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 Christianists on the MarchPosted on Jan 28, 2007
By Chris Hedges Chris Hedges, who graduated from seminary at Harvard Divinity School and worked for many years as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, warns that the Christian Right is the most dangerous mass movement in American history. After two years reporting on the movement for his new book “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America”, he writes that its engine is profound personal and economic despair caused by mounting social and economic inequities that fuel the creation of an American oligarchy. This despair, he said, has led tens of millions of Americans into the arms of demogogues who offer a world of miracles and magic, who sanctify and fuel the rage of America’s dispossessed and who plot the destruction the democratic state. Dr. James Luther Adams, my ethics professor at Harvard Divinity School, told his students that when we were his age—he was then close to 80—we would all be fighting the “Christian fascists.” The warning, given 25 years ago, came at the moment Pat Robertson and other radio and television evangelists began speaking about a new political religion that would direct its efforts toward 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. This call for fundamentalists and evangelicals to take political power was a radical and ominous mutation of traditional Christianity. 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 had been 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 Adolf Hitler placed over the contents of his suitcases to hide the rolls of home-movie film he had taken of the so-called German Christian Church, which was pro-Nazi, and the few individuals who defied the Nazis, including the theologians Karl Barth and Albert Schweitzer. The ruse worked when the border police lifted the tops of the suitcases, saw the portraits of the Führer and closed them up again. I watched hours of the grainy black-and-white films as he narrated in his apartment in Cambridge. Advertisement These Christian utopians promise to replace this internal and external emptiness with a mythical world where time stops and all problems are solved. The mounting despair rippling across the United States, one I witnessed repeatedly as I traveled the country, remains unaddressed by the Democratic Party, which has abandoned the working class, like its Republican counterpart, for massive corporate funding. The Christian right has lured tens of millions of Americans, who rightly feel abandoned and betrayed by the political system, from the reality-based world to one of magic—to fantastic visions of angels and miracles, to a childlike belief that God has a plan for them and Jesus will guide and protect them. This mythological worldview, one that has no use for science or dispassionate, honest intellectual inquiry, one that promises that the loss of jobs and health insurance does not matter, as long as you are right with Jesus, offers a lying world of consistency that addresses the emotional yearnings of desperate followers at the expense of reality. It creates a world where facts become interchangeable with opinions, where lies become true—the very essence of the totalitarian state. It includes a dark license to kill, to obliterate all those who do not conform to this vision, from Muslims in the Middle East to those at home who refuse to submit to the movement. And it conveniently empowers a rapacious oligarchy whose god is maximum profit at the expense of citizens. We now live in a nation where the top 1 percent control more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined, where we have legalized torture and can lock up citizens without trial. Arthur Schlesinger, in “The Cycles of American History,” wrote that “the great religious ages were notable for their indifference to human rights in the contemporary sense—not only for their acquiescence in poverty, inequality and oppression, but for their enthusiastic justification of slavery, persecution, torture and genocide.” 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, I suspect half in jest, that if the Nazis took over America “60 percent of the Harvard faculty would begin their lectures with the Nazi salute.” But 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. Forty-five senators and 186 members of the House before the last elections earned approval ratings of 80 to100 percent from the three most influential Christian right advocacy groups—the Christian Coalition, Eagle Forum, and Family Resource Council. President Bush has handed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid to these groups and dismantled federal programs in science, reproductive rights and AIDS research to pay homage to the pseudo-science and quackery of the Christian right. The radical Christian right, calling for a “Christian state”—where whole segments of American society, from gays and lesbians to liberals to immigrants to artists to intellectuals, will have no legitimacy and be reduced, at best, to second-class citizens—awaits a crisis, an economic meltdown, another catastrophic terrorist strike or a series of environmental disasters. A period of instability will permit them to push through their radical agenda, one that will be sold to a frightened American public as a return to security and law and order, as well as moral purity and prosperity. This movement—the most dangerous mass movement in American history—will not be blunted until the growing social and economic inequities that blight this nation are addressed, until tens of millions of Americans, now locked in hermetic systems of indoctrination through Christian television and radio, as well as Christian schools, are reincorporated into American society and given a future, one with hope, adequate wages, job security and generous federal and state assistance. The unchecked rape of America, which continues with the blessing of both political parties, heralds not only the empowerment of this American oligarchy but the eventual death of the democratic state and birth of American fascism. 
The World As It Is:Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress
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Say ‘Hi-Ho!’ as They Strip-Search You
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By Dave in VA, January 30, 2007 at 4:44 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
So who’s on board with Hedges’ ideas for restricting Christian speech?
See, e.g., http://volokh.com/posts/1170100844.shtml
A quote from Volokh:
And to the extent there’s some ambiguity about whether he’s calling for legal suppression (which “denied the right” seems to strongly suggest) or just social pressure, he seems to have clarified it in favor of legal suppression (and “hate crimes legislation” in the sense of bans on supposed hate speech) on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Jan. 25, 2007:
JIM (Caller): Yes. Yes, I am. I needed to ask the author—I mean, I myself am a Christian, but I wouldn’t even somewhat agree with Pat Roberts. But the author stating that you need to restrict someone’s free speech just for mere words, he’s advocating—I mean, what he’s advocating is fascism, is he (unintelligible)? ...
Mr. HEDGES: I think that, you know, in a democratic society, people don’t have a right to preach the extermination of others, which has been a part of this movement of - certainly in terms of what should be done with homosexuals. You know, Rushdoony and others have talked about 18 moral crimes for which people should be executed, including apostasy, blasphemy, sodomy, and all - in order for an open society to function, it must function with a mutual respect, with a respect…
JIM: Sure.
Mr. HEDGES: ...for other ways to be and other ways to believe. And I think that the fringes of this movement have denied people that respect, which is why they fight so hard against hate crimes legislation—such as exist in Canada—being made law in the United States.
[NEAL] CONAN: But Chris, to be fair, aren’t you talking about violating their right to free speech, their right to religion as laid out in the First Amendment?
Mr. HEDGES: Well, I think that when you preach—or when you call for the physical extermination of other people within the society, you know, you’ve crossed the bounds of free speech. I mean, we’re not going to turn a cable channel over to the Ku Klux Klan. Yet the kinds of things that are allowed to be spewed out over much of Christian radio and television essentially preaches sedition. It preaches civil war. It’s not a difference of opinion. With that kind of rhetoric, it becomes a fight for survival….
Report thisBy locke, January 30, 2007 at 4:29 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Mr. Lowell,
Report thisit seems that you really don’t have a reasonable defense, so you will resort to simple dismissives. Logic and reason are what make us higher than animals. (The moral sense, in this case, is what makes us lower, according to Daniel Quinn, as no other creature will destroy another of its species because they “believe” it is right) It is plain that you do not wish to engage in meaningful discourse, only to beat your chest, shout “foul” and blame it on your predisposed notion that my position stems from hatred. You are incorrect, and it saddens me that you cannot put aside your hurt ego since I decline to believe that your Imaginary Friend has any root in reality.
