Chris Hedges: 'Christian Right & Rise Of American Fascism'

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Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:50:01 -0700

Tom Cahill <tcahill

Chris Hedges: 'Christian Right & Rise Of

American Fascism'

 

 

>

>

>THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT AND THE RISE OF AMERICAN

FASCISM

>

>By CHRIS HEDGES

>

>15 Nov 2004

>

>Dr. James Luther Adams, my ethics professor at

Harvard Divinity School ,

>told us that when we were his age, he was then

close to 80, we would all

>be fighting the " Christian fascists. "

>

>The warning, given to me 25 years ago, came at

the moment Pat Robertson

>and other radio and televangelists began

speaking about a new political

>religion that would direct its efforts at taking

control of all

>institutions, including mainstream denominations

and the government. Its

>stated goal was to use the United States to

create a global, Christian

>empire. It was hard, at the time, to take such

fantastic rhetoric

>seriously, especially given the buffoonish

quality of those who expounded

>it. But Adams warned us against the blindness

caused by intellectual

>snobbery. The Nazis, he said, were not going to

return with swastikas and

>brown shirts. Their ideological inheritors had

found a mask for fascism in

>the pages of the Bible.

>

>He was not a man to use the word fascist

lightly. He was in Germany in

>1935 and 1936 and worked with the underground

anti-Nazi church, known as

>The Confessing Church, led by Dietrich

Bonhoeffer. Adams was eventually

>detained and interrogated by the Gestapo, who

suggested he might want to

>consider returning to the United States . It was

a suggestion he followed.

>He left on a night train with framed portraits

of Adolph Hitler placed

>over the contents inside his suitcase to hide

the rolls of home movie film

>he took of the so-called German Christian

Church, which was pro-Nazi, and

>the few individuals who defied them, including

the theologians Karl Barth

>and Albert Schweitzer. The ruse worked when the

border police lifted the

>top of the suitcases, saw the portraits of the

Fuhrer and closed them up

>again. I watched hours of the grainy black and

white films as he narrated

>in his apartment in Cambridge .

>

>He saw in the Christian Right, long before we

did, disturbing similarities

>with the German Christian Church and the Nazi

Party, similarities that he

>said would, in the event of prolonged social

instability or a national

>crisis, see American fascists, under the guise

of religion, rise to

>dismantle the open society. He despaired of

liberals, who he said, as in

>Nazi Germany, mouthed silly platitudes about

dialogue and inclusiveness

>that made them ineffectual and impotent.

Liberals, he said, did not

>understand the power and allure of evil nor the

cold reality of how the

>world worked. The current hand wringing by

Democrats in the wake of the

>election, with many asking how they can reach

out to a movement whose

>leaders brand them " demonic " and " satanic, "

would not have surprised Adams

>. Like Bonhoeffer, he did not believe that those

who would fight

>effectively in coming times of turmoil, a fight

that for him was an

>integral part of the Biblical message, would

come from the church or the

>liberal, secular elite.

>

>His critique of the prominent research

universities, along with the media,

>was no less withering. These institutions,

self-absorbed, compromised by

>their close relationship with government and

corporations, given enough of

>the pie to be complacent, were unwilling to deal

with the fundamental

>moral questions and inequities of the age. They

had no stomach for a

>battle that might cost them their prestige and

comfort. He told me that if

>the Nazis took over America " 60 percent of the

Harvard faculty would begin

>their lectures with the Nazi salute. " This too

was not an abstraction. He

>had watched academics at the University of

Heidelberg , including the

>philosopher Martin Heidegger, raise their arms

stiffly to students before

>class.

>

>Two decades later, even in the face of the

growing reach of the Christian

>Right, his prediction seems apocalyptic. And yet

the powerbrokers in the

>Christian Right have moved from the fringes of

society to the floor of the

>House of Representatives and the Senate.

