from "Soldier of Plenty"
by Jackson Browne "Lives in the Balance"
(c) 1986 SWALLOW TURN MUSIC, ASCAP
"There is no such source and cause of strife, quarrel, fights, malignant opposition, persecution, and war, and all evil in the state,as religion. Let it once enter our civil affairs, our government would soon be destroyed. Let it once enter our common schools,they would be destroyed."
Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Weiss vs. District Board, March 18, 1890
quoted here
Thomas Jefferson
-- and see Voltaire'swonderful comments on "Sects"
from the Philosophical Dictionary
- Disclaimer -
I use the term "Radical Right" here as shorthand for "authoritarian non-rationalist movement" -- the imposition, by force and/or fraud, of an ideology not rationally justifiable. I'm not trying to denigrate any particular religion or political party. For what it's worth, I'm not particularly opposed to theocracy, if it ensures democracy, freedom of religion, and other civil rights (there seems to be a paucity of historical examples ...)
Broadly speaking, I believe that the Radical Right espouses intolerance, authoritarianism, and supernaturalism, and that these views are wrong.
On the other hand, I don't agree with everything expressed in these links either.Read, and decide for yourself.
"All vestiges of Enlightenmentliberalism are subsequently eliminated and religion returns to its previous incarnation, what the Romans called a civitas dei, or civil religion which deifies the state and civil society by seeing them as extensions of God's will and presence in history."
"While the political right in the US can be bewildering in its complexity and shifting identities and allegiances, its playershistorically have assembled their core tenets and shared agendas from the same set of beliefs. They include conscious orunconscious support for white privilege; male supremacy; subservience of women and people of color; hierarchical religiousand family structures; the protection of property rights over human rights(Possibly not quite as simple as that, see Locke and modern Libertarian thinkers: it's difficult to protect one's rights or enjoy one's life without some amount of property and security); preservation of individual wealth; a rapacious form ofunregulated free market capitalism; aggressive and unilateral military and foreign policies; and authoritarian and punitive meansof social control. They also include opposition to the feminist movement and abortion rights; democratic pluralism and culturaldiversity; gay rights; government regulations concerning health, safety, and the environment; and minimum wage laws and unionrights."
"...the term Religious Right refers to a social movement driven to take over the rule of our nation through the implementation of a theocratic government -- that is, a government which places God at its center. In the late 20th Century, this social movement has been characterized by individuals and organizations working diligently to take control of political offices at the local, state and national levels and dominate the political landscape."
Their definition of Conservative Christians -i.e., social order over freedom over equality. And who are "more equal than others" in this ideology?
"Generally, those people whose political ideology favors a narrow scope for government.
Also, those who value freedom more than equality but would restrict freedom to preserve social order.
Their standard of righteousness on all issues is the Bible."
"...a project of the Nation Institute, to undertake rigorous, original, and in-depth strategic research into significant factors which are influencing our democratic system, including right wing secular and religious organizations operating inside and outside the United States. We are committed to conducting research and education in defense of democracy, education, reproductive rights, and a fair and secular legal system."
"a monthly annotated bibliography which monitors the religious right's political agenda and strategy."
"The theocratic right's ideal is an authoritarian society where Christian men interpret God's will as law. Women are helpmates,and children are the property of their parents. Earth must submit to the dominion of those to whom God has granted power.People are basically sinful, and must be restrained by harsh punitive laws. Social problems are caused by Satanic conspiraciesaided and abetted by liberals, homosexuals, feminists, and secular humanists. These forces must be exposed and neutralized."
The Fight The Right Network connects individuals and representatives of organizations working to promote social and economic justice, democracy, and sexual and reproductive freedom by stopping/counteracting the political and reli- gious Right's attempts to suppress freedoms, to undermine the separation of church and state, and to impose religious control of government, education, and public life.
"William Kornhauser ... differentiates among four kinds of societies:the Traditional, in which there are differentiated but fixed standards; the Populist, in which there are fluid but uniform standards; the Monistic, in which there are uniform and fixed standards; and the Pluralistic, in which there are differentiated and fluid standards. (In The Politics of Mass Society, pages 102-107)
Extremism describes the violation, through action or advocacy, of the democratic political process. The democratic political process refers fundamentally