By Tinny Ray, January 30, 2007 at 1:03 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
It is odd to ask if Americans would perform the Nazi salute when the fact is that America DID perform the Nazi salute, and an American CREATED the Nazi salute.
The “Nazi salute” is more accurately called the “American salute” as it was created and popularized by national socialists in the USA where its use was mandated by law in government schools for three decades before, and through, the creation of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. It was the early gesture of the Pledge of Allegiance.
http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html
Many people do not know that the term “Nazi” means “National Socialist German Workers’ Party.” Members of the horrid group did not call themselves Nazis. In that sense, there was no Nazi Party. They also did not call themselves Fascists. They called themselves socialists.
The original pledge was anti libertarian and began with a military salute that then stretched out toward the flag. In actual use, the second part of the gesture was performed with a straight arm and palm down by children casually performing the forced ritual chanting. Due to the way that both gestures were used sequentially in the pledge, the military salute led to the Nazi salute. The Nazi salute is an extended military salute via the USA’s pledge.
The Pledge’s early salute caused quite a Fuhrer/furor. The dogma behind the Pledge was the same dogma that led to the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): 62 million slaughtered under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; 49 million under the Peoples Republic of China; 21 million under the National Socialist German Workers Party. It was the worst slaughter of humanity ever.
The USA originated Nazism, Nazi salutes, flag fetishism, robotic group-chanting to flags, and the modern swastika symbol as S symbolism for “socialism,” all shown in the research of the noted historian Dr. Rex Curry. The bizarre acts in the USA began as early as 1875 and continued through the creation of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (German Nazis or NSGWP). The NSGWP had clear roots in National Socialism promoted by socialists in the USA. Amazing graphic images that prove the point are at
http://rexcurry.net/theosophy-madame-blavatsky-theosophical-society.html
The USA is still the worst example in the world of bizarre laws that require robotic chanting to a national flag in government schools (socialist schools) every day for 12 years. It has changed generations of Americans from libertarians to authoritarians. The government bamboozled individuals into believing that robotic group-chanting in government schools is a beautiful expression of freedom. Frightening photographs are at http://rexcurry.net/pledge2.html
Report thisBy Ron Ranft, January 29, 2007 at 11:50 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Does all this sound too far fetched. Wouldn’t you need some sort of armed wing of the movement to carry out your takeover? Remember the part of the SOTU address when Bush talked about creating an armed civilian reserve? Well, it has already been created. it is called Blackwater. The man who owns and runs it is as right-wing fundamentalist as they come. He now has somewhere around 30,000 armed, trained soldiers all of which are carrying out missions around the world on the behalf of the US government. This is Rumfields legacy. Blackwater was created to replace the pentagon and it’s staff because they are too independent of the President and the corporate world. They have their own aircraft, military vehicles, weapons, training base, etc. Soldiers are held accountable under the UMCJ. What are the employees of Blackwater held accountable under. There have been numerous killings by blackwater personal and nothing has been done. CACI is another one of those right-wing Corporations that are in the interrogation business. It was their people who were supervising the prisoners at Abu Grahib and yet the troops were made scapegoats for those atrocities. people working for CACI have been implicated in the murder of prisioners and as to date not one of them has been investigated, charged, or tried!
And I see some of the true believers have come here to spew their ignorance. These are the people who do the torture for their masters. These are the people who become the brown shirts. There always seems to be enough ignorant ones to take over but never enough smart of brave people to prevent it. Anyone care to speculate as to why?
Report thisBy amos_hart, January 29, 2007 at 11:06 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The vitriol evidenced below is quite disturbing. I for one am less afraid of the “Christian right” than I am of those who hate it. We have no significant recent history of religious persecution in this country, despite 9/11. To find it, one must look at Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, and Islam. What I hear from the haters sounds like what emanated from Germany and Russia and what we today hear from the Islamic world. Yes, it is the Sam Harris types that frighten me, the “true believers” without even religion to moderate their passions. The 20th century was the bloodiest in history, but it wasn’t because of religion. Stalin was raised in the Russian Orthodox church, if memory serves. In purging his soul of religion, he also purged the globe of 100 million souls. No, my friends, religion is not the enemy. It is hatred in the hearts of people just like you and me. It is the haters who are not fit to govern, be they religious, agnostic, or atheist. You would do well to look closely at would be politicans of all stripes.
Report thisBy ramesh patil, January 29, 2007 at 10:44 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
religion especially judeo christianity islam is a disease and truth is the only cure.
truth will defeat judeo christianity islam,but
for that,we as humans have to work hard to
make the world a better place envorinmentally and also,economically,ie,ecologically sustainable
economy.
else nuke world war 3 with the jews christians and muslims at each other’s throats and nukes
Report thisexploding and making planet earth unlivable,will be on us very soon.
By Druthers, January 29, 2007 at 10:38 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Comment #50270 by Richard on 1/29 at 10:42 am
“All this said, I have trouble buying into Hedges argument that poor distribution of wealth and the resulting despair will be the catalyst behind the religious rights takeover of America. Unless one cites actual supporting data, it sounds like garden-variety leftist cynicism. That is, it comes off as some kind of religion.”
The pre-war, pre-Nazi economic situation of Germany was a disaster. One of the things Hitler offered was to lift the recession-riden unemployed out of their condition and Germany back to its “rightful” place in the world.
Report thisBefore being an invader he presented himself as a savior.
America was fortunate back then that FDR was elected instead of some mad-man like Cheney.
It can happen here. It may even be happening here
By Darrick, January 29, 2007 at 10:37 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Christian fundamentalism = Monarchy
Due to the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has lost it’s influence on the whole of Europe due in part to the secular-based European Union and it’s duty of spreading democracy, Christian fascists today have much difficulty gaining power in countries like Spain, Germany and Italy. Europe has faced fascism before and knows it well, for example: Germany may never have another Adolf Hitler. Usually monarchies, the oldest form of government with traces it’s origin to the leadership of tribal chiefs, is now today the most rarely used form of government. It is usually tied with a certain state religion as the monarch - king and queen, emperor and empress, sultan and sultana - belongs to one type of religion. Most people today fear the possibility of a state religion because they want the freedom of worshiping whatever God they choose and also of it giving way to a monarchy. To us, we had never experienced a monarchy because we started out as thirteen colonies under the home rule of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and realized that freedom is not achieved through having a state religion and a monarchial sovereign. We also have had an influence of individual rights on other parts of the world and now today the majority of world governments are republics with an elected president and sometimes prime minister with a congress and senate. There could be a time though when monarchy could find a way to rise again. The Star Wars trilogy is a fine example of this.
