cannot reason with its adherents nor influence them with facts. What one can do is understand first of all that the United States has become a fascist empire. If one takes seriously Mussolini's definition of fascism, "the corporate state", then this nation was well on its way even before the ascendancy of the Bush II administration and September 11, 2001.
Furthermore, it is time for those who consider themselves politically progressive to stop "tolerating" Cristo-fascists. Certainly, these individuals have every right to believe whatever they choose to believe, but when one comprehends the inherently fascist nature of both their religion and their politics, one must necessarily confront not only their ghastly disregard for separation of church and state, but their implacable commitment to engineering a fundamentalist Christian theocracy in the United States.
The exponential growth of the Cristo-fascist movement in the past six years is yet another symptom of empire and a somnambulant society in the throes of collapse. Whether or not one embraces Christianity or any religion, for that matter, it is instructive to engage in reality-checking the actual teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, and specifically, the gospels and other sacred writings which were excluded from the bible in the fourth century for political and socio-economic reasons in order to streamline Constantine's hierarchical, imperial, Christian regime-the world's first but not last, Christian theocracy. With that in mind, I highly recommend The Jesus Mysteries, by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy.
http://www.carolynbaker.net
Carolyn Baker, Ph.D. is author of COMING OUT FROM FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANITY: An Autobiography Affirming Sensuality, Social Justice, and The Sacred. She is also author of U.S. HISTORY UNCENSORED: What Your High School Textbook Didn't Tell You. Both books are available at her website: www.carolynbaker.net.
Like many of my generation I have jammed along to the Rolling Stones on more than one occasion. The Stones are definitely unlike the one-hit-wonder corporate rock and roll of modern times. Most people reading this can name at least two or more classic Rolling Stone songs and may even be able to sing along to the words. As a Christian there has always been one of their songs in particular that tended to creep me out - Sympathy For the Devil. They have countless ballads of peace and love that any open minded person of faith can easily find their soul singing along to. Yet, that song seems to throw a hypocritical red herring into an otherwise long history of spiritual poetic rhythms I cannot help but see the analogy between Sympathy For the Devil and today's modern evangelical support of right wing politics.
There has been much talk about the Republican "base" of Evangelical voters and Christian conservatives banding their flocks together to keep Republicans in power. However, many of them are starting to wake up to the fact that they are being used on a grand scale. And yet there are still those who are "asleep at the pew" and ready to vote Republican on baseless moral grounds. Personal wedge issues are made the focus while morality as a whole is debased most by the politicians wearing their faith on their sleeves.
I have a question I would love to ask of all the religious wingnuts. If their mythology is true and Jesus decided to come back tomorrow, how do they think George W. Bush, his demonic administration, and Republican enablers in Congress would react? A) Would they allow a peace-loving, liberal, hippie to make peace on Earth and all men and women to be equal? OR B)Go to war with God to maintain their power, control, and fortunes? They know the answer would be (B)! So my next question would be... Doesn't that make him the Antichrist according to their mythology???
That same mythology would also label psuedo-religious leaders like Falwell, Robertson, Dobson, (and dont get me started on Pastor massage-n-meth Ted Haggard), who preach political support for their endtimes boogieman as "false prophets." It is like really admiring the Star Wars story for it's timeless morality tale of the battle between good and evil and then deciding to model your real life after Darth Vader's
Stormtroopers. No wonder they call it a "flock!" These people are sheep!!!
Maybe more will be waking up to the fact they are being used after seeing the complete and total hypocrisy of the Republican party. It's hard for a president to convince anyone he is pro-life when it comes to banning stem cell research while thousands are being sent to their deaths in Iraq. It is also ironic that the very party that puts forth a homophobic agenda turns out to be full of closeted homosexuals and pedophiles. Tax cuts for the "money changers" and no help for the meek and the poor are certainly not traits of Jesus either. Wars and rumors of war have been a major theme of this administrations policies. It's not what you say, it's what you do.
For real Christians and people of faith the mantra for the next election cycles should be, "It's the hypocrisy stupid!" We have all heard the acronym, "WWJD - What would Jesus Do," but a more suitable acronym
in this age of hypocrisy would be, "WWTDTJ - What would They Do to Jesus!"
David Kuo, a born-again Christian and former White House aide who wrote the book "Tempting Faith, An Inside Story of Political Seduction," said Haggard's situation is magnified by his and other evangelicals'
involvement in Republican politics. "It's religious hypocrisy with a political rocket booster," said Kuo, who
thinks politics is corrupting Christianity. "It's tragedy enough if a pastor falls, but this is not about a pastor falling. This is about a politician falling, and the politician is bringing down Jesus with him." WWTDTJ
indeed.
by
JohnNmissouri (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 40 comments)
on Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 5:11:37 AM
It's a real irony--and a pity--that 250 years of biblical scholarship is being ignored in this country.
It's not even hard to understand. The gospels were written by anonymous scribes after the war of 70 AD to suck up to the Roman victors and to blame "the jews" for the execution of jesus.
The gospel writers also cribbed incessantly from each other's works.
It is nearly impossible to know really what went on circa 30 AD, but that hasn't stopped American religious thugs from fantasizing an Armegeddon for us all.
by
Mike Bendzela (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 18 comments)
on Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 6:30:07 AM
Great article, Carolyn. I remember also reading several of your timely articles on Counterpunch Online. Very penetrating analysis.
