Just finished 'American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America' by Chris Hedges.

[sinkingfeeling]

The book is an easy read that will leave you shaking with fear. The author simply presents what the Christian Right is and what it really seeks: the destruction of this country in favor of totalitarianism.

"In this version of the Christian Gospel, the exploitation and abuse of other human beings is a good. Homosexuality is an evil. And this global, heartless system of economic rationalism has morphed in the rhetoric of the Christian Right into a test of faith. The ideology it espouses is a radical evil, an ideology of death. It calls for wanton destruction, destruction of human beings, of the environment, of communities and neighborhoods, of labor unions, of a free press, of Iraqis, Palestinians or others in the Middle East who would deny us oil fields and hegemony, of federal regulatory agencies, social welfare programs, public education - in short, the destruction of all people and programs that stand in the way of a Christian America and its God-given right to dominate the rest of the planet. The movement offers, in return, the absurd but seductive promise that those who are right with God will rise to become spiritual and material oligarchs. They will become the new class. Those who are not right with God, be they poor or Muslim or unsaved, deserve what they get. In the rational world none of this makes sense. But believers have been removed from a reality-based world. They believe that through Jesus all is possible. It has become a Christian duty to embrace the exploitation of others, to build a Christian America where freedom means the freedom of the powerful to dominate the weak. Since believers see themselves as becoming empowered through faith, the gross injustices and repression that could well boomerang back on most of them are of little concern. They assuage their consciences with the small acts of charity they or their churches dole out to the homeless or the mission fields. The emotion-filed religious spectacles and spiritual bromides compensate for the emptiness of their lives. They are energized by hate campaigns against gays or Muslims or liberals or immigrants. They walk willingly into a totalitarian prison they are helping to construct. They yearn for it. They work for it with passion, self-sacrifice and a blinding self-righteousness. "Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty," Simone Weil wrote in Gravity and Grace. and it is the duty of the Christian foot soldiers to bring about the Christian utopia. When it is finished, when all have been stripped of legal and social protection, it will be too late to resist. This is the genius of totalitarian movements. They convince the masses to agitate for their own incarceration."

If you can, you really need to read at least the last chapter of this book. He urges us to not engage in dialogue with these people, but to speak out against them.

Someone on another thread asked why the RW hated welfare and I answered that part of it was the 'Gospel of Prosperity; being taught in these churches. I can't resist another quote from this book.

"But the gospel of prosperity has a more insidious effect than the personal enrichment of leaders such as Paul and Jan Crouch at the expense of gullible, desperate and often impoverished followers. When it is faith alone that will determine your well-being, when faith alone cures illness, overcomes emotional distress and ensures financial and physical security, there is no need for outside, secular institutions, for social-service and regulatory agencies, to exist. There is no need for fiscal or social responsibility. Although many of the followers of the movement rely, or have relied in the past, on government agencies to survive, the belief system they embrace is hostile to all secular intervention. To put trust in secular institutions is to lack faith, to give up on God's magic and miracles. The message being preached is one that dovetails with the message of neoconservatives who want to gut and destroy federal programs, free themselves from government regulations and taxes and break the back of all organizations, such as labor unions, that seek to impede maximum profit."

[sam sarrha]

1. they are nothing but Domionists... worse thant the Talaban.. they have ultamate weapons

[ixion]

2. I maintain: Dominionism is, at the core, more dangerous than the neocons

but when coupled with them, the mixture is toxic and deadly.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. It's a very scary book. Great insights -- after you read it

you realize that there is no way to persuade or reason with these people. They are every bit as entrenched in their rigid, warped belief system as the Taliban or al Qaeda. They hate us liberals as much as Bin Laden's followers hate westerners, and for many of the same reasons.

I used to think it was important to respect everyone's religion, no matter how weird or silly it seemed to be. I've chenged my mind -- while I still respect the constitutional right to the free exercise of all religions (or none), I no longer feel obligated to respect any particular religion itself. I do not respect radical Islam and I do not respect radical Christianity, since one of the central tenets of both is the obliteration of the rights of everybody else. If you believe your God says you ought to destroy me if I don't accept your religion, I feel completely free to tell you your religion is crap.

Hedges' book pulls all this frightening stuff together. We need to pay attention -- especially to this: "It is the duty of the Christian foot soldiers to bring about the Christian utopia. When it is finished, when all have been stripped of legal and social protection, it will be too late to resist. This is the genius of totalitarian movements. They convince the masses to agitate for their own incarceration."

:scared:

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

4. K & R for Hedges. I remember him reciting W.H.Auden when interviewed on Fresh Air.

He said he thought of this poem when he watched the dire conditions our economic sanctions had on Iraq.


Epitaph on a Tyrant
by W. H. Auden


Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets

MKJ

[Ezlivin]

5. "Prosperity" is easier to sell than "hellfire and damnation"

During my last year in seminary I saw the winds of change as Southern Baptist churches began omitting the word "Baptist" from the name they'd christen their newest facility. One big megachurch near me, Fellowship Church of Grapevine (Texas) is a Southern Baptist church, yet I'll bet that most members do not realize that.