Christian fundamentalists now

>hold a majority of seats in 36 percent of all

Republican Party state

>committees, or 18 of 50 states, along with large

minorities in 81 percent

>of the rest of the states. Forty-five Senators

and 186 members of the

>House of Representatives earned between an 80

to100 percent approval

>ratings from the three most influential

Christian Right advocacy groups -

>The Christian Coalition, Eagle Forum, and Family

Resource Council. Tom

>Coburn, the new senator from Oklahoma , has

included in his campaign to

>end abortion a call to impose the death penalty

on doctors that carry out

>abortions once the ban goes into place. Another

new senator, John Thune,

>believes in Creationism. Jim DeMint, the new

senator elected from South

>Carolina , wants to ban single mothers from

teaching in schools. The

>Election Day exit polls found that 22 percent of

voters identified

>themselves as evangelical Christians and Bush

won 77 percent of their

>vote. The polls found that a plurality of voters

said that the most

>important issue in the campaign had been " moral

values. "

>

>President Bush must further these important

objectives, including the

>march to turn education and social welfare over

to the churches with his

>faith-based initiative, as well as chip away at

the wall between church

>and state with his judicial appointments, if he

does not want to face a

>revolt within his core constituency.

>

>Jim Dobson, the head of Focus on the Family, who

held weekly telephone

>conversations with K arl Rove during the

campaign, has put the President

>on notice. He told ABC's " This Week " that " this

president has two years,

>or more broadly the Republican Party has two

years, to implement these

>policies, or certainly four, or I believe

they'll pay a price in the next

>election. "

>

>Bush may turn out to be a transition figure, our

version of Otto von

>Bismarck. Bismarck used " values " to energize his

base at the end of the 19

>th century and launched " Kulturkampt " , the word

from which we get " culture

>wars, " against Catholics and Jews. Bismarck 's

attacks split the country,

>made the discrediting of whole segments of the

society an acceptable part

>of the civil discourse and paved the way for the

more virulent racism of

>the Nazis. This, I suspect, will be George

Bush's contribution to our

>democracy.

>

>DOMINIONISTS AND RECONSTRUCTIONISTS

>

> The Reconstructionist movement, founded in

1973 by Rousas Rushdooney, is

> the intellectual foundation for the most

politically active element

> within the Christian Right. Rushdooney's 1,600

page three-volume work,

> Institutes of Biblical Law, argued that

American society should be

> governed according to the Biblical precepts in

the Ten Commandments. He

> wrote that the elect, like Adam and Noah, were

given dominion over the

> earth by God and must subdue the earth, along

with all non-believers, so

> the Messiah could return.

>

>This was a radically new interpretation for many

in the evangelical

>movement. The Messiah, it was traditionally

taught, would return in an

>event called " the Rapture " where there would be

wars and chaos. The

>non-believers would be tormented and killed and

the elect would be lifted

>to heaven. The Rapture was not something that

could be manipulated or

>influenced, although believers often interpreted

catastrophes and wars as

>portents of the imminent Second Coming.

>

>Rushdooney promoted an ideology that advocated

violence to create the

>Christian state. His ideology was the mirror

image of Liberation Theology,

>which came into vogue at about the same time.

While the Liberation

>Theologians crammed the Bible into the box of

Marxism, Rushdooney crammed

>it into the equally distorting box of classical

fascism. This clash was

>first played out in Latin America when I was

there as a reporter two

>decades ago. In El Salvador leftist priests

endorsed and even traveled

>with the rebel movements in Nicaragua and El

Salvador, while Pat Robertson

>and Jerry Falwell, along with conservative Latin

American clerics, backed

>the Contras fighting against the Sandinistas in

Nicaragua and the

>murderous military regimes in El Salvador,

Guatemala, Chile and Argentina.

>

>The Institutes of Biblical Law called for a

Christian society that was

>harsh, unforgiving and violent. Offenses such as

adultery, witchcraft,

>blasphemy and homosexuality, merited the death

penalty. The world was to

>be subdued and ruled by a Christian United

States. Rushdooney dismissed

>the number of 6 million Jews killed in the

Holocaust as an inflated figure

>and his theories on race echoed Nazi Eugenics.

>

> " The white man has behind him centuries of

Christian culture and the

>discipline and selective breeding this faith

requires..., " he wrote. " The

>Negro is a product of a radically different

past, and his heredity has

>been governed by radically different

considerations. "

>

> " The background of Negro culture is African and

magic, and the purposes of

>the magic are control and power over God, man,

nature, and society.