I would also like to add some comments of my own to the phenomenon of "Christian Fascism." In reality, Christian Fascism is nothing new, because the original eruption of Fascism in both Italy and Germany after World War I certainly depended upon a collusion of Church and State. The great majority of German Protestant and Catholic churches either enthusiastically embraced Hitler or passively accepted him, with a similar situation in Italy regarding Mussolini, with the Papacy undermining all attempts by church activists to resist Il Duce. A similar situation occurred in Spain with the Fascist takeover by Franco and his collusion with the Catholic Church.
So we squarely have Christian institutions repeatedly supporting the Fascist phenomena. Why? I believe we have to look beyond poor economic conditions and a sense of powerlessness to understand all this. It has as much, if not more, to do with the character structure of the average individual in Patriarchal culture, which humanity has been suffering under for several thousand years now.
So let me quote from one of the great thinkers on this subject, Wilhelm Reich: "...my medical experiences with men and women of various classes, races, nations, religious beliefs, etc., taught me that 'fascism' is only the organized political expression of the structure of the average man's character, a structure that is confined neither to certain races or nations nor to certain parties, but is general and international. Viewed with respect to mans's character, 'Fascism' is the basic emotional attitude of the suppressed man of our authoritarian machine civilization and its mechanistic-mystical conception of life.
"It is the mechanistic-mystical character of modern man that produces fascist parties, and not vice versa."
(Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psycholgy of Fascism, p.xiii of Preface to the 3rd Edition)
"As a political movement Fascism differs from other reactionary parties inasmuch as it is borne and championed by masses of people." (ibid, p. xiv)
However, Reich points out, Fascism is originated, not from below by the masses themselves, but from above, by the ruling class, by imposing an imperialist ideology upon them. "...every social order produces in the masses of its members that structure which it needs to achieve its main aims." (ibid, p. 23).
In other words, the current Christian-Fascist movement in America is being encouraged by our Imperial elitists, whether consciously or subconsciously, just as it has been encouraged in the past by the elite in other countries.
What is the central mechanism for anchoring this character structure in man (and woman)? Reich answers bluntly, sexual repression:
"The moral inhibition of the child's natural sexuality. the last stage of which is the severe impairment of the child's genital sexuality, makes the child afraid, shy, fearful of authority, obedient, 'good', and 'docile' in the authoritarian sense of the words. It has a crippling effect on man's rebellious forces because every vital life-impulse is now burdened with severe fear; and since sex is a forbidden subject, thought in general and man's critical faculty also becomes inhibited (because thinking in general is stunted by this same repressive mechanism). IN SHORT, (COMPULSORY) MORALITY'S AIM IS TO PRODUCE ACQUIESCENT SUBJECTS, WHO, DESPITE DISTRESS AND HUMILIATION, ARE ADJUSTED TO THE AUTHORITARIAN ORDER. (ibid, p. 30)
What is the central organ of repression in authoritarian society? The authoritarian family, by programming the child in his or her earliest years, while "The church only continues this function later." (ibid, p. 30)
So there you have, the nexus from which Fascism grows: Patriarchy, Imperialism, the authoritarian family and Church, and sexual repression. This is why the Bush regime, as do all Fascist governments, lionizes the religious family, institutionalizes abstinence, glamorizes war and idealizes Bush as the God-sent Commander-in-Chief, the all-powerful authoritarian figure.
Eros has been repressed, perverted and rechanneled into the service of war. Torture and murder are the natural byproducts. They are the repressed machine-man's "sexual" expression, his orgasm, so to speak. Sadism and masochism are attempts to violently fulfill the psyche and libido through the catharsis of pain, not natural love. This, in a word, is Fascism: SADISM. Its proponents and storm-troopers are alienated from life and alienated from Nature within and without. They are all screwed-up inside, to say the least.
This is why we have had rampant, ongoing torture in Iraq, soon to come to your neighborhood if Fascism spreads to American cities. Are you prepared for an Abu Graib in your neighborhood?
To combat Fascism, Patriarchy has to be overthrown, once and for all. The return to sexual repression that the 60's culture liberated us from to some extent must be REVERSED AND DESTROYED once and for all. All of this is dependent, spiritually, psychologically and philosophically speaking, on the reintegration of the Divine Feminine into the West's (and world's) consciousness. There are women and men out there who know exactly what I mean.
Reich used to say, "Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life. They should also govern it." Who will second this motion?
by
Mac McKinney (48 articles, 78 quicklinks, 180 diaries, 1137 comments)
on Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 8:29:45 PM
Hysterical would infer freaking out about a non-existent threat. Are you saying there is no threat from Fascism with two countries already being blown apart, a third in danger of being attacked and a corrupt, degenerate State invading the privacy of its citizens by the tens of thousands, if not millions, while attempting to emasculate Habeus Corpus? We may not be at the 11th hour in America (about 10:35pm I'd say), but it is way past midnight in Iraq and Afghanistan, or do you have any empathy for them?
There you go, sympathize. That's better.
by
Mac McKinney (48 articles, 78 quicklinks, 180 diaries, 1137 comments)
on Friday, February 2, 2007 at 12:26:22 AM
6 comments
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