I have always believed that sincere Church-going persons who profess and truly believe that Christ is the son of God, who follow the Ten Commandments and subscribe to the “lesser commandments” of the Sermon on the Mount, e.g. love thy neighbors AND thy enemies [Matthew 5: vs. 43-48] were true “Christians,” considered by all of that flock to be saved and entitled to the “treasures of Heaven” which they shall have stored up prior to the Tribulation. [Matthew 6:20].  Tragically, I have discovered that the since the rise to political power of Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, that a great many, if not most, professing Christians no longer believe nor conduct their lives in the traditional Christian manner, i.e., a manner consistent with what I was taught as a child was the essence of Christendom.

          No, it now is absolutely clear that Christendom is divided into many subclasses and that if one is not in the correct class, he or she will be killed by those who are–and they will not wait until the Rapture; rather, they will make certain that there is what they refer to as a “Pre-tribulation Rapture” and that all, in addition to Heathen, not believing as do they will simply and joyously be eradicated.  I am not speaking of Evangelicals, for those are but the “Billy Grahams” of the Christian World who spread the teaching of the “Word” and seek converts to the way commanded by Christ.  Such Evangelicals and those who are converted have, per se, never bothered those of the rest of society who are either Christian or non-Christian–for they are but being converted to a world of love and hope.  Not even the most stolid atheist would have any rational reason to fear Evangelicals or such converts, as their entire belief system is based upon love.

          Now let us forget for the moment those who simply go to Church and merely profess to be Christian and do not believe in either the commandments of “God” or follow his teachings.  These are the non-believers…or the hypocrites.  These are the persons my Dad truly disliked (despised) hypocrites, for they pretended to be something they were not.  They went to Church on Sunday, acted pious, spoke publicly against the sins of fornication (adultery) yet were sometimes known to be “intimate” with their maids–usually African-American.  Then, they would undertake–pretending all the while they were acting in accord with God’s law–political movements to make certain that no sales of liquor were to occur in the county in which they lived (resulting in many lost lives on the road to the nearest liquor store in the adjacent State of Louisiana), had their yard men come out to our home to buy liquor for themselves, and they constantly and openly, and with feigned piety, discriminated against persons of other races, dismissing their own heresy by holding African-Americans and others to be inferior creatures.  To my Dad these persons were the most despicable “heathen” of “Creation” or “Evolution,” take your choice on the latter.  But the word “heathen” is the closest non-curse word of which I can think which has the same connotation as the words my Dad would really use to describe these contemptible, duplicitous persons. 

          No, I am for the moment not speaking of nor fearful of the Evangelicals, those members of “Mainstream” denominations, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Hindus or even the most despicable hypocrites.  I am very fearful of the Right Wing Christian Fundamentalists, who, according to a recent estimate by author, New York Times investigative reporter and Harper’s editor Chris Hedges, now number in excess of thirty three million Americans!  These persons, for the reasons I will explain below, constitute a true cult and are a dangerous force on the world stage–not only one which is intent upon taking over the government of the United States and converting this Nation into a Theocracy, but one whose leaders joyfully look forward to the day of the death of all of us who do not close our minds to thought and analysis precisely as do they.  cf. American Fascists, Simon & Shuster, NYC, 2001.

          The roots of Protestant Fundamentalism are obviously dug deep into the soil of America.  I have not done much specific reading into this phenomenon, but it has shown up in many different cults that have existed, especially in isolated Appalachia, which espoused literal readings of the Bible and its supposed inerrancy, no matter how many internal inconsistencies and no matter how inconsistent be the good-hearted beliefs of the writers of the Bible may have had when their assertions are held up the light of Twenty-First Century science.  Faith and Science are not mutually exclusive, but these persons have always held them to be.  Those who believe in the theoretical and general conclusions of science as to the basis and process of evolution are damned as non-believers and condemned to death–both in disgraced former Reverend Ted Haggard’s New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. (now bigger than ever!), as well as in prosperity gospel’s “poster child” Reverend Joel Osteen’s leased former basketball arena in Houston.

          There are many names and quotations of and from Fundamentalist Preachers I could cite from American Fascists and other such frightening publications, but I believe it best to simply set out a brief summary how the “program” operates (and that is what it is; it is not faith, hope and love in the sense most of us understand).  The program’s leaders primarily target three demographics:, viz: i.) those who for whatever reason, e.g. old age, infirmity, or family upheaval have become unanchored in their emotional lives and feel a great need for something “solid” to grasp.  Christian Fundamentalism, whether it be from one of the admitted Fundamentalist denominations or from the no longer truly “mainstream” Southern Baptist Convention which has adopted traditional Fundamentalist doctrine but not all of its strictures, offers a structured, always male-dominated matrix whereby the burden of independent thinking for oneself is forgone…and no longer either required or tolerated; ii.) unanchored and forlorn persons such as suburbanites (think Southern California) who in our American culture of the Twenty First Century are no longer tied to their traditional family, who most often have lives anchored only in the workplace and around the evening dinner table (if the bread winner or winners make it home in time) and who have no true friends or family upon whom they can depend for support…or simply friendship.  The Fundamentalists have such a pervasive program of intercession and home and faith community-based programs that, all of a sudden, once a family is “converted,” there need no longer be any voids in their lives.  It is no exaggeration to say that such “churches” do not allow a truly free evening for any convert and family, and the converts usually have no objection, for they are as fish merrily swimming in a stream without natural predators and led on by a very strong male presence; and iii.) persons who are simply overwhelmed emotionally or intellectually by the complexity of World events and who need someone or some thing in which or in whom they can trust to bring them assurance and certainty…and again take away the worry and uncertainty that comes with having to think about alternatives.

          Indoctrination is from “day one.” All Fundamentalist churches demand or strongly urge (demand is the better expression) that all children of the converted household be either home-schooled (with Church-approved history and science texts that do not mention Evolution or the age of the Earth as anything other than 6,000 years) or that the children attend church-sponsored “Christian” schools.  In such way, the Church doctrines are assured of being absorbed into American culture for years and years to come and the right Wing Fundamentalist cult or culture is destined to be a major force to be dealt with politically and spiritually, for much time to come.

          Since there are so many disparate political forces in America, and since the Fundamentalist churches and doctrines are by far the most well-organized, headed by its own National Policy Committee, and its adherents the most closely “policed,” it did not take much time for there to be a marriage between them and a major political party.  Although no one can “pin it” on him, the best bet (so to speak) to have first dreamed to establish a tight partnership was, or is, Karl Rove.  Mr. Rove is known to have been well aware of the strengths–and glaring weaknesses–of the Fundamentalist movement (coordinated by its own “Committee on National Policy”) and the dramatic effect that closeness with it would have upon politics in the United States.  He closely followed the demographics of every precinct in the United States and made certain that the policies espoused by the Republican Party conformed to those of the Committee on National Policy–originally and so ironically headed by Ted Haggard of Colorado Springs.  This move by Rove is known to have delivered at least twenty million votes in the 2000 election for the Bush-Cheney ticket, obviously assuring his victory in a much more dramatic fashion than did the Florida Recount fiasco–since it would not have even been possible other wise.  Immediately thereafter, Ted Haggard was appointed to the “Bush team” who became a frequent visitor to the White House and a close advisor and confidant of President Bush.   Grist.Com, October 24, 2004, by Glenn Scherer, ed. Blue Ridge Press.  Many politicians in Congress are elected by reason of their “toeing the line” of the Committee on National Policy, and, merely by example, Rick Santorum, Bill Frist, Zell Miller, Roy Blunt and Mitch McConnell have in every year since 2000 had a voting record one hundred per cent in line with that of the Committee on National Policy. op cit.

          But that’s enough about the politics and the dangers posed by the Religious Right to the future of America.  The most dangerous thing I have read recently is that the Christian Right Wing (Fundamentalist Christians) have no fear of war at any level, for if it escalates it can destroy the World and thereby bring about its end (they say Armageddon) that much sooner…and the sooner they (and we, supposedly) can reap their “treasures” stored away in heaven.   That in itself explains one of the most absolutely terrifying moments I have ever experienced as shown on National television.  Back during the last serious “dust up” between Israel and Lebanon in 2006 there was every possibility that, because of that conflict and the ongoing War in Iraq, the end of the world might well come to pass upon or as the result of a few serious miscalculations by politicians right in the middle of this, there was a television broadcast of portions of the President’s Prayer Breakfast held annually in Washington, D.C.   After a speech by Reverend John Hagee dealing in part with this very subject, he walked off the stage to meet Joel Osteen heading up to be the next speaker.  I almost fell out of my chair as these two men, persons either of no conscience, zero intelligence, or filled with an unbounded malevolence, smiled at each other and exchanged “high fives.”  

Don Switzer

Rogers, Arkansas 

(c) August 7, 2010

* Note: readers interested in this article will profit by reading both American Fascists, supra, and also The Family–The Secret Fundamentalism At the Heart of American Power, by Jeff Sharlett, Harper Perennial, NYC, 2008.