>Voodoo, or magic, was the religion and life of

American Negroes. Voodoo

>songs underlie jazz, and old voodoo, with its

power goal, has been merely

>replaced with revolutionary voodoo, a modernized

power drive. " (see The

>Religious Right , a publication of the ADL, pg.

124.)

>

>Rushdooney was deeply antagonistic to the

federal government. He believed

>the federal government should concern itself

with little more than

>national defense. Education and social welfare

should be handed over to

>the churches. Biblical law must replace the

secular legal code. This

>ideology remains at the heart of the movement.

It is being enacted through

>school vouchers, with federal dollars now going

into Christian schools,

>and the assault against the federal agencies

that deal with poverty and

>human services. The Office of Faith-Based and

Community Initiatives is

>currently channeling millions in federal funds

to groups such Pat

>Robertson's Operation Blessing , and National

Right to Life, as well as to

>fundamentalist religious charity organizations

and programs promoting

>sexual abstinence.

>

>Rushdooney laid the groundwork for a new way of

thinking about political

>involvement. The Christian state would come

about not only through signs

>and wonders, as those who believed in the

rapture believed? , but also

>through theestablishment of the Christian

nation. But he remained, even

>within the Christian Right, a deeply

controversial figure.

>

>Dr. Tony Evans, the minister of a Dallas church

and the founder of Promise

>Keepers, articulated Rushdooney's extremism in a

more palatable form. He

>called on believers, often during emotional

gatherings at football

>stadiums, to commit to Christ and exercise power

within the society as

>agents of Christ. He also called for a Christian

state. But he did not

>advocate the return of slavery, as Rushdooney

did, nor list a string of

>offenses such as adultery punishable by death,

nor did he espouse the

>Nazi-like race theories. It was through Evans,

who was a spiritual mentor

>to George Bush that Dominionism came to dominate

the politically active

>wing of the Christian Right.The religious

utterances from political

>leaders such as George Bush, Tom Delay, Pat

Robertson and Zell Miller are

>only understandable in light of Rushdooney and

Dominionism. These leaders

>believe that God has selected them to battle the

forces of evil, embodied

>in " secular humanism, " to create a Christian

nation. Pat Robertson

>frequently tells believers " our aim is to gain

dominion over society. "

>Delay has told supporters, such as at a

gathering two years ago at the

>First Baptist Church in Pearland , Texas , " He

[God] is using me, all the

>time, everywhere, to stand up for biblical

worldview in everything I do

>and everywhere I am. He is training me, He is

working with me. " Delay went

>on to tell followers " If we stay inside the

church, the culture won't change. "

>

>Pat Robertson, who changed the name of his

university to Regent University

>, says he is training his students to rule when

the Christian regents take

>power, part of the reign leading to the return

of Christ. Robertson

>resigned as the head of the Christian Coalition

when Bush took office, a

>sign many took to signal the ascendancy of the

first regent. This battle

>is not rhetorical but one that followers are

told will ultimately involve

>violence. And the enemy is clearly defined and

marked for destruction.

>

> " Secular Humanists, " the popular Christian Right

theologian Francis

>Schaeffer wrote in one of numerous diatribes,

" are the greatest threat to

>Christianity the world has ever known. "

>

>One of the most enlightening books that exposes

the ultimate goals of

>movement is America's Providential History , the

standard textbook used in

>many Christian schools and a staple of the

Christian home schooling

>movement. It sites Genesis 26, which calls for

mankind to " .have

>dominnion over the fish of the sea, over the

birds of the air, over the

>cattle and over all the earth and over every

creeping thing that creeps on

>the earth " as evidence that the Bible callls for

" Bible believing

>Christians " to take dominion of America.