Report thisBy Jon, January 29, 2007 at 10:04 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
These god damned idiots kneel and pray but god doesn’t give a damn. If there is a god, god must be sick and tired of hearing billion prayers a day from some crackheads.
If you are a boss, what would you do if your employees pray how great you are day in and day out everday of the year? You fire them all or send them to nuthouse where they belong.
These bunch and lots of so called christians are nothing but waste of natural resources.
Report thisBy Eleanore Kjellberg, January 29, 2007 at 9:16 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Over the last 30 years the Republican Party has been hijacked by the Christian right, whose political ideology is a belief in moral absolutes. They view the world in simplistic terms of black and white; good and evil. Their worship of the prosperity Gospel pays homage to capitalism, militarism and globalization.
Their theocratic political ideology no longer sees a need for separation of church and state. Thus it becomes justified to impose their religious ideology on the judicial system by appointing ACTIVIST CHRISTIAN RIGHT JUDGES to the SUPREME COURT.
These ACTIVIST CHRISTIAN RIGHT JUDGES write opinions and initiate court decisions that reflect CHRISTIAN RIGHT THEOLOGY. Decisions by Christian Right Supreme Court Judges coerce all Americans to follow laws that are purely based on Religious Right ideology. The power and permanency of our current Supreme Court will ultimately determine how we legally define unborn life, sexual identity, and the legitimacy of same-sex marital unions.
U.S. DEMOCRACY HAS EVOLVED INTO A THEOCRATIC CORPORATOCRACY.
The War in Iraq and Afghanistan is a debacle; oil companies are gouging Americans at the pump; 47 million Americans have no health insurance; global warming threatens to cause many more Katrinas; the wealthy are offered tax cuts while the working class are in ever-increasing debt; CEOS commit fraud and steal from their workers, BUT NONE OF THIS CONCERNS GEORGE BUSH AND THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT; THEYRE THINKING ABOUT SOMETHING MUCH MORE IMPORTANT—THE LEGITIMACY OF SAME SEX MARITAL UNIONS.
Robin Meyers a minister and peace activist states: Christian fascism corrupts both politics and religion by stifling political dissent and debate and by regarding kindness and compassion, the heart of religious faith as naïve. It dresses up as the savior of Western civilization, asking the rest of us to place our trust in the ability of the Appointed Ones to defend us while actually turning back the clock of human progress.
Report thisBy 127001, January 29, 2007 at 9:07 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Regarding: Comment #50258 by bonnie hardaway on 1/29 at 9:46 am
.....“This retired history teacher’s college and classroom curriculums didn’t include the rise of Fascism in Europe in the 1920’s - 1930’s.”.....
Hats off! to you for going to the history books for understanding. I would trust your picture of the puzzle before many others. And I wonder what else is “neglected” in the curriculums of our schools and colleges.
Your comment reminded me of something I hadn’t thought about in years. In high school (early 70s) I presented a history project outlining and demonstrating fascism (not because I cared, I just wanted a grade).
I got the grade (an A), and I was told NEVER do that again! It was a week long project and didn’t name “fascism”—just the behavior/mindset of it. During the time frame (one week), fights between students increased to several times a day, and it culminated in a teacher using force against a student (teacher hit student).
All I did was post a hypothetical list of “rules” to be followed on a daily basis, essentially different rules on each day. Compliance was ‘voluntary’ and there were no real consequences for non-compliance. The project was banned on the morning of the fourth day.
Doesn’t take much for people to step in line to be led to the slaughter either.
Report thisBy Mad As Hell, January 29, 2007 at 9:01 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
25 years ago Prof. Adams warned against Christo-fascists? That makes it 1982—what took him so long?
In the fall of 1978, having recently moved down to North Carolina, I was idly flipping the TV around awaiting the Sunday news shows (or was it after? I don’t remember). All of a sudden something made me turn my head. A man was speaking about an evil band of creatures called “Liberals” that was enough to scare me. These evil ones hated religion, hated God, hated Jesus, hated freedom, wanted to do away with marriage and have everyone running around naked having sex in the streets. Men and women, men and men, women and women—and they ALL wanted his listeners precious children.
He went on to castigate President Carter as a vile, evil liar. He attacked public schools and public education. He attack scientists and feminists. He challenged his viewers to have a TRADITIONAL family, where Dad was in charge and the bread-winner, Mom was his assistant and stayed home to June-Cleaver the house, and the kids were NEVER exposed to anything like science or ideas.
He then went on to say “Are you saved? Can you say ‘I am as sure for Heaven as if I am already there?’ Then you have faith in Christ Jesus!”
I knew I was viewing pure total fascism and pure total evil. He had a smug, self-satisfied smile on his fat face as he spewed this hatred in the guise of love. I wondered who this fascist bastard was—it was 1978.
His name was Rev. Jerry Falwell and he was preaching from the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.
He was a liar who begged his supporters for money to “repair our antenna damaged in the fierce storm”, never mind that it was INSURED!
He later went on to form “The Moral Majority” and join Pat Robertson in saying that the attacks of 9/11 was punishment for the US’s evil in allowing people to be gay, to have sex outside of marriage, and just general liberal wickedness.
In 1978, I had discovered that there truly was a fascist movement in the USA. A real one, not a DOA bunch of loonies like the Aryan Brotherhood and the KKK and David Duke. But a far more real and far greater threat to our Democracy than those hate-filled bozos. And I have watched in horror as the Democrats have stumbled and stepped on their you-know-whats while these monsters have placed congressmen, and senators and supreme court justices, and elected Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush. They mounted spurious, evil, lying attacks on Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Michale Dukakis, Bill Clinton (“Klinton”), Al Gore (“Algore”), John McCain (?!?!!!), John Kerry, and now Hillary Clinton (“Hildebeast”), Jim Webb, Nancy Pelosi (“SanFranNan”) and they’ll come after more…But now Democrats are fighting back, hard, nasty, bold, and NOT letting them frame the question any more. Amazing it took Bill Clinton shredding that little worm Chris Wallace to make it happen. Now Webb, Biden, Durban, Hillary, Teddy Kennedy and others are hammering back—AND IT’S WORKING!
After 2,000 years of failed “Christian Nations” you’d think humanity would learn—Christian nations are nations of fascists and murderers. Only when the Christianity is expelled from government and confined to churches and homes can it be a force for good.
Report thisBy yours truly, January 29, 2007 at 8:42 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
We’re feeling it too, democracy dying, fascism emerging out of the shadows, with more and more of us being overwhelmed by despair, personal, communal and economic. So what do we do? Undo the despair, that’s what. How? First we go all out to get Congress to cut off all funding for the Iraq war, that there be no war no more, nowhere, never, not even one. Which delivers a mighty blow to despair. Then, with the money thereby saved (the so-called peace dividend), we attend to the common good, such as universal health care, free public education (pre-school through college), jobs with real pensions, plus much, much more. And then? Wither despair, that’s what. And after that? Without its engine, what chance the religious right?
