| American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Chris Hedges |
| Subject(s) | Fundamentalist Christianity |
| Publisher | Free Press |
| Publication date | 2007-01-09 |
| Pages | 272 |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0-7432-8443-1 |
| OCLC Number | 72799668 |
| Dewey Decimal | 322/.10973 22 |
| LC Classification | JC481 .H38 2007 |
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America is a non-fiction book by American author Chris Hedges, published in January 2007. Hedges is a former seminary student with a master's degree in divinity from Harvard and was a long-time foreign correspondent for The New York Times. He had previously criticized the Christian right in articles such as his cover story in the May 2005 issue of Harper's magazine called "Soldiers of Christ".[1]
Contents |
Hedges' title comes from a prediction by his Harvard ethics professor, James Luther Adams, who 25 years earlier had warned his students that they would all be fighting the "Christian fascists".[2] Hedges argues that this prediction has come true in that extreme forms of American Christianity now share many features with totalitarian movements, including suppression of individuality, a belief in magic, a shifting ideology, a "binary" good-or-evil view of the world, and a deep intolerance of people outside the movement. He writes that "Christian radicals" are often so consumed with power and wealth they are no longer practicing Christianity in its traditional sense, as a religion focused on compassion and caring for the downtrodden.
He contrasts the fundamentalist understanding with that of his own, where the Bible is recognized to have contradictory, and even hateful passages, and scientifically, is simply limited to what people knew at the time. For example, according to Hedges, ‘Genesis was not written to explain the process of creation, of which these writers knew nothing. It was written to help explain the purpose of creation...to help us grasp a spiritual truth, not a scientific or historical fact.’ Hedges says that doubt and belief are not, as biblical literalists claim, incompatible…and those who act without any doubt are frightening.[3]
He starts out the book with a definition of fascism and a discussion of its characteristics from Umberto Eco entitled Eternal Fascism:Fourteen ways of Looking at a Blackshirt.[4] These fourteen characteristics of fascism are as follows; The Cult of Tradition, The Rejection of Modernism, The Cult of Action for Action’s Sake, Disagreement as Treason, Fear of Difference, The Main Privilege is to Be Born in the Same Country, The Followers Must be Humiliated by the Wealth and Force of their Enemies, Life is Lived For Struggle, Contempt For the Weak, Everybody is Educated to Become a Hero, Disdain for Women and Condemnation for Non Standard Sexuality, Respect for the Majority and Disdain for Individualism, Respect for Impoverished Vocabulary and Elementary Syntax in Order to Limit Complex and Critical Reasoning. Hedges states that the "American Fascists"... ’ask us to hand over moral choice and responsibility to them. They will tell us what is right and wrong in the eyes of God. They tell us how to act, how to live, and in this process they elevate themselves above us. They remove the anxiety of moral choice, the fundamental anxiety of human existence. This is part of their attraction.’[5] He talks about ‘Dominionism’ which, he says, is central to their belief system. According to Hedges, Dominionism states that God gave human beings total dominion over all of creation. It stems from Genesis 1:26-31. The Dominionists, Hedges says, state that there is ‘only one way to be a Christian and only one way to be an American.’[6] He states that ‘Dominionism seeks to politicize faith’.[7] and to promote ‘leadership adulation’.[8] and a ‘call for moral and physical supremacy of a master race, in this case American Christians’ .[9] He continues to say that Dominionists control, ‘at least six national television networks, {wherein} each reach tens of millions of homes, and virtually all of the nations more than 2,000 religious radio stations, as well as the Southern Baptist Convention.’ .[10]
Hedges states that Dominionism ‘teaches that American Christians have been mandated by God to make America a Christian state.’ .[11] They oppose labor unions, and public schools. They believe that women should be removed from the workforce and that the federal government should be ‘reduced to the protection of property rights and home land security.’[12] They oppose homosexuality. [13] They oppose the teaching of evolution.[14] They oppose [multiculturalism] and secular humanism and abortion. They dismiss the threats of global warming and overpopulation.[15] Their opponents are portrayed to be agents of satan.[16] He states that the current movement draws significantly from Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. He states that The Institutes of Biblical Law by R. J. Rushdoony has been a more recent source of inspiration for the Dominionists. The power that evangelicals have is significant because ‘there are at least 70 million evangelicals in the United States’.