>

> " When God brings Noah through the flood to a new

earth, He reestablished

>the Dominion Mandate but now delegates to man

the responsibility for

>governing other men. " (page 19). The authors

write that God has called

>the United States to become " the first truly

Christian nation " (page 184)

>and " make disciples of all nations. " The book

denounces income tax as

> " idolatry, " property tax as " theft " and calls

for an abolish of

>inheritance taxes in the chapter entitled

Christian Economics. The loss of

>such tax revenues will bring about the withering

away of the federal

>government and the empowerment of the

authoritarian church, although this

>is not explict in the text.

>

>Rushdooney's son-in-law, Gary North, a popular

writer and founder of the

>Institute for Christian Economics, laid out the

aims of the Christian Right.

>

> " So let's be blunt about it: We must use the

doctrine of religious liberty

>to gain independence for Christian schools until

we train up a generation

>of people who know that there is no religious

neutrality, no neutral law,

>no neutral education, and no neutral civil

government. Then they will get

>busy in constructing a Bible-based social,

political and religious order

>which finally denies the religious liberty of

the enemies of God. "

>(Christianity and Civilization, Spring, 1982)

>

>Dominionists have to operate, for now, in the

contaminated environment of

>the secular, liberal state. They have learned,

therefore, to speak in

>code. The code they use is the key to

understanding the dichotomy of the

>movement, one that has a public and a private

face. In this they are no

>different from the vanguard, as described by

Lenin, or the Islamic

>terrorists who shave off their beards, adopt

western dress and watch

>pay-for-view pornographic movies in their hotel

rooms the night before

>hijacking a plane for a suicide attack.

>

>Joan Bokaer, the Director of Theocracy Watch, a

project of the Center for

>Religion, Ethics and Social Policy at Cornell

University , who runs the

>encyclopedic web site theocracywatch.org, was on

a speaking tour a few

>years ago in Iowa . She obtained a copy of a

memo Pat Robertson handed out

>to followers at the Iowa Republican County

Caucus. It was titled, " How to

>Participate in a Political Party " and read:

>

> " Rule the world for God. "

>

> " Give the impression that you are there to work

for the party, not push an

>ideology.

>

> " Hide your strength.

>

> " Don't flaunt your Christianity.

>

> " Christians need to take leadership positions.

Party officers control

>political parties and so it is very important

that mature Christians have

>a majority of leadership whenever possible, God

willing. "

>

>President Bush sends frequent coded messages to

the faithful. In his

>address to the nation on the night of September

11, for example, he lifted

>a line directly from the Gospel of John when he

said " And the light shines

>in the darkness, and the darkness will not

overcome it. " He often uses the

>sentence " when every child is welcomed in life

and protected in law, "

>words taken directly from a pro-life manifesto

entitled " A Statement of

>Pro-Life Principle and Concern. " He quotes from

hymns, prayers, tracts and

>Biblical passages without attribution. These

phrases reassure the elect.

>They are lost on the uninitiated.

>

>CHRIST THE AVENGER

>

>The Christian Right finds its ideological

justification in a narrow

>segment of the Gospel, in particular the letters

of the Apostle Paul,

>especially the story of Paul's conversion on the

road to Damascus in the

>Book of Acts. It draws heavily from the book of

Revelations and the Gospel

>of John. These books share an apocalyptic

theology. The Book of

>Revelations is the only time in the Gospels

where Jesus sanctions

>violence, offering up a vision of Christ as the

head of a great and

>murderous army of heavenly avengers. Martin

Luther found the God portrayed

>in Revelations so hateful and cruel he put the

book in the appendix of his

>German translation of the Bible.

>

>These books rarely speak about Christ's message

of love, forgiveness and

>compassion. They focus on the doom and

destruction that will befall

>unbelievers and the urgent need for personal

salvation. The world is

>divided between good and evil, between those who

act as agents of God and

>those who act as agents of Satan. The Jesus of

the other three Gospels,

>the Jesus who turned the other cheek and

embraced his enemies, an idea

>that was radical and startling in the ancient

Roman world, is purged in

>the narrative selected by the Christian Right.

>

>The cult of masculinity pervades the ideology.