Report this.
By joshua welch, January 29, 2007 at 8:34 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
People who beleive in fairy tales are dangerous whether moderate or fundamentalists.
Report thisBy Pierce R. Butler, January 29, 2007 at 7:26 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Hedges: Forty-five senators and 186 members of the House before the last elections earned approval ratings of 80 to100 percent from the three most influential Christian right advocacy groups—the Christian Coalition, Eagle Forum, and Family Resource Council.
Hedges undermines his important warnings by not doing his homework - and TruthDig’s editors don’t help by omitting their fact-checking.
The Christian Coalition of America (the just-plain CC was eliminated after being nailed for tax-law violations years ago) is very small potatoes these days. The Eagle Forum is mostly an ego vehicle for Phyllis Schlafly, and its strength is as fading and frail as she is. As for the “Family Resource Council”, probably that’s in reference to the Family Research Council - basically an arm of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, which is indeed one of the biggest gorillas in the hyperchristian zoo. In this case, one of the “most influential Christian right advocacy groups” is an accurate description - but by getting the name and context wrong, Hedges makes that accuracy seem almost coincidental.
Report thisBy John Lowell, January 29, 2007 at 7:02 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Joe, Richard, and locke
First, Joe ...
You say:
“Mr. Lowell, your accusation that Chris Hedges paints with ‘too broad a brush’ may be true in the sense that he is incorrectly including liberal Christians in with the Christian right and its fascist ways, but it is the tolerance of all religious viewpoints accorded by liberal christians, such as yourself, that allow for the Christian right’s increased influence in America. The irrational belief in God is at the heart of this matter and it should be the goal of all rational people to expunge it from our world. Do me a favor and read some Sam Harris.”
One wonders what paroxsym of tolerance or who may have inspired this particular love poem, Joe, Lavrenti Beria? Really now, the “goal of rational people” should be to “expunge” belief in God from our world? What would be your method of choice, gas chambers? Is that Sam Harris’ recommendation? And, please, the describing of me as a “liberal Christian”. I’m not a “liberal Christian”, Joe, I’m a serious and faithful Catholic. But should I call the cops?
Next, Richard ...
You say:
“when you indulge in faith, you’re abandoning that part of you that separates you from the lower animals—i.e., your intellect and, necessarily, the mental process that tells people to treat others as they themselves want to be treated.”
Bad anthropology, Richard. It isn’t reason that separates us from animals, it’s conscience, the moral sense. Even a squirrel reasons. And conscience isn’t simply a mental process, it rather has to do with one’s person and the natural desire for truth, which is just another name for God. And faith, its a quality, a virtue if you will, that never exists apart from reason but simply infuses and brings it to its fullest capabilities. You may want to take another look at this whole question.
Last, locke ...
You emit:
“And I don’t “hate” you to do so.”
Sure you don’t, locke. You just keep believing that.
John Lowell
Report thisBy Lee Zehrer, January 29, 2007 at 6:17 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.
-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.
Report thisBy Chaseme, January 29, 2007 at 5:59 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
It seems as though we have some tests for serious moral beliefs.
Those belief must not be founded on hatred or vindictiveness; they must not propagate negative stereotypes of others or inflated estimates of our own importance; they must not be founded on self-interest or on the will to power; and they must express a serious concern for the well-being of all.
Are we up for the test?
Report thisBy Panther, January 29, 2007 at 5:34 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
We all know that there is a huge base of religion in the United States, and politicians can actually get elected by appealing to that base (Ol’ Dubya, anyone? The south and the midwest…?) Especially since they are focused in small unmetropolitan areas which receive extraordinary power due to the senate and electoral college.
These are the people who live their entire lives without ever grasping that there IS a world outside the US, and that those people are different, and they matter. These religious buffoons are responsible for electing the worst President the United States has ever seen, and they are idiots enough to believe his press releases, and are genuinely affected by his administration calling the latest reinforcements an “accumulation” among other propaganda.
They are the weak link in the democratic chain, and they have been cultivated by republicans for decades for that exact reason. The truth is that the republicans appeal only to the extremely wealthy, and they need an idiot voter base who will vote for them even though they get screwed over as a direct result.
There’s my five cents.
Report thisBy Bing VanGorden, January 29, 2007 at 5:24 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Home run! Hit it out of the park Mr. Hitchens. I’m tired of whiny x-tians trying to legislate their morality and re-write history. This is 2007, time to grow up and let go of the fairy tale and evolve already. Religion is holding us back and may just destroy us all.
Report thisBy Christopher Robin, January 29, 2007 at 5:16 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
First step is what Mr Hedges illustrates here.
Define and realize what processes are at work.
YES all roads lead to Rome….Economics
The trade deficits DO matter. And people in despair will turn to anything, even god, when their world is under pressure.
The phony evangelists are only too willing to cash in on their need. Their need to follow & and be lead…..to belong .
So many of the problems that our academia in their ivory towers bemoan in american society are rooted in economic decline.
So us little rats swim harder trying to keep the head above the slow steady rise in the water level.
The country is under stress. The standard of living which rapidly and steadily rose from the mid 1860’s to the 20’s and depths 30’s through the 60’s is in steady generational long decline.
A unexperienced occurance in the american economy before, which only had depressional downturns which lasted years…But wages soon resumed their upward buying power gains after a few years until 1973... It has been a slow steady decline since, with perhaps a brief respite during the later Clinton years 97-2000. (thank you Asian market collapses and Greenspan’s panic rate cuts)
“Best economy in 30 yrs” (98-2000) was what they reported at that time…. Remember?....and real productivity gains on par with the halcyon 50’s ...But alas, “scrouge” removed the punch bowl as business cried to Congress about labor shortages…and then we had the 2000 sharp downturn. (A Greenspan precipitated one)
Now that we can understand the dynamic…we can begin to do what needs addressing.
As for our “would be” fascist groups?
I think it would be best to realize they exhibit are cult like tendencies and act accordingly…
They have lost their ability to effectively reason and think independently.
We need to fight their mistaken reasoning point by point… Not just tune out and hope it goes away.
Ridicule….they are unable to laugh at themselves or their flat-earth beliefs…But we can make it very uncool to join such nonsense.
Expose…those leaders and their hypocrisy… They are cynically taking advantage of their followers… Don’t expect the followers to learn the truth on their “own” before it’s too late.
Counter the political party they are using to take power with. As example: Tie Bush at each opportunity as the standard bearer of the Republican party
Register, and tune in and VOTE...even if it’s for someone you know wont be what you hope for.
At least oppose this Wacky Right. I know our elections have strong evidence of tampering…
Still we need to speak up and not go away…Become poll watchers, film and document elections…but at least register and VOTE.
To tune out now is dangerous, and the day may soon come you wish you still had the chance.
