Christian Fascism: The Jesus Gestapo
of St. Orwell
by Carolyn Baker
www.dissidentvoice.org, February
1, 2007
New York Times reporter, Chris
Hedges, has written an extraordinary book, American Fascism:
The Christian Right And The War On America. Having survived
a Christian fundamentalist background myself, I marvel at the
timely urgency of Hedges' book, but also, at the obtuse disconnect
most Americans have with the pivotal thesis of his book: the power
of the religious right in the United States to bring forth a nation
whose totalitarian repression could dwarf that of Nazi Germany
in the 1930s. As Hedges notes, we are well on the path toward
such a reality, and the Domionist Christian right is a principal
player in the process. While the nucleus of that movement is small,
measuring only about 1% of evangelicals and led by the likes of
James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and John Hagee, those
leaders are supported by throngs of evangelicals sympathetic to
their theocratic views who dutifully preach the consummate tenet
of the movement, submission. Citizens must submit to their government
officials, particularly the ones who claim to be born-again Christians
and receiving their orders from God; wives must submit to husbands;
children must submit to parents; and everyone must submit to the
teachings of the bible as interpreted by evangelical Christianity
or burn in hell. I will herein use the term "Christian fascism"
or "Cristo-fascism" as synonymous with a worldview and
political philosophy which are both fundamentalist Christian and
fascist in nature.
Recently, I viewed a chilling documentary "Jesus Camp",
which examines "the evangelical belief that a revival is
underway in America that requires Christian youth to assume leadership
roles in advocating the causes of their religious movement."
The film follows a group of evangelical kids who attend a summer
camp where they are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers
in God's army. Under the leadership of control-freak youth pastor,
Becky Fischer, who makes Nurse Ratchet in "One Flew Over
The Cuckoo's Nest" look like Snow White, the children are
told that theirs is a unique generation -- perhaps the last on
earth before the return of Christ to rapture his church, and that
just as Muslim children learn at an early age to carry and use
automatic weapons so that they can die for Islam, Christian kids
must learn to fight in the Jesus army in order to save souls and
take back America for God -- and be willing to die for Jesus.
One not need be a licensed mental health
professional to find the emotional manipulation, indoctrination,
and outright brainwashing of the Jesus camp both repulsive and
enraging. Its squeaky-clean, almost exclusively white, puerile
participants mouth all the right jargon, concepts, and scripture
verses impeccably and robotically like good little Christian boys
and girls -- or more chillingly, like Hitler youth. Jesus Camp
is nothing less than childhood spiritual abuse on steroids, leaving
me personally and eternally grateful that as a child growing up
in fundamentalism, I wasn't subjected to anything worse in the
context of religious services than the raspy screams of bible-thumping
preachers
Hedges' brilliant article, "The Christian Right And The Rise
Of American Fascism" outlines several principles inherent
in Christian fascism, and to his list, I will add a few of my
own:
1) Apocalyptic Violence -- A central tenet of Cristo-fascism is
the belief that after the Rapture or Christ's returns to rescue
Christian believers and take them to heaven, a period of seven
years, or the Tribulation, will ensue in which an Anti-Christ
will dominate the world, and every horror imaginable will be unleashed
on humankind. Those who do not submit (again a pivotal word for
Christian fascism) and accept Christ as their personal savior,
will be martyred but will be assured of spending eternity in heaven
with Christ. Those who do submit will be condemned eternally to
hell. After the Tribulation period, Christ will return again with
the "army" of Christians in heaven, and the battle of
Armageddon will be fought against the Anti-Christ and his armies.
The latter will be slaughtered by Christ and his followers who
will set up Christ's kingdom on earth where he will reign for
one thousand years, followed by the total and complete destruction
of earth as Christ and his followers return to heaven.
Sounds like a scene from the movie "Independence Day"?
Actually, that movie cannot begin to capture the heinous barbarity
that Christian fascism fantasizes will befall the earth and those
who reject Christ. That scenario is a bloodbath of unimaginable,
avenging horrors. Note that not only will non-Christian human
beings be decimated, but so will the earth itself, the outcome
being twofold: Humans who do not submit to Jesus will be destroyed,
and the planet itself will be annihilated. How delicious the vindication
for the Cristo-fascist psyche! Not only will people who reject
their Jesus be grotesquely punished, but their God will prove
himself more powerful than the very planet on which they live.
Obviously, no need here to worry about global warming -- at least
the kind created by humans. God will incinerate the earth -- his
own instantaneous global warming, triumphing over all enemies
of both himself and the Christian fascists. As Hedges notes, these
fantasies of monstrous cruelty are appealing to many within the
Christian-fascist movement because "The loss of manufacturing
jobs, lack of affordable health care, negligible opportunities
for education and poor job security has left many millions of
Americans locked out. This ideology is attractive because it offers
them the hope of power and revenge. It sanctifies their rage."