The church has been throughly infused with business principles. They are very conscious of Public Relations and what the public will "like" or "prefer." The general public does not want to hear a message that confronts them with their shortcomings, challenges them to change or warns them of eternal punishment. Megachurches can pack the pews if they offer "contemporary" music, garish stage shows, giant projection screens and promises of a better life now and a better life to come.

Built in to this philosophy is the air of superiority. Not only does God want his faithful to drive Hummers and live in McMansions, he'll reward them in the hereafter just as lavishly. The rest of us? We are just cogs in the wheel. We'll have to die to make way for the new boss, who'll come back as soon as we get Armageddon going. After a few hundred million deaths Jesus will have his blood-lust slaked and will hang out with his homeys and chill.

If you are a member of one of these churches, you have nothing to fear: Bush is right, the Middle East will be "tamed", global warming or climate change does not matter and the rich wlll find it easy to enter the kingdom heaven, Jesus' words notwithstanding. It's all a non-taxed, highly political and money charged fantasy.

[AlinPA]

6. It will all be brought to us by the republican party and Fox "News".

[MountainLaurel]

11. In a related vein

My husband has a bumper sticker that bears this quote from author Sinclair Lewis:

“When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

[Warpy]

7. I don't think I could manage to kick and claw my way through

that much dense prose, so thanks for the quotes.

He appears to be saying that the wealthy have managed the conversion of Middle America to the type of loopy Calvinism that serves them best: the rich are rich because they are blessed and will all go to heaven, no matter what they do; the poor are obviously cursed, of inferior morals as well as inferior wealth and opportunity, and will undoubtedly all go to hell unless they accept Calvinist Jesus and revere the rich.

Hey, it worked for the divine right kings in Europe... until people got hip and whacked their heads off.

[skygazer]

8. I agree - I'm about halfway through it

Quite frightening - the way these people twist logic and create what is pretty much an alternate reality for their followers is really disturbing. And it's reinforced with the idea that any dissent equals a lack of faith.

[lyonn]

15. Key words in your post: Twist Logic -alternate reality -

and dissent equals a lack of faith. Easy for the sheeple to follow. Sarcasm. That is what Hedges was trying to make very clear.

[democrank]

9. I listened to Chris Hedges this morning

on C-Span`s Book Notes and plan to start saving for the book right away. His explanation about the Christian Right`s position on dinosaurs was frightening. Did you know dinosaurs mingled with Adam and Eve? Hedges said that when asked to explain how dinosaurs fit on Noah`s Ark, someone from The Right explained that only BABY dinosaurs were allowed to get on the Ark.

My head hurts.

[Sequoia]

12. Oh, I get it !!!

I'll have to get the book now.

[lyonn]

14. He was very interesting and concluded much of what I have

when it comes to the Christian Right, Christian Coalitions, etc., that bushco pushes every day in their speeches, that they plan to take over and erase the divide between State and religion, that their theory is that the U.S. will become a christian nation. It fits with my sheeple theory, people want to be led, not think, just "Believe." It all fits. Everyone of our Democratic presidential candidates are sucking up to this crowd. We are losing real moral values due to the New Christian Radicals. When and who will stop this? Hedges made a definite point of how weak the Dems have been on standing up for what is obviously the rights of the American people.

One comment I made note of was his remark that Webb gets it! He must be referring to our new congressman. He equates the Muslim radicals to the Christian Radicals. He mentioned how Blackwater is christian based and doing the lords work. How much more warning do we need before we rebel and not pander to those that gather millions to run for office. They are bought and paid for.

Chris Hedges was fascinating and it was also very frightening. How simple and easy it has been for the neocons to baffle us with BS. The ridiculous rants against gays and lesbians is a perfect example. Why are they bothering making this commotion over people that are from a different orientation? We have a war going on and an admin. that wants More! Peace is not in their vocabulary.

Hopefully there will be a repeat of his review later on. It is so worth listening to. Some rambling here but he got me fired up.

[pstans]

10. I just bought this

It looks interesting and will hopefully give me some info on how to crack my Rightwing Republican mother-in-law.

[Sequoia]

13. Amazon has some deals on the price.

My library has a 31 waiting list and it takes months for the donkey cart carrying all new books to skirt the narrow passageways over the towering peaks to get to our libary. :sarcasm:

[Adsos Letter]

16. If you haven't already read it

give "Kingdom Coming" by Michelle Goldberg a read. Excellent insight into Dominionism, and the role of the "Mega-Churches", such as D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries, in the current onslaught against our institutions.

[MountainLaurel]

17. Finished it yesterday

And am still in a sort of shock. I grew up in a fundamentalist church in the 80s, but I was never really exposed to folks like Falwell and Kennedy. So I've never really known much about the political underpinnings of the Dominionist movement, the gospel of prosperity of nonsense (though we did get that at the sermon level in church), etc. I think one of the greatest strengths of the book is that it comes from his direct reporting at events like the Tim LaHaye presentation or the Ohio political event. Their words are used to damn them. I keep thinking of the Sinclair Lewis quote about how when fascism comes to America, it will be draped in a flag and carrying a cross. How long ago was that said, and how right he has been proven.

Incredible, horrible stuff.

[alarimer]

18. We have been too "nice", too tolerant

I think it's time to take back America from these people; one precinct, one school board at a time.

But I don't really know how to stop them.