All news stories at least from progressive side should always to add party affiliation next to the name….. Learn from Republican tactics ...as they tied the word “liberal” to failure and Jimmy Carter. We still grouse over the negative conations…counter it! Tie Bush to the “Republican Party” at each opportunity.
They lie and intentionally deceive to obtain power. But their policies, and who they take care of, and buy off…tells the truth of what they are about. Don’t spare them the light of day.
Don’t allow the “Republican Party” which gave us Bush #2….To just cut this failed administration off as bad…to allow the tumor “reinvented” as somehow more reasonable to grow back.
These last six years of war and corruption is a Radical wack-o Republican fiasco ....don’t let them un-claim the Bush years…or their control of Congress and Senate.
The war was for Oil:
http://david.hedges.name/archive/2007/01/28/mission_accomplished_big_oils_
Read the “quotes” from our puppet Iraq government officials.
Report thisBy billy_flynn, January 29, 2007 at 4:55 pm Link to this comment
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Look for statements of verifiable fact in Harris’ polemic. They are slim to none. Who, in fact, promises “through violent apocalyptic purification, to eradicate the old sinful world…”? Which “Christian utopians promise to replace this…emptiness with a mythical world where time stops and all problems are solved”? Who has lured tens of millions of Americans from the reality based world to one of magic”?
As usual, Harris sees reality through Marxist glasses. According to him, it is economic despair that drives “dangerous dreamers” on the Christian right. His understanding of economics is as pathetic as is his understanding of religious faith. Christ said: “And what shall it profit a man if he gain the world and lose his own soul?” The concerns of the Christian right are for the soul of this country, not personal wealth. Anyone who can’t see we are slidding into a moral abyss hasn’t been paying attention. One wonders what Harris may have learned at Harvard, founded for “the education of the English and Indian youth of this Country in knowledge and godliness.” (Charter of 1650)
Report thisBy Joshua, January 29, 2007 at 3:52 pm Link to this comment
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Hedges is a courageous man. Undoubtedly he has had several death threats, which results anytime you criticize faith in this country. The problem lies not just in the Christian right but all “people of faith.” Believing in what boils down to fairy-tales, heaven, hell, supernatural deities etc, is like playing Russian roulette. There will always be people flying planes into buildings and calling stem-cell research murder as long as people continue to use faith-based reason opposed to evidence based reason.
Report thisBy gio, January 29, 2007 at 3:30 pm Link to this comment
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There are too many flaws in this article to name in a little comment box. There are doubly more in the comments themselves, but this one cracks me up:
“The irrational belief in God is at the heart of this matter and it should be the goal of all rational people to expunge it from our world.”
I wonder where I got the crazy idea that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”.
Friends, don’t worry too much about the wealthy 1% (who the writer never links to Christianity) who hold the strings of our Congress. As far as those who are persecuted in this country, Christians are among the top ten of the hit list. I can all but worship at school, but at least I can hear my professor spout his anti-religious propaganda for three hours a week! Keep up the good work fellas! You’re exterminating us faster than you think!
Report thisBy Matthew, January 29, 2007 at 3:18 pm Link to this comment
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I grew up in a religious (though not very dogmatic) household. Still today, I appreciate and enjoy many of the traditions of the church (particularly the music and liturgy). What I don’t like is the feeling of being forec-fed religion by politicians who use their “faith” as a means of justifying their mean-spiritedness toward the rest of the world.
This article was perhaps a bit apocalyptic, but I agree with much of what Chris Hedges says.
Report thisBy Derek, January 29, 2007 at 3:08 pm Link to this comment
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Religion is the worst thing ever created by people. We all suffer from its continued existence.
Report thisBy Rosemary Molloy, January 29, 2007 at 2:43 pm Link to this comment
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I saw this quote on another blog:
Report this“When facism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” That’s from Sinclair Lewis and he said or wrote it decades ago.
By michele, January 29, 2007 at 2:30 pm Link to this comment
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christian extreamists / islamic extreamists =
two sides of the same nutty coin.
Report thisBy The Very Rev., most holy Dr. Knowitall, PhD, PhD, January 29, 2007 at 2:29 pm Link to this comment
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Have you all heard that they had to put Barbaro down?
Report thisBy Rugburn, January 29, 2007 at 1:44 pm Link to this comment
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All this is aided by another myth: that totalitarianism arises from liberal (socialist) movements, when totalitarianism is primarily conservative (law, order, stability) in nature.
As a graduate of an evangelical college, I know how frighteningly unenlightened are the legions being churned out of non-critical minions. It boggles the mind. I spent four years in that school confused by the tooth fairy logic that pervaded student body and a scary percentage of the faculty.
Report thisBy Joe, January 29, 2007 at 1:26 pm Link to this comment
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Mr. Lowell, your accusation that Chris Hedges paints with ‘too broad a brush’ may be true in the sense that he is incorrectly including liberal Christians in with the Christian right and its fascist ways, but it is the tolerance of all religious viewpoints accorded by liberal christians, such as yourself, that allow for the Christian right’s increased influence in America. The irrational belief in God is at the heart of this matter and it should be the goal of all rational people to expunge it from our world. Do me a favor and read some Sam Harris.
Report thisBy paul kibble, January 29, 2007 at 1:20 pm Link to this comment
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I was raised by Christian fundamentalists; accordingly, my agreement with Chris Hedges’ central thesis stems not from some vague committment to the abstract ideals of free thought and open inquiry but from lived experience. I know what these people believe and what they’re capable of doing to those who don’t share their beliefs. The danger they pose to democratic institutions isn’t merely theoretical, the product of liberal paranoia; Jackbooters for Jesus have worked and will continue to work for the destruction of those secular-tainted institutions in the name of their Higher Truth. These people must be stopped.
Report thisBy Skruff, January 29, 2007 at 12:52 pm Link to this comment
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Comment #50223 by Willi on 1/29 at 7:24 am
This is so totally barking up the wrong tree. Instead of worrying about the fictious Christian fascist, the writer should be concerned about the religious nuts who *really* want to introduce a medieval dictatorship, where gays, artists, dissidents and unbelievers are killed or reduced to second-class dhimmi status: The islamists.
(Who, incidentally, also were the allies of the Nazis.)
Hummm? All “islamists were allies of the Nazis?”
“..fictious Christian fascist…”
There are no xtian fascists?
Absolutes are not a good idea, BUT as you point out, absolutes are the basis of fascism.
Personally, I go with John Adams, lose the monarchies, and the formal church, and you lose the largest sources of tyranny
Report thisBy Frank, January 29, 2007 at 12:43 pm Link to this comment
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The common historical term for the movement which advocates an official Christian government based on Biblical principles is called Dominionism.
You will find much more useful information searching the web under this term rather than using the goofy neologism ‘Christianist’.