Feminism and homosexuality

>are social forces, believers are told, that have

rendered the American

>male physically and spiritually impotent. Jesus

is portrayed as a man of

>action, casting out demons, battling the

Anti-Christ, attacking hypocrites

>and castigating the corrupt. This cult of

masculinity brings with it the

>glorification of strength, violence and

vengeance. It turns Christ into a

>Rambo-like figure; indeed depictions of Jesus

within the movement often

>show a powerfully built man wielding a huge

sword.

>

>This image of Christ as warrior is appealing to

many within the movement.

>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. It stokes

>the paranoia about the outside world maintained

through bizarre conspiracy

>theories, many on display in Pat Robertson's

book The New World Order .

>The book is a xenophobic rant that includes

vicious attacks against the

>United Nations and numerous other international

organizations. The

>abandonment of the working class has been

crucial to the success of the

>movement. Only by reintegrating the working

class into society through job

>creation, access to good education and health

care can the Christian Right

>be effectively blunted. Revolutionary movements

are built on the backs of

>an angry, disenfranchised laboring class. This

one is no exception.

>

>The depictions of violence that will befall

non-believers are detailed,

>gruesome and brutal. It speaks to the rage many

believers harbor and the

>thirst for revenge. This, in large part,

accounts for the huge sales of

>the apocalyptic series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry

B. Jenkins. In their novel,

>Glorious Appearing , based on LaHaye's

interpretation of Biblical

>Prophecies about the Second Coming, Christ

eviscerates the flesh of

>millions of non-believers with the mere sound of

his voice. There are long

>descriptions of horror, of how " the very words

of the Lord had superheated

>their blood, causing it to burst through their

veins and skin. " Eyes

>disintegrate. Tongues melt. Flesh dissolves. The

novel, part of The Left

>Behind series, are the best selling adult novels

in the country. They

>preach holy war.

>

> " Any teaching of peace prior to [Christ's]

return is heresy. " said

>televangelist James Robinson.

>

>Natural disasters, terrorist attacks,

instability in Israel and even the

>fighting of Iraq are seen as signposts. The war

in Iraq was predicted

>according to believers in the 9 th chapter of

the Book of Revelations

>where four angels " which are bound in the great

river Euphrates will be

>released to slay the third part of men. " The

march towards global war,

>even nuclear war, is not to be feared but

welcomed as the harbinger of the

>Second Coming. And leading the avenging armies

is an angry, violent

>Messiah who dooms millions of non-believers to a

horrible and painful death.

>

>THE CORRUPTION OF SCIENCE AND LAW

>

>The movement seeks the imprint of law and

science. It must discredit the

>rational disciplines that are the pillars of the

Enlightenment to abolish

>the liberal polity of the Enlightenment. This

corruption of science and

>law is vital in promoting the doctrine.

Creationism, or " intelligent

>design, " like Eugenics for the Nazis, must be

introduced into the

>mainstream as a valid scientific discipline to

destroy the discipline of

>science itself. This is why the Christian Right

is working to bring test

>cases to ensure that school textbooks include

" intelligent design " and

>condemn gay marriage.

>

>The drive by the Christian Right to include

crackpot theories in

>scientific or legal debate is part of the

campaign to destroy

>dispassionate and honest intellectual inquiry.

Facts become

>interchangeable with opinions. An understanding

of reality is not to be

>based on the elaborate gathering of facts and

evidence. The ideology alone

>is true. Facts that get in the way of the

ideology can be altered. Lies,

>in this worldview, become true. Hannah Arendt

called this effort

> " nihilistic relativism " although a better phrase

might be collective insanity.

>

>The Christian Right has fought successfully to

have Creationist books sold

>in national park bookstores in the Grand Canyon

, taught as a theory in

>public schools in states like Alabama and

Arkansas . " Intelligent design "

>is promoted in Christian textbooks. All animal

species, or at least their

>progenitors, students read, fit on Noah's ark.

The Grand Canyon was

>created a few thousand years ago by the flood

that lifted up Noah's ark,

>not one billion years ago, as geologists have

determined. The earth is

>only a few thousand years old in line with the

literal reading of Genesis.

>This is not some quaint, homespun view of the

world. It is an insidious

>attempt to undermine rational scientific

research and intellectual inquiry.

