George Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism

[Guest guest]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5648.htm

 

George Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism

 

Rev. Rich Lang

Trinity United Methodist Church Seattle.

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02/14/04: (ICH) The men who wrote the Constitution of

the United States knew that we human beings have a

tendency to 'not get along with each other'. They knew

that if power accrued into the hands of an elite the

experiment of democracy (power spread out into the

realm of the people) would be over. So they created a

system of checks and balances which blocked access to

any one person, or any one special interest or elite

gaining too much power over others. Thus our

executive, legislative and judicial branches of

government " checked " each other. The media was yet

another " check " on the accrual of too much power as

was the Bill of Rights which was written into the

Constitution. The system wasn't perfect but it kept

alive the possibility of true democracy. It kept alive

the dream that one day " we the people " could live in a

peaceful commonwealth where every person has what they

need to survive and thrive.

 

That dream died in December 2000 when the checks and

balances of our Constitution collapsed and George Bush

was inserted into the Presidency of the nited States.

September 11, 2001 furthered the atrophying of

democracy handing the country into the hands of an

emerging Corporate (and I say Christian) Fascism.

 

Since that time we have witnessed and have been unable

to prevent the emergence of an Imperial Presidency

that has the unrestricted power to declare war against

any country he chooses. The Imperial Presidency has

brought to an end the Constitutional mandate that

'ONLY CONGRESS' has the authority to declare war. It

has furthered weakened international law and has

undermined the potential of the United Nations to

spread democracy throughout the earth.

 

The President has also gained unrestricted power to

round up unlimited numbers of American citizens and

incarcerate them in military brigs or concentration

camps for the rest of their lives. He can keep them

from ever again communicating with friends, families,

and attorneys, simply on the president's certification

that

 

the incarcerated are " terrorists, " as he has done with

Jose

 

Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi. The President may also

now kill American citizens abroad solely on the basis

of his certification that the one killed is a

" terrorist " . Just ask the family and friends of Ahmed

Hijazi, anAmerican killed with a U.S.-fired missile in

Yemen. Therefore suspending the Constitutional right:

" no person shall be denied life, liberty or property

without due process of law. "

 

Ominous signs are all around us concerning the accrual

of power into the hands of the Presidency. If Mr. Bush

stays in office I think our future will continue to

witness shrinking political rights, financial collapse

and endless war. Part of the power and seduction of

this administration emerges from its diabolical

manipulation of Christian rhetoric. I want to flesh

out the ideology of the Christian Fascism that Mr.

Bush articulates. It is a form of Christianity that is

the mirror opposite of what Jesus embodied. It is,

indeed, the materialization of the spirit of

antichrist: a perversion of Christian faith and

practice.

 

This country, like it or not, is overwhelmingly

dominated by the ideology of the Christian story. It

is not so much that our founders were all Christians.

Rather, they lived in an atmosphere scented throughout

by Christian thought and rhetoric. Just as most of us

can't imagine how to keep things cold without

refrigeration; so too our founders couldn't help but

think through the lens of the Christian story. And

what they saw was that America had become the New

Israel (the new Promised Land) of God. America has

understood itself as a benevolent nation seeking only

the good of all. We have understand our wealth as a

blessing given to us as a sign that we are a " chosen,

special people " whose larger meaning is to help the

world into an era of peace, prosperity and justice.

Every politician draws on this " civil religion story "

which gives authority to the politicians ambition and

agenda. Another way of saying this is: every nation

needs sacred legitimation. It needs the authority of

transcendence: of a story larger than itself . a story

that connects past with present and future. An Empire

needs an even broader story: one that connects with

cosmic and/or historical redemption and new creation.

 

Martin Luther King understood this sacred American

civil religion and was able to wed it brilliantly with

the prophetic religious teachings of the Bible. He

drew upon Biblical narratives which limited the power

and authority of the elite while calling for economic

redistribution of wealth. He drew upon teachings

rooted in the personal morality of nonviolence and

compassion. George Bush, on the other hand, also

understands this sacred American 'civic gospel' and

has brilliantly merged it with Biblical Holiness and

Holy War traditions. These traditions call for the

emergence of the Righteous Warrior who will cleanse

the land of its impurity. These traditions are rooted

in the personal morality of righteous zeal and

obedience.

 

For example:

 

1.. Mr. Bush consistently sends signals to his right

wing religious base. In last year's State of the Union

he exhorted: " there's power, wonder working power, in

the goodness and idealism and faith of the American

people " . It's a phrase from a well known Communion

hymn " there's power, wonder working power in the blood

of the lamb " . Bush brings together the holiness zeal

of Christian evangelicalism with patriotic

fundamentalism. The core belief system of this 'civic

gospel' goes something like this: The United States

was founded as a Christian nation with free enterprise

as the only economic system truly compatible with

Christian beliefs. These religious values are today

under attack in America. The danger is that without

faith in God America will lose its blessing.