Report thisBy Paul Murphy, January 29, 2007 at 12:21 pm Link to this comment
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You seem to have the idea that this country has become a hotbed of Christian stormtroopers. Do you see this country being forced into a more Christian or secular state? Let’s get real people!
Report thisBy locke, January 29, 2007 at 11:27 am Link to this comment
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“Believe me, sir, a Catholic, I believe in angels and miracles, that God has a plan for me and that Jesus will guide and protect me.”
Sounds like foolishness to me. Don’t assume that just because you believe in a god, doesn’t exempt your beliefs from critical analysis. And don’t assume that your faith is beyond critique, or that assaults on its logic constitute “hate.” I see nothing in this article to point to that point of view. Those who do not ascribe to your point of view question its validity and its root in reality. Belief in an imaginary friend who makes plans for your life (which you will apparently remain ignorant of) sounds like a child’s fancy to me. And there’s nothing hateful about ascribing to this point of view. And if your faith is so sound, why need defend it to ravenously? You’ve a right to believe in such nonsense, just as I have the right to disagree with you by pointing out the nonsense. And I don’t “hate” you to do so.
Report thisBy alon, January 29, 2007 at 11:04 am Link to this comment
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The relationship between extremism and religion, and the authoritative and submissive cannot be overlooked. The more “religious” a person (defined as in a subscriber to a particular scipture or dogma), the more extremist they are. The “religious” the person, the more they are willing they are to sacrifice their own mind to authority. They, emulating their authority, want to fell secure and have control. Their authority has control over their mind and they seek control over those that threaten their control over their environment and beliefs. That or who they can’t control, they seek to destroy.
You can be a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, whatever…but the parallel lies in the state of mind that surrenders to the belief of another at the sacrifice of their own faculties. The Christian religion, at the hands of some very psychologically twisted and power hungry folks, learned how to gain control over others through fear and guilt. If that fails they’ll hang, or burn, or chop off the head, whatever achieves their end of vindicating their belief and authority. Their Gods to whom they submit are always as vengeful and cruel as they are and their human authorities are usually an expert in the dogma and therefore are given their authority as a result of acheiving the perception of being closer to the the supreme authority - god. Which religion am I speaking of? Take your pick!
Politicians are well aware of this. In this country, the Republican party necessarily plays the religious card. They crave power - just like the priests, Rabbis, Clerics…They seek control over their environment and others (seek the “war on terror”). They have stolen the playbook on this one. Get people to turn off their minds and blindly follow the judgements of someone who knows better. How else do get 99% percent of the people that vote for you to betray their own economic interests?
Report thisBy TAO Walker, January 29, 2007 at 11:02 am Link to this comment
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Thirty-one years ago a friend returned to The Rez after a few weeks in Hawaii, including a couple of days at a “Christian” commune on The Big Island, in-company with her curious Hawaiian native companion. She told this Indian that a key part of the group’s pitch, to prospective recruits, was becoming a member of (what was said will be) the ruling elite when Jesus’ “thousand year reich…..uh, reign” gets set up after other “end-times” events supposedly foretold in “Revelations.” This Warrior Woman said those people were dead serious about it, and believed they had a license from gawdalmighty to “help” bring on the prerequisite conditions…...by every and any means.
Her story backed-up a similar incident in this surviving primitive savage’s own experience the Autumn before in Cambridge, Mass., when a crew of trolling “born-again” youths had offered “coffee and donuts and a place to crash” to a couple of us nomads late one night. Their male-dominant social arrangement was just like that of the Hawaii bunch. The inducements to “sign-up” were essentially the same, also, as was the conviction among our various “hosts” that those who didn’t would thoroughly deserve everything in the way of “tribulation” their “lord” himself and his faithful, themselves “in his name,” would be handing out.
The systematic reduction ever since of the American “middle class,” to debt slavery and chronic incapacitating fear, sure fits that picture to a T. Nor is it at all unusual that the interests of the plutoligarchy and the politico/religious fanatics should coincide. The Nazis were the darlings of monied elites in the U.S. (a Bush progenitor prominently among them) and Great Britain, as well as in der Vaderlandt. So those who’ve neglected several times now to “learn from history” appear doomed “to repeat it,” yet again.
There will be one critical difference this time. The christo-crypto-fascists are having to carry-out their “end-game” strategy here on Turtle Island, where domesticated critters of any kind never fare well, and the two-legged variety will much sooner than later not make it at all. Only “ikche wichasha,” free wild natural human beings are viable here, and there will be absolutely no way to “fake it,” either.
So take heart, GhostDancers. The tormentors and their dupes are already into their last long fall on a real short rope. “Things,” as Bob Dylan sings, “should start to get interesting….right about now.”
HokaHey!
Report thisBy Degobah in So Cal, January 29, 2007 at 10:57 am Link to this comment
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I have no problem with Christians or Christianity (or séances or lucky coins for that matter). The danger, of course, is when this fantasy stuff leaks into the political world. We cannot have delusional folks (hardcore Christians) in the upper echelons of politics any more than we can afford to have paranoid schizophrenics in charge of a nuclear power plant. Keep religion in its place and well all get along fine. Try to push it onto those with no need or use for it and you will have a civil war. After all, to take back the sheep you only need to take out the Shepard.
Report thisBy Richard, January 29, 2007 at 10:42 am Link to this comment
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#50198, twinengines 3:09 a.m.:
CNN had a big special not long ago called: What it means to be a Christian, Where do you fit in? I thought it was strange for CNN to assume that everybody watching was a Christian.
Though it might seem trite to some, this is a profound point. I, for example, saw Anderson Cooper interview a couple who through happenstance had escaped the December 2004 tsunami. Cooper said something to the effect, Of course, Im sure youre praying for the victims and their families. The couple gave no indication they were religious. Why would Cooper assume so?
Actually, #50217, John Lowell, 7:16 a.m., when you indulge in faith, youre abandoning that part of you that separates you from the lower animals—i.e., your intellect and, necessarily, the mental process that tells people to treat others as they themselves want to be treated.
Good point, #50236, Druthers, 8:22 a.m. Let me add that World War II Germany was not the most powerful nation in the world, and the Allies eventually liberated the German people from Nazism. Who will save us?
The assumption in America is that people who have beliefs are ipso facto well-meaning. Unfortunately, it is the acquiescence of the tolerance-minded and magnanimous that will surrender our democracy to the religious right. Religion, in fact, is a virus that kills (I can give examples) and the sworn enemy of human knowledge—and should be treated as such by those whjo want to save this democracy for their children.
All this said, I have trouble buying into Hedges argument that poor distribution of wealth and the resulting despair will be the catalyst behind the religious rights takeover of America. Unless one cites actual supporting data, it sounds like garden-variety leftist cynicism. That is, it comes off as some kind of religion.
Report thisBy RAE, January 29, 2007 at 10:40 am Link to this comment
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This last line is worth repeating…
“The unchecked rape of America (by the dogmatic agenda of Christian fundamentalism), which continues with the blessing of both political parties, heralds not only the empowerment of this American oligarchy but the eventual death of the democratic state and birth of American fascism.”