[17] and polls indicate that as many as 100 million Americans believe ‘in the Bible as the actual word of God.’[18] Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart, and Sam’s Wholesale are strong backers of the movement.’[19] and he states that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is ‘steeped in this ideology’.[20] Additionally, ‘Christian fundamentalists now hold a majority of seats in 36 percent of all Republican Party state committees’[21] and ‘Forty-five senators and 186 members of the House of Representatives’.[22] earned high approval ratings from the Christian Coalition, the Eagle Forum, and the Family Resource Council.[23] ‘They preach that at the end of history Christians will dominate the earth and that all nonbelievers, including those who are not sufficiently Christian will be cast into torment and outer darkness. They call for the destruction of whole cultures, nations, and religions, those they have defined as the enemies of God. ’[24] Hedges writes that many of the followers are victims of what he calls "The Culture of despair" resulting from dislocation and an economic disparity that has hit the American working class especially hard. In some parts of the country, Hedges writes, radical churches offer people a sense of belonging that was once found in the greater community. New converts are surrounded by new friends, he writes, but also live under a rigid set of rules that require unquestioning submission. The book describes various places and events of the Christian right that Hedges has researched. They include; the 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2) Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky; a Love Won Out conference in Boston sponsored by Focus on the Family; an Evangelism Explosion seminar he attended; a speaking event held by Rod Parsley in Washington; a conference he attended at the Gilead Baptist Church; the National Religious Broadcasters annual convention in Anaheim; and Trinity Broadcasting Network's lavish headquarters in Costa Mesa, California. He discusses the significance of the Left Behind books written by Timothy LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.[25]
Rick Perlstein of the New York Times writes "Of course there are Christian fascists in America. How else to describe, say, the administrator of a faith-based drug treatment program who bound and beat a resident, then subjected her to 32 straight hours of recorded sermons?" Perlstein believes that this book, however, "is not a worthy attempt ... [Hedges] writes on this subject as a neophyte, and pads out his dispatches with ungrounded theorizing, unconvincing speculation and examples that fall far short of bearing out his thesis ... Hedges is worst when he makes the supposed imminence of mass violence the reason the rest of us should be fighting for the open society... The problem is that he can't point to any actual existing violence among the people he's reporting on"[26]
Joe Bailey of the Oregon Daily Emerald wrote that Hedges "confuses political activism with totalitarian violence. ... Like all Americans, conservative Christians have the right to pursue their political objectives through peaceful and democratic means. Which is precisely what they have done. Despite the peaceful and democratic nature of their activism, Hedges attacks conservative Christians with the nastiest of slurs, revealing a frightening ignorance. ... The old guard of the Christian Right is stuck in the culture war mentality that originated in the 1960s. When liberals like Hedges adopt a similar culture war mentality, they only fortify the divide and lend ammunition to their adversaries."[27]
Publishers Weekly wrote of the book: "As a Harvard Divinity School graduate, his investigation of the Christian Right agenda is even more alarming given its lucidity. Citing the psychology and sociology of fascism and cults, including the work of German historian Fritz Stern, Hedges draws striking parallels between 20th-century totalitarian movements and the highly organized, well-funded "dominionist movement," an influential theocratic sect within the country's huge evangelical population. Rooted in a radical Calvinism, and wrapping its apocalyptic, vehemently militant, sexist and homophobic vision in patriotic and religious rhetoric, dominionism seeks absolute power in a Christian state. Hedges's reportage profiles both former members and true believers, evoking the particular characteristics of this American variant of fascism. His argument against what he sees as a democratic society's suicidal tolerance for intolerant movements has its own paradoxes. But this urgent book forcefully illuminates what many across the political spectrum will recognize as a serious and growing threat to the very concept and practice of an open society." [28]