Therefore, the government needs to act to protect the

nation's religious heritage.

 

2.. Mr. Bush's teachings on terrorism: " you are with

us or against us " cements for the hearer the

apocalyptic world of good versus evil. There can be no

neutral ground. You have to make a decision.

Patriotism is now all or nothing: it is either total

agreement or a slippery slope towards treason. In the

Church you come to Jesus alone for salvation. In the

state you obey the God-annointed leader and are

thereby secured.

Renana Brooks writes (The Nation June 24, 2003: Bush

Dominates A Nation of Victims):

 

" Bush is a master at inducing learned helplessness in

the electorate. He uses pessimistic language that

creates fear and disables people from feeling they can

solve their problems. In his September 20, 2001 speech

to Congress on the 9/11 attacks, he chose to increase

people's sense of vulnerability: 'Americans should not

expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any

other we have ever seen. . I ask you to live your

lives, and hug your children. I know many citizens

have fears tonight . Be calm and resolute, even in the

face of a continuing threat.' (Subsequent terror

alerts .. have maintained and expanded this fear of

unknown, sinister enemies.) "

 

The terror threat itself can only be combated with

increases in military force, domestic security and

curtailment of civil rights through Patriot Acts.

There are no other options nor any dialogue or debate

that would create an alternative way to deal with

terrorism.

 

 

3.) Mr. Bush certainly sees himself as a Messiah

figure. Listen to his language after 9-11: " I will

not forget this wound to our country or those who

inflicted it. I will not yield; I will not rest; I

will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom

and security for the American people. " Or, in his 2003

State of the Union speech: " I will defend the freedom

and security of the American people " . He has become

the nation. He is its embodiment. According to

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, - Bush told

him: " God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck

them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam,

which I did, and now I am determined to solve the

problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act,

and if not, the elections will come and I will have to

focus on them. " This is Biblical language . it isn't

political script. This is Bush's soul language. He

understands himself as a man with a Divine mission. It

also means that for him leadership is not

" representing the people " rather leadership means

transcending the will of the people. George Bush

already knows the truth before the evidence is

presented. He is guided by God and must blaze the

trial even if the people are reluctant.

 

Iraq, for example, was a necessary war whether or not

Saddam had nukes. Saddam, for Bush, was a bad guy who

tried to kill " my dad " . The war, for Bush, was holy

and justified and necessary. Purging evil is necessary

in the Holiness/Holy War tradition of the Bible. The

righteous will purge evil but the unrighteous will be

consumed by it. Think of an alcoholic: it's all or

nothing. The whole world is all or nothing.

 

Like all religions the Bible has various narratives

within its pages: Jesus drew on the prophetic

traditions that called upon the people to change their

way of life even as it critiqued and called upon the

elites to decentralize their power. Jesus himself role

modeled a lifestyle of service. Mr. Bush, on the other

hand, draws on traditions that call for purity and

cleansing. It is a language of hostility towards

enemies and a strident call for obedience. It calls

forth a lifestyle of the RIGHTEOUS ONE who will purge

evil from the world through sacred violence.

 

All of this is not to say that the political world is

of less importance. We know that the planning for the

Iraq war was at least a decade in preparation. We know

that America has had imperial designs and has

intervened militarily throughout the world. And we've

known for 25 years that Corporations have been

savagely reducing labor rights while looting the

treasury. We know that Mr. Bush is not the cause of

our problems. Rather, the point I am making is that

Mr. Bush is a sincere front man for an emerging

fascism. His religious rhetoric is an authentic

merging of Holiness Christianity with Imperial

Americanism. The emphasis on security, law and order

is necessary to maintain the " high calling " of the

American people. The policies of fascism, in other

words, are consistent with religious holiness and holy

war narratives. And fascism, woven underneath

Christian Holiness/Holy War traditions, is a powerful

symbolic narrative that speaks to the American people

as evidenced by Mr. Bush's 58% approval rating.

 

The coming election will not be decided because of

political policy. It will not be decided in a debate

over free markets versus fair markets; tax cuts or no

tax cuts, Patriot Act or no Patriot Act; war with

Syria or no war. None of these issues will determine

the election because the candidates are all for free

markets, tax cuts, domestic security and a strong

global military presence. The election will be

determined by the candidate who can embody the deeply

felt, often unarticulated religious yearnings of the

populace. Yearnings such as " who will save us, secure

us, lead us??? who will connect us with a power

greater than the power of others? " Bush speaks this

language. Democrats are stuck in political nuance. Or,

in other words, Democrats cannot speak the language of

Martin Luther King who understood that social

transformation requires a transcendent authority.