I don’t want to be an alarmist, but “American fascism” is already born, alive and well as an adolescent philosophy awaiting time and place to emerge and take control. As with the KKK and the intolerances of other white/religious supremists, only a hunting down and imobilizing of them will save society from the inevitable fate. They’re a slow-growing cancer which will take us all out if we let it.
For most of my life I’ve taken a “live and let live” approach… believing that the churchy crowd has as much right to their delusions as I do to mine. Which is just fine… until they try to FORCE their dogma to become MY dogma by taking control of MY world.
I used to feel a little guilty telling the Seventh Day and Latter Day Saints canvassers that I wasn’t interested and sending them away from my door. Now I relish their visits so I can damn well run them off my property with threats of personal harm should they ever return!
Report thisBy Steve Hammons, January 29, 2007 at 10:16 am Link to this comment
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Hedges makes excellent points and provides solid information about these issues.
He gives readers useful “intelligence” on this threat to freedom and the collaboration between right-wing groups.
This kind of social, political and psychological intelligence information seems very helpful in preserving our democracy and liberty.
All kinds of intelligence info like this can help us. For more information on looking at “intelligence” in new ways, see:
Gathering intelligence: Grassroots intel by and for the people
Steve Hammons
American Chronicle
January 26, 2007
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=19777
Report thisBy bonnie hardaway, January 29, 2007 at 9:46 am Link to this comment
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This retired history teacher’s college and classroom curriculums didn’t include the rise of Fascism in Europe in the 1920’s - 1930’s. When I saw the European peace marchers’ signs declaring “Bush is a Fascist” before the Iraq invasion, I started reading. Many books and hours of research later, I’ve been able to piece together the key parts of the puzzle, starting with Reagan’s agenda to Bush’s extremism. My conclusions match those of Chris Hedges in his new book “American Fascists.” I’m speaking out here in Texas, writing letters-to-the-editor and personal commentary, calling members of Congress, and asking all right-wingers I encounter an important question. Would you have supported the National Socialist party’s agenda in Germany in the ‘20’s and ‘30’s that led to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis? When they answer, “Of course not!” I follow up with “Then why are you supporting a Fascist agenda now.” Fascism in Europe was abetted by those who kept silent. Speaking out is risky, but the creeping take-over that threatens every freedom we value must be repudiated.
Report thisBy Joe Keysor, January 29, 2007 at 9:27 am Link to this comment
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Dale Headley (comment # 50191) says “Religion is the studpidest, most destructive idea ever conceived by the human mind.” He has never heard of Communism, and doesn’t know about Lenin, Stalin, and Mao, three of the most vicious and brutal killers in the history of the human race, dedicated to the cause of atheism and eliminating religion. Maybe if he read some history he would not make such false statements - but maybe he knows about these things and is only making propaganda, knowing full well it is false.
Report thisBy Joe Keysor, January 29, 2007 at 9:20 am Link to this comment
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In the 20’s and 30’s the Nazis also warned a lot about the dangers of a Communist takeover - then they were the ones who seized power and establsihed the dictatorship they had been warning about.
Similarly, in America today the anti-religious left likes to make a lot of noise about the dangers of the religious right, when it is they themselves who are solidifying their grip on the levers of power and establishing their own control.
Who contols the media, the courts, the schools, the congress today - the religious right? No, it is the anti-religious left. Their fear-propaganda about a few eccentrices on the right-fringe is effective in their own bid for power.
Report thisBy dick, January 29, 2007 at 8:59 am Link to this comment
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Christian fascists are a great threat to the USA. This is an important article. During the 1930s most German Christians were fascists, fully in support of the Nazis.
Report thisBy David Datz, January 29, 2007 at 8:54 am Link to this comment
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I would like to respond to Chris Hedges with a little liberal hope. When I start feeling depressed about the Christian right, I tune my radio to a pop music station. Here in LA, I like KROQ. Not because the music is great—some of it is good, a lot of it isn’t. But because its listeners are secular, independent, and crass, with low-key senses of humor and a cussedness that would never stand for anyone threatening them. And there are millions of them. So let’s work against the Christian right, but let’s not panic.
Report thisBy Don Knutsen, January 29, 2007 at 8:27 am Link to this comment
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I think we all have seen, those of us with our eyes open anyway, what religous fundementalism brings. Whether its islamic fundementilism or christian. It brings a halt to progress, it brings the replacement of learning with dogma and it fosters bigotry and hatered for everything you don’t understand. In America it also brings wealth to people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell who pretend to be christians but in reality go against everything the man they hypocratically say they follow taught during his short life over 2000 years ago. Where has the voice of reason been from our religius leaders during these bleak years of this administration while we attacked another country pre-emptively and caused so much death and destruction. What do you think Christ’s response to all of this would’ve been ? We can thank all of those that wrap themselves in the bible and the flag , supporting this terrible administration blindly as they tear down everything that made our country unique in the world. They do, as the article states, represent a new american facism, and its about time we start waking up to the danger of allowing them to gain control as they are trying to do with the help of this misguided and dangerous administration….our children’s future demands that we stand up to this brand of facism masqerading as evangelical christianity and sqelch it before we lose it all right before our eyes.
Report thisBy Druthers, January 29, 2007 at 8:22 am Link to this comment
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Even more horrorifing is the knowledge that if this enterprise succeeds, if they are allowed to reach their objective of total power, they will have the nuclear arsenal at their disposition to intimidate the rest of the world.
Report thisThe Nazi regime attracted all the twisted perverted minds in Germany. If you were on the right side of power , “everything was permitted” in exchange for submission.
These modern Christian fundamentalists also promise salvation and heaven.
For many, freedom is like a burden, too heavy for them to assume.
By rabblerowzer, January 29, 2007 at 7:58 am Link to this comment
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We are a country deaf to rattlesnakes.
Surely by now a majority of Americans have realized that the Media is owned and controlled by the Republican party. Actually it ought to be called the Plutocratic party and instead of Media, rightfully called the Ministry of Lies and Propaganda. Media Moguls are millionaires and billionaires whose primary intent is profit, while maintaining the Establishment status quo. They are the Plutocratic Establishment and hoarding and increasing their wealth and power is their reason to be. Media Moguls are not in business to inform, preserve and protect the interests of the masses. They are in business to misinform, exploit and repress the masses.
Plutocrats see the masses as the enemy and a threat that must be controlled for their own well being. That is the sole intent of capitalism, and trickledown is carefully constructed myth to justify pissing downstream.
In the end the Christian Fascists will usurp the Plutocrats and eat them alive. But that is small consolation if our county is destroyed in the process.