>

>Tom Delay, following the Columbine shootings,

gave voice to this assault

>when he said that the killings had taken place

" because our school systems

>teach children that they are nothing but

glorified apes who have

>evolutionized out of some primordial mud. "

(speech Delay gave in the House

>on June 16, 1999 )

>

> " What convinces masses are not facts, " Hannah

Arendt wrote in Origins of

>Totalitarianism, " and not even invented facts,

but only the consistency of

>the system which they are presumably part.

Repetition, somewhat overrated

>in importance because of the common belief in

the " masses " inferior

>capacity to grasp and remember, is important

because it convinces them of

>consistency in time. " (p.351)

>

>There are more than 6 million elementary and

secondary school students

>attending private schools and 11.5 percent of

these students attend

>schools run by the Christian Right. These

" Christian " schools saw an

>increase of 46 percent in enrollment in the last

decade. The 245,000

>additional students accounted for 75 percent of

the total rise in private

>school enrollment.

>

>THE LAUNCHING OF THE WAR

>

>Adams told us to watch closely what the

Christian Right did to

>homosexuals. He has seen how the Nazis had used

" values " to launch state

>repression of opponents. Hitler, days after he

took power in 1933, imposed

>a ban on all homosexual and lesbian

organizations. He ordered raids on

>places where homosexuals gathered culminating

with the ransacking of the

>Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin .

Thousands of volumes from the

>institute's library were tossed into a bonfire.

Adams said that

>homosexuals would also be the first " deviants "

singled out by the

>Christian Right. We would be the next.

>

>The ban on same sex marriages, passed by eleven

states in the election,

>was part of this march towards our door. A 1996

federal law already

>defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

All of the states with

>ballot measures, with the exception of Oregon ,

had outlawed same sex

>marriages, as do 27 other states. The bans,

however, had to be passed,

>believers were told, to thwart " activist judges "

who wanted to overturn

>them. The Christian family, even the nation, was

under threat. The bans

>served to widen the splits tearing apart the

country. The attacks on

>homosexuals handed to the foot soldiers of the

Christian Right an easy

>target. It gave them a taste of victory. It made

them feel empowered. But

>it is ominous for gays and for us.

>

>All debates with the Christian Right are

useless. We cannot reach this

>movement. It does not want a dialogue. It cares

nothing for rational

>thought and discussion. It is not mollified

because John Kerry prays or

>Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School. These naive

attempts to reach out to a

>movement bent on our destruction, to prove to

them that we too have

> " values, " would be humorous if the stakes were

not so deadly. They hate

>us. They hate the liberal, enlightened world

formed by the Constitution.

>Our opinions do not count.

>

>This movement will not stop until we are ruled

by Biblical Law, an

>authoritarian church intrudes in every aspect of

our life, women stay at

>home and rear children, gays agree to be cured,

abortion is considered

>murder, the press and the schools promote

" positive " Christian values, the

>federal government is gutted, war becomes our

primary form of

>communication with the rest of the world and

recalcitrant non-believers

>see their flesh eviscerated at the sound of the

Messiah's voice.

>

>The spark that could set it ablaze may be lying

in the hands of an Islamic

>terrorist cell, in the hands of the ideological

twins of the Christian

>Right. Another catastrophic terrorist attack

could be our Reichstag fire,

>the excuse used to begin the accelerated

dismantling of our open society.

>The ideology of the Christian Right is not one

of love and compassion, the

>central theme of Christ's message, but of

violence and hatred. It has a

>strong appeal to many in our society, but it is

also aided by our

>complacency. Let us not stand at the open city

gates waiting passively and

>meekly for the barbarians. They are coming. They

are slouching rudely

>towards Bethlehem . Let us, if nothing else,

begin to call them by their name.

>

>Chris Hedges, a reporter for The New York Times,

is the author of War Is a

>Force That Gives Us Meaning . He holds a Master

of Divinity from Harvard

>Divinity School . His next book , Losing Moses

on the Freeway: America 's

>Broken Covenant With The Ten Commandments is

published by The Free Press.

>

 

 

 

 

" When the power of love becomes stronger than the love of power, we will have

peace. "

Jimi Hendrix