 

The problem comes down to this: Democrats, liberals,

and social progressives have simply not grasped how

afraid, insecure and how deeply in despair the

populace is. They keep speaking as if objective

analysis and idealistic vision can win the day. What

Bush and Rove, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Pearls,

Abrams and Bolton, DeLay and Rice etc, have clearly

understood is that truth is subjectivity.

Unfortunately, the inner person of America today is a

hollowed out consumer who lacks the will power,

stamina and imagination to do anything more than be

overwhelmed. Therefore, a politics of crisis, a

politics of fear will keep us locked into a state of

conformity.

 

On the " civic side " of things America is being

inundated with a rhetoric of insecurity. Most of

Bush's State of the Union was taken up with war themes

reminding us all of the horrible new world we live in

post 9/11. We know that further increases in the

military and police budgets are on the way; we know

that the Patriot Act is going to be extended and

strengthened; we know that Homeland Security will

continue to be a growth industry. We know that this

administration wants to break down the wall between

church and state with faith-based initiatives. The

world is in chaos and the Bush-men will fix it

bringing us peace, prosperity, purity and purpose.

 

On the religion side of things apocalyptic theology is

booming. This is also a worldview of crisis and

insecurity. It is a theology rooted in the

Holiness/Holy War traditions and it dominates the

spirituality of this current administration. More to

the point, this is the dominant theology of the mass

media expression of Christian faith. It is a theology

of despair that has given up on the possibilities of

redemption.

 

One of the most popular fiction series making the

rounds these days is the LEFT BEHIND series written by

Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins. Multiple millions of

people are reading these books which fictionalize the

end of life as we know it. It used to be that the

Church could control people through the fear of

eternal damnation. Today it is through fear of the

future. The theology is basically this: The Bible is a

code book that when rightly interpreted reveals that

we are living at the end of history. History is

scripted and is about to come to a catastrophic

conclusion. The only hope is to accept Jesus as your

personal Lord and Savior so that you can be " saved "

from the future apocalypse. God will " snatch you up "

(Rapture) right before a seven year series of horrible

events that will see the rise of Antichrist and the

rebuilding of the Jewish temple. There will be world

war with most of humanity dying. At that point Jesus

will return to restore law and order. This theology of

despair " fits " our current culture of powerlessness

and fear. From SARS to weapons of mass destruction to

the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, to

ecological collapse, the whole world seems to be on a

" no exit " slide into an end times abyss. The theology

of despair is very seductive. It is shaping the

spirituality of Christians which provides a strong

core from which Bush draws political strength.

 

And it has, at least, five political implications that

affect each one of us here today. FIRST: Israel is to

be exalted and defended no matter what they do to the

Palestinian people. They are God's chosen people and

must reside in their Biblically anointed Land for the

" end time clock " to tick to its final minute. Israel

has a Biblical mandate to conquer and control all of

the land from the Nile River to the Euphrates. Behind

the politics of oil lie the religious passion to

fulfill God's will: Syria must fall.

 

Secondly: institutions like the United Nations are not

to be trusted because they are tools of the

Antichrist. The Antichrist is thought of (not as a

spirituality or ideology) but as an personal

embodiment of evil. The Antichrist will be a living

person who will come to power at the end of history

and proclaim himself to be god on earth. The theory

has it that his power will be generated from within a

coalition of nations. Thus . America, as God's chosen

nation, will need to go it alone so as not to be duped

by Antichrist. Our destiny is to take the gospel to

all the nations: a benevolent gospel of therapeutic

salvation for all.

 

Thirdly: since the world is passing away the

environment is not of great importance. There is no

need to worry about issues of sustainability because

the world is in its final countdown. Part of the

unconcern towards global warming and other ecological

crisis is the religious belief that we aren't going to

be around in 100 years. We're in the end times now .

every moment is merely preparation for eternity.

Whether Bush himself believes this or not is

irrelevant. This is the religious worldview of those

who exalt him and the voter-bloc to which he plays.

For Bush to act for sustainability would require a

major shift in his religious narrative. . As an aside

this past summer the National Park Service was

instructed to approve the display of religious symbols

and Bible verses, as well as the sale of creationist

books at the Grand Canyon National Park. In December

2003 the Park Service was ordered to develop a " more

balanced " version of an 8 minute video shown at the

Lincoln Memorial Visitor Center. Conservative

Christians wanted the removal of footage of gay

rights, pro choice and anti-war demonstrations

replacing it with footage of Christian rallies and

pro-war demonstrations.