Report thisBy Paul, January 29, 2007 at 7:28 am Link to this comment
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I must admit it is this form of radical Christain religionists that strikes fear in me far more than any member of the Islamic faith. We are rapidly approaching a multi-faith collision that is going to effect all of us.
My belief is:
Freedom of Religion = Freedom From Religion
With all these inflamed emotions fueling hatred and despise I can only hope to die in peace from old age before the radicals in the world light the fuse on M.A.D. Mutually Assured Destruction!
Report thisBy Willi, January 29, 2007 at 7:24 am Link to this comment
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This is so totally barking up the wrong tree. Instead of worrying about the fictious Christian fascist, the writer should be concerned about the religious nuts who *really* want to introduce a medieval dictatorship, where gays, artists, dissidents and unbelievers are killed or reduced to second-class dhimmi status: The islamists.
Report this(Who, incidentally, also were the allies of the Nazis.)
By Christopher Welzenbach, January 29, 2007 at 7:21 am Link to this comment
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Thirty years ago Holocaust survivor Primo Levi warned that while Germany and Italy had now been “cauterized,” and so were more or less immune to a resurgence of fascism, the United States had no such immunity, and that if fascism was once again to rear its ugly head, it would most like do so in America.
In “Kingdom Coming,” Michelle Goldberg notes how the alienation Mr. Hedges alludes to has created a parallel society, where those trapped in isolated suburbs seek community by attending megachurches.
On the plus side, Jim Webb, in his State of the Union rebuttal, made an important first step toward addressing the need for economic justice, pointing out that today a worker must work more than a year to earn what a CEO makes in a day. With new leadership—Jon Tester included—we might yet blunt this growing threat to our democracy.
Report thisBy robert puglia, January 29, 2007 at 7:20 am Link to this comment
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thank you truthdig for providing the reports of chris hedges. i need no vindication of my opinion but it’s nice to have it from so knowledgable a source. it is a comfort to know he is on the case.
Report thisBy Hank Van den Berg, January 29, 2007 at 7:20 am Link to this comment
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Can you imagine how scary this scenario would be if George Bush was competent? The only thing that has “saved” the liberals so far is the the complete ineptitude of the politicians favored by the Christian right. True liberals (in the traditional sense) had better wake up soon if we are to prevent cultural conflict from overwhelming the world.
Report thisI am convinced that the majority of professors at my institution would indeed salute the authorities, whoever they are, with little regard for the fundamental principles of freedom, liberalism, and human rights. The battle is being lost, in large part because no one wants to think of Christianity as dangerous. It is too much of our culture to deal with it scientifically, and few people seem willing to point this out. Thankfully, Truthdig is willing to take a stand. It will take much more to conserve our liberal society, however. What if a competent Christian administration follows the current inept one? How precarious is our future when it depends entirely on the incompetence of the Christian fascists.
By David, January 29, 2007 at 7:19 am Link to this comment
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I appreciate your essay. It seems to me that the only real solution to the present (and future) problems is the election of a third party, or a candidate from one of the major parties impervious to the allure of the dollar and who actually governs with a concern for the majority. That sounds very naive I realize, but the politicians who nurture the status quo are not going hedge the tide of extremism and class-warfare that is pillaging our people, and the vast majority of Americans pay so little mind to the intricacies in policies and events going on that they won’t wake until what they have come to expect has already been taken from them.
Your professor’s comments about the liberals in this nation are certainly supported in reality. If you don’t believe me, just look at the website for the Pittsburgh Liberatarian Party!
Report thisBy fedup, January 29, 2007 at 7:17 am Link to this comment
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If you believe in the apocalypse then one day the antichrist will arise to wreak havoc. Where will the antichrist be? It can easily arise within our own country, there are no guarantees. I am sure many good Germans, before WWII, felt that they were doing the right thing. Dont be sheep! Think!
Report thisBy John Lowell, January 29, 2007 at 7:16 am Link to this comment
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You’ve got it only about half right, Chris. While there is certainly a concern to be had about a new Reichschurch - I’ve written about it on several occasions in the past - in the usual style of the secular unfamiliarist, you paint with too broad a brush. You perceive any level of belief as childish. You make this patently absurd - and insulting - statement, for example: “The Christian right has lured tens of millions of Americans, who rightly feel abandoned and betrayed by the political system, from the reality-based world to one of magic—to fantastic visions of angels and miracles, to a childlike belief that God has a plan for them and Jesus will guide and protect them.” Believe me, sir, a Catholic, I believe in angels and miracles, that God has a plan for me and that Jesus will guide and protect me. You don’t have to be a member of the Evangelical right or the Reichschurch to have such a faith. A little advice: While in very broad outline your thesis may have merit, when you generalize in the way you have here you simply betray the naivete and the anti-Christian presuppositions with which you seem tortured. Take the hate out of the equation and knowledgable people just might take you seriously.
John Lowell
Report thisBy Lois Brynes, January 29, 2007 at 6:04 am Link to this comment
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THis is exactly correct. Read “The Nazi Conscience” by C. Koonz (Harvard U. Press) which traces the subtle, prior to not-so-subtle, sneakage of Nazi volk values into eveery aspect of German life. This is precisely what is happening with the Christian RIght. We must each and all stand up and say NO, NOW>
Report thisBy Verne Arnold, January 29, 2007 at 5:59 am Link to this comment
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Oh my God!
Report thisBy writerdd, January 29, 2007 at 5:43 am Link to this comment
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I’ve been saying this for years. Thank goodness someone is finally writing about it. Although I must admit that I am pessimistic about anything positive happening to avert this looming disaster for our society.
Report thisBy twinengines, January 29, 2007 at 3:09 am Link to this comment
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CNN had a big special not long ago called: What it means to be a Christian, Where do you fit in?
I thought it was strange for CNN to assume that everybody watching was a Christian.
Report thisBy 127001, January 29, 2007 at 2:42 am Link to this comment
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I keep wondering when someone is going to connect the judiciary and the courts of this country with the overall “Christian Fascist Movement” or if people forget that U.S. courts are extremely political and that many of the judiciary are, indeed, mainstream Fundamentalists.
The numbers, the statistics, are frightening, yet there is very little reporting or exposure of this.
As Chris Hedges mentions, the research universities and media are
“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.”
I state emphatically that this is more serious than is being given credit. I have posted a “mild” opinion at http://www.civilgideon.com/portal/index.php/site/article/truthdig_report_christianists_on_the_march/
I fear that most people trust in the supposed checks and balance system of our government, but we should have seen by now that it is not working by the news of the issues surrounding Bush’s ‘leadership’ and our involvement in the Iraq war, as well as the entire Middle East.
This may cost us far more than money, or status in the global community. It may eventually cost us our very form of democratic government.
My personal opinion, perhaps worth two cents or so.
Report thisBy Dale Headley, January 29, 2007 at 12:51 am Link to this comment
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Religion is the studpidest, most destructive idea ever conceived by the human mind.
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