And if any group of people on earth is enraged, it is the Cristo-fascists
whose rancor is every bit as caustic and virulent as that of any
Islamist fundamentalist on a suicide mission.
2) One reason Hedges labels these individuals fascist has not
only to do with their positioning themselves on the political
right, but specifically, their fanatical insistence on submission
to theocratic government. Had George Orwell been a born-again
Christian, twenty-first century Cristo-fascists would probably
declare him a saint. (War is holy, and killing is sacred.) Their
preferred polity is biblical totalitarianism in which the principles
embraced by secular society are perceived as untrue and antithetical
to their God and his Word. Unquestioning obedience to fundamentalist
Christian theology and its resultant theocracy are the
cornerstones of Cristo-fascism in twenty-first century America.
3) As a result, adherents are diametrically opposed to a secular
world view and the tenets of modern science. As I have commented
in other articles in recent years, fundamentalist Christianity
generally distrusts, and often despises human reason. Millions
of children in America are being home-schooled, and 75% of them
are children from fundamentalist Christian homes. Home-schooling
can offer an extraordinary alternative to attending public school,
but for fundamentalist Christians, it serves, among other things,
to shield their children not only from grappling with such issues
as evolution and global warming, but learning the scientific method
itself and the basic principles of critical thinking and logical
analysis.
4)Cristo-fascism is overwhelmingly a white Anglo-American movement.
While one sees growing numbers of African Americans and Hispanics
joining their ranks, the movement remains predominantly white
and rabidly Islamophobic. Most outspoken on this issue is San
Antonio's megachurch pastor, John Hagee, who perceives Islam as
the new Satan which must be destroyed by Israel and the United
States.
5) While Christian fascism cannot give enough lip service to the
"culture of life" it is morbidly death-obsessed in its
raging support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and capital
punishment. The popularity of the grisly, sado-masochistic "The
Passion Of The Christ" among fundamentalist Christians, as
well as the Jesus Camp's indoctrination of children to be willing
and proud to "die for Jesus" further belie Cristo-fascism's
death fetish.
6) A new Christian Gestapo is in the works as the Christian right
is working vehemently to take control of military chaplaincies
and create in Hedges words, "America's Holy Warriors."
He points out that during the last century communist and fascist
movements each built paramilitary forces that operated beyond
the reach of the law. The frightening popularity and proliferation
of the private security firm, Blackwater, founded by a mega-millionaire
right-wing Christian, Erik Prince, has not only become a giant
mercenary force in Iraq, but was heavily used in New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina. Increasingly, Cristo-fascists are becoming
more blatant about their wish to force conversion to Christ through
the barrel of a gun. A typical image of this concept, dripping
with testosterone, may be viewed at the website of Force Ministries.
Just this week, conservative theologian, Doug Giles, appeared
on Fox News arguing that Christian males should be tougher because
"Jesus wasn't a bearded lady". Christians, he said,
should stop raising nice boys and raise warriors who can fight
terrorism.
In answer to the question of what is to be done, I would assert
as I usually do: Knowledge is power. Fundamentalist Christianity
is inherently delusional. One cannot reason with its adherents
nor influence them with facts. What one can do is understand first
of all that the United States has become a fascist empire. If
one takes seriously Mussolini's definition of fascism, "the
corporate state", then this nation was well on its way even
before the ascendancy of the Bush II administration and September
11, 2001.
Furthermore, it is time for those who consider themselves politically
progressive to stop "tolerating" Cristo-fascists. Certainly,
these individuals have every right to believe whatever they choose
to believe, but when one comprehends the inherently fascist nature
of both their religion and their politics, one must necessarily
confront not only their ghastly disregard for separation of church
and state, but their implacable commitment to engineering a fundamentalist
Christian theocracy in the United States.
The exponential growth of the Cristo-fascist movement in the past
six years is yet another symptom of empire and a somnambulant
society in the throes of collapse. Whether or not one embraces
Christianity or any religion, for that matter, it is instructive
to engage in reality-checking the actual teachings of Jesus in
the New Testament, and specifically, the gospels and other sacred
writings which were excluded from the bible in the fourth century
for political and socio-economic reasons in order to streamline
Constantine's hierarchical, imperial, Christian regime -- the
world's first but not last, Christian theocracy. With that in
mind, I highly recommend The Jesus Mysteries, by Timothy
Freke and Peter Gandy.
Carolyn Baker, Ph.D. is author of a forthcoming
book, Coming Out from Christian Fundamentalism: Affirming Life,
Love and The Sacred. Her recent book, U.S. HISTORY UNCENSORED:
What Your High School Textbook! Didn't Tell You, is available
at her website: www.carolynbaker.org.
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