 

Fourth: the trust that Jesus died for " my sins " is far

more important than the teachings of Jesus. This

fosters a domesticated therapeutic religious

expression that insists that " jesus in my heart " is

more important than my lifestyle. It's like the Mafia

don who could order his enemies killed while he

himself was celebrating the baptism of his nephew.

There is a disconnect between one's inner experience

of God's loving grace and embodying that experience

outwardly through one's politics. This leads to a

discounting of following Jesus in a lifestyle of

nonviolence, economic justice and compassion. Again as

an aside . while Governor of Texas Mr. Bush was

interviewed by Talk Magazine concerning the impending

execution of fellow Christian Karla Faye Tucker. Bush

imitated Tucker's appeal for him to spare her life .

pursing his lips, squinting his eyes, and in a squeaky

voice saying, " please don't kill me " .

 

Fifth: a leader who loves Jesus is to be followed as

God's man for the hour. The Christian leader is God's

shepherd over the American flock. As stated before

Bush sees himself as a Messiah figure (annointed by

God for a special redemptive purpose). When he decided

on running for the Presidency he called a group of

evangelical Pastors together announcing to them " I

have heard the call " and then receiving from them the

" laying on of hands " which corresponds to divine

ordination for the task ahead. On September 14, 2001

he stated: " our responsibility before history is

already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the

world of evil " . He then launched the crusade Operation

Infinite Freedom against Afghanistan. Yet other

messainic statements from Bush:

 

" History has called America to action. . The great

hope of our time, and the great hope of every time,

now depends on us. " ..

 

" We must also remember our calling as a blessed nation

to make the world better . and confound the designs of

evil men. "

 

" Our nation has been chosen by God and commissioned by

history, to be a model of justice before the world. "

 

*** According to Vice-President Cheney: America " has

the duty to act with force to construct a world in the

image of the United States. "

 

In return for this messianic leadership evangelical

Christians have returned an annointing of prayer.

During the Afghanistan crusade thousands of

" Presidential Circles of Prayer " and " Wheels of

Prayer " were organized on the Internet, running 24

hours a day.

 

WHEEL OF PRAYER FOR OUR SOLDIERS

 

Lord hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect

them as they protect us.

 

Bless them and their families for the altruistic

actions they are performing

 

for us in our time of need. This I ask in the name of

Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen

 

This prayer was so popular and was hit so often that

the website crashed within days.

 

Pastor Charles Stanley distributed among Marines as

they entered into combat thousands of pamphlets

entitled " Duty of a Christian in Time of War " . With

the pamphlet went a card instructing them to sign and

send directly to Mr. Bush. The card says: " I have

committed to pray for you, your family and your

Administration. " Specific prayers for the President

were included for each day.

 

CONCLUSION:

 

The point I'm trying to make is that we are not

dealing simply with politics when it comes to the Bush

administration. The progressive left, which often pays

little attention to Christianity, will be making a

huge mistake if they overlook the religious ideology

at the core of Mr. Bush personally and the movement he

represents. And we are talking about a " movement " (a

movement of 'the people' not just the elites). We are

seeing today the emergence of a " fascist movement " . It

is bankrolled and organized by Corporations,

articulated through the ideology of

neo-conservativism. but is fueled by the right-wing

church drawing upon Holiness/Holy War Biblical

narratives.

 

When Dave Korten (author of When Corporations Rule the

World) says that we need a " new story " ; he is talking

about needing a transcendent authority in which we

root our political culture. Human beings cannot live

in societal form without a sacred narrative. Neither

anarchy nor atheism can construct a house that will

hold our future. The Republicans know this well. But

the Democrats seem clueless.

 

In Biblical language the Republicans have become

Pharaoh whose house is strong because of economic

exploitation of the populace and military repression

of the people. The populace is being asked to make

bricks without straw. We are seeking a " savior " . a

Moses who can rally us out of these mudpits towards

the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey.

Unfortunately most Democrats are simply offering

Pharaoh-lite: they still will keep us in the mudpit

making bricks.

 

What we need is a movement of spiritual justice. We

need the language of those who can wed America's civil

religion with Biblical prophetic narrative. We need to

expand that language so that it can include the

language and stories that are emerging from the

antiwar, fair trade and human rights movements.

Together this language can form a unique new narrative

that has the power to inspire imagination and courage.

A language that call forth a new coalition powerful

enough to leave behind the mudpit and to enter the

promise of a new beginning. A coalition that

understands that " we are the ones we are looking for " .

Indeed, the new narrative will proclaim " God with us "

not " God above us " .