The Christian Right Is Playing into The Hands of Islamic Radicals
The Christian Right is playing right into the hands of Islamic radicals. The increasing encroachment of religion in every aspect of American society, and particularly in our politics, is undermining our ability to subdue the terrorist threat and is eroding the respect of our more secular allies in Western Europe.
Since America's settlement by Europeans, religion has been an important part of our heritage. Our founding fathers wisely rejected establishment of a national church and in our Constitution decreed religious tolerance and the firm separation of church and state. One of America's great strengths has been her acceptance, inclusion and eventual assimilation of other cultures, their traditions and their religious practices. This melting pot of ideals and beliefs has long typified America's image as a free society and served as a magnet to the people of the world. Until now.
America is increasingly seen as myopic, misologistic, arrogant and intractable by both our enemies and our allies, and the religious right is as much to blame as our political leaders. America is falling back into the abyss that preceded Darwinism, the rise of science, and the Scopes Monkey Trial. During the Cold War religious evangelism rose again in response to the godlessness of communism. Preachers like Billy Graham railed that only strong faith would enable America to survive. Americans believed. Then, stunned by the social turbulence and sexual revolution of the 1960s, they rallied, seeking refuge in strong faith with clear-cut traditional values. Religious conservatives took their fight into the political area in the 1970s and 1980s with the advent of the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition. Since then, church attendance has increased dramatically to the point that today "60% of Americans say that religion 'plays an important role in their lives' and 4 out of 5 claim to have experienced 'God's presence or a spiritual force,' " according to Benjamin and Simon.
In fact, in that 2004 survey only 1 in 3 Americans rejected using religion to form public policy, an event that has obviously come to pass only 2 years later! Witness the battles over abortion, stem cell research, prayer in the schools, teaching intelligent design, book bannings, fines and strictures on the public airwaves in the wake of the infamous Janet Jackson incident -- the religious right has American society, or at least our politicians, shaking in its boots.
The increasingly rabid pronouncements of the religious right and narrow-view Christian fundamentalists and their frightening influence on government officials paints America in the same colors as her enemies and plays right into their hands. If America does not take Christian evangelism out of its politics, our war on terror will increasingly be voiced in religious terms, as Christian against Muslim, just as the jihadists claim. Ethically, how can we continue to condemn a social-religious system that we abhor in the Middle East when we are allowing a similarly closed system to permeate our own shores?
"As a society that is becoming more religious, we are increasingly inclined to look at our jihadist enemy from a theological perspective, grounded in a particular Christian identity. This is dangerous: The more we see this as a conflict between two faiths, the more likely we are to approach the battle emotionally rather than strategically," warn Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, former National Security Council staff, in their compelling book, The Next Attack: The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting It Right.
Since America's settlement by Europeans, religion has been an important part of our heritage. Our founding fathers wisely rejected establishment of a national church and in our Constitution decreed religious tolerance and the firm separation of church and state. One of America's great strengths has been her acceptance, inclusion and eventual assimilation of other cultures, their traditions and their religious practices. This melting pot of ideals and beliefs has long typified America's image as a free society and served as a magnet to the people of the world. Until now.
America is increasingly seen as myopic, misologistic, arrogant and intractable by both our enemies and our allies, and the religious right is as much to blame as our political leaders. America is falling back into the abyss that preceded Darwinism, the rise of science, and the Scopes Monkey Trial. During the Cold War religious evangelism rose again in response to the godlessness of communism. Preachers like Billy Graham railed that only strong faith would enable America to survive. Americans believed. Then, stunned by the social turbulence and sexual revolution of the 1960s, they rallied, seeking refuge in strong faith with clear-cut traditional values. Religious conservatives took their fight into the political area in the 1970s and 1980s with the advent of the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition. Since then, church attendance has increased dramatically to the point that today "60% of Americans say that religion 'plays an important role in their lives' and 4 out of 5 claim to have experienced 'God's presence or a spiritual force,' " according to Benjamin and Simon.
"As Americans have become more religious, their desire to see religious values incorporated into public policy has strengthened. In a 2004 survey, 20% of respondents said that religion should 'very much' influence public policy; 41% think that religion should play 'somewhat' of a role," according to Benjamin and Simon.
In fact, in that 2004 survey only 1 in 3 Americans rejected using religion to form public policy, an event that has obviously come to pass only 2 years later! Witness the battles over abortion, stem cell research, prayer in the schools, teaching intelligent design, book bannings, fines and strictures on the public airwaves in the wake of the infamous Janet Jackson incident -- the religious right has American society, or at least our politicians, shaking in its boots.
The increasingly rabid pronouncements of the religious right and narrow-view Christian fundamentalists and their frightening influence on government officials paints America in the same colors as her enemies and plays right into their hands. If America does not take Christian evangelism out of its politics, our war on terror will increasingly be voiced in religious terms, as Christian against Muslim, just as the jihadists claim. Ethically, how can we continue to condemn a social-religious system that we abhor in the Middle East when we are allowing a similarly closed system to permeate our own shores?
I am so with you on this. The increasing religious tone of discussions in American politics especially in terms of our War on Terror it is demonizing Muslims and Arabs. It is truly disgusting the depth of the sterotypes and the complete focus on people of Middle Eastern descent and on believers of Islam in particular.
Posted by Anonymous | Sat Oct 07, 06:38:00 PM EDT