America's Taliban
In the wake of the horrifying attacks of September 11th, our nation mobilized in union to eliminate a government many thousands of miles away which harbored and encouraged those who attacked us that awful day. Afghanistan's Taliban government stood squarely against American principles of democracy, freedom and equality (especially where the fairer sex was concerned). Very few anti-war activists took to the streets to protest war against the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda which they sheltered because most Americans understood that this was the place from which 9/11 was launched and that this was a dangerous enemy with which we had to deal immediately.
Islam has been a faith torn asunder for decades as radical fundamentalists have seized more and more power by preaching a twisted message of "Jihad", a word meant to depict internal personal struggle which, when twisted politically, instead describes war against "the enemies of God". For Americans, however, the most troubling developments in world religion should be just how eerily similar the troubles of Islam are to what is taking place in American Christianity over recent decades. Yes, America too has its own Taliban. Its own brand of religious fanaticism which threatens to undermine the very foundations on which this nation was built.
Two weeks ago, I wrote a column detailing the Terri Schiavo case and just exactly how the radical religious right wing would attempt to use it to their political advantage. I hate to say I told you so but....I told you so. In the process the US Congress attempted to subvert the constitution, the same President who slept soundly in his bed after receiving a PDB entitled "Bin Ladin determined to strike in the US" boarded a red-eye Air Force One flight from Crawford, Tx. straight to Washington, DC to sign an unconstitutional bill, which he could just as quickly have signed in Texas, his brother, the Governor of Florida attempted to send state officials to kidnap Schiavo from her hospice center (until local Sheriffs made it clear that they would not back down on enforcing their court order) and the right wing media spread blatant disinformation on the case for the better part of two weeks. All to no avail. The American people finally smelled the rat and most of them being decent, honest folks, they rejected this nonsense for the pure and disgusting politics it was.
That being said, I must note that the Schiavo case is crucially important for what it points out in this country. There are radical religious groups here in America that are bent on destroying our government and constitution and replacing them with their narrow brand of militant Christianity. For the last week, Randall Terry has been standing beside Schiavo's family and claiming to speak for them. Terry's political group advocates murdering doctors who perform abortions. People like Terry, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Dobson whip their supporters into a fighting frenzy by offering them crusades against abortion, homosexuals, "activist" judges or "anti-God" politicians. It is no accident if their rhetoric sometimes sounds an awful lot like that of the Islamic "Jihadists". It is an awful lot like it.
Ask yourself this question; is there any rational motivation for a mother to tape shut the mouth of her 7 year-old daughter while helping her draw signs calling a man they never met a "murderer"? No, of course not, but these people are the furthest thing from rational. Like the thousands who danced in the streets of the Middle East on 9/11, celebrating our tragedy, these people have been told that they are being horribly oppressed by people who represent nothing more than satan on earth. Never mind that they live in the freest nation in which to worship that has ever graced the earth. No, as long as our laws and our culture do not completely adhere to their strict (and fiercely paranoid) interpretation of Biblical law, they will never rest.
These people represent roughly 15-20% of Americans now. Politicians are using them (and vice-versa) while the news media are scared to death of them. The media now report on them as being representative of Christianity in America while ignoring many millions of more moderate voices. If anyone wondered about the power they hold within the Republican Party, the last two weeks have answered those questions for good. They dominate and own it, completely. Republican leaders and right wing media outlets, such as Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, took up their cause with incredible zeal, despite extensive polling which showed that 80% of Americans disagreed with their extra-constitutional agenda. Even loyal "small government" Reaganite Peggy Noonan weighed in on the "Culture of Life vs. Culture of Death" ridiculousness. Now that's what I call pandering with a capital P!
It is being said a lot lately that radical Islamists are beginning to lose their grip on the hearts and minds of the Muslim world. I rather think that the attacks of 9/11 showed most Muslims what the radicals were really all about and they are turning away from that brand of religion. Hopefully the Schiavo case will begin to turn the tide in the same direction in the Christian world. In the last two weeks we have seen those fanatics who claim to be Christians bear false witness against their neighbors, mistreat their own children and call into question the very constitutional protections which guarantee us all liberty and family privacy.
A Christian fundamentalist reading this column would surely point out that his or her religious sect is not nearly responsible for that same level of violence as the Islamists. This is true, so far. However, they are violent. They have killed doctors who perform abortions, they have bombed Planned Parenthood clinics, they have threatended the families of such doctors and they have beaten homosexuals to death on many occasions. Michael Schiavo has received a flood of threats on his life recently. All this while they live in complete religious freedom. Imagine for a moment that they really lived in the kind of squalor and oppression in which many Islamic fundamentalists thrive. How much worse would their violent tendancies become? Remember, once you have established that those who disagree with you are enemies of God, anything is possible. Killing in the name of God has been all to common throughout human history, haven't we had enough of it yet? Let us hope so and let American Christians reject politicized fundamentalism here and now, before it's too late.
Islam has been a faith torn asunder for decades as radical fundamentalists have seized more and more power by preaching a twisted message of "Jihad", a word meant to depict internal personal struggle which, when twisted politically, instead describes war against "the enemies of God". For Americans, however, the most troubling developments in world religion should be just how eerily similar the troubles of Islam are to what is taking place in American Christianity over recent decades. Yes, America too has its own Taliban. Its own brand of religious fanaticism which threatens to undermine the very foundations on which this nation was built.
Two weeks ago, I wrote a column detailing the Terri Schiavo case and just exactly how the radical religious right wing would attempt to use it to their political advantage. I hate to say I told you so but....I told you so. In the process the US Congress attempted to subvert the constitution, the same President who slept soundly in his bed after receiving a PDB entitled "Bin Ladin determined to strike in the US" boarded a red-eye Air Force One flight from Crawford, Tx. straight to Washington, DC to sign an unconstitutional bill, which he could just as quickly have signed in Texas, his brother, the Governor of Florida attempted to send state officials to kidnap Schiavo from her hospice center (until local Sheriffs made it clear that they would not back down on enforcing their court order) and the right wing media spread blatant disinformation on the case for the better part of two weeks. All to no avail. The American people finally smelled the rat and most of them being decent, honest folks, they rejected this nonsense for the pure and disgusting politics it was.
That being said, I must note that the Schiavo case is crucially important for what it points out in this country. There are radical religious groups here in America that are bent on destroying our government and constitution and replacing them with their narrow brand of militant Christianity. For the last week, Randall Terry has been standing beside Schiavo's family and claiming to speak for them. Terry's political group advocates murdering doctors who perform abortions. People like Terry, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Dobson whip their supporters into a fighting frenzy by offering them crusades against abortion, homosexuals, "activist" judges or "anti-God" politicians. It is no accident if their rhetoric sometimes sounds an awful lot like that of the Islamic "Jihadists". It is an awful lot like it.
Ask yourself this question; is there any rational motivation for a mother to tape shut the mouth of her 7 year-old daughter while helping her draw signs calling a man they never met a "murderer"? No, of course not, but these people are the furthest thing from rational. Like the thousands who danced in the streets of the Middle East on 9/11, celebrating our tragedy, these people have been told that they are being horribly oppressed by people who represent nothing more than satan on earth. Never mind that they live in the freest nation in which to worship that has ever graced the earth. No, as long as our laws and our culture do not completely adhere to their strict (and fiercely paranoid) interpretation of Biblical law, they will never rest.
These people represent roughly 15-20% of Americans now. Politicians are using them (and vice-versa) while the news media are scared to death of them. The media now report on them as being representative of Christianity in America while ignoring many millions of more moderate voices. If anyone wondered about the power they hold within the Republican Party, the last two weeks have answered those questions for good. They dominate and own it, completely. Republican leaders and right wing media outlets, such as Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, took up their cause with incredible zeal, despite extensive polling which showed that 80% of Americans disagreed with their extra-constitutional agenda. Even loyal "small government" Reaganite Peggy Noonan weighed in on the "Culture of Life vs. Culture of Death" ridiculousness. Now that's what I call pandering with a capital P!
It is being said a lot lately that radical Islamists are beginning to lose their grip on the hearts and minds of the Muslim world. I rather think that the attacks of 9/11 showed most Muslims what the radicals were really all about and they are turning away from that brand of religion. Hopefully the Schiavo case will begin to turn the tide in the same direction in the Christian world. In the last two weeks we have seen those fanatics who claim to be Christians bear false witness against their neighbors, mistreat their own children and call into question the very constitutional protections which guarantee us all liberty and family privacy.
A Christian fundamentalist reading this column would surely point out that his or her religious sect is not nearly responsible for that same level of violence as the Islamists. This is true, so far. However, they are violent. They have killed doctors who perform abortions, they have bombed Planned Parenthood clinics, they have threatended the families of such doctors and they have beaten homosexuals to death on many occasions. Michael Schiavo has received a flood of threats on his life recently. All this while they live in complete religious freedom. Imagine for a moment that they really lived in the kind of squalor and oppression in which many Islamic fundamentalists thrive. How much worse would their violent tendancies become? Remember, once you have established that those who disagree with you are enemies of God, anything is possible. Killing in the name of God has been all to common throughout human history, haven't we had enough of it yet? Let us hope so and let American Christians reject politicized fundamentalism here and now, before it's too late.
posted by Paul_NJ | 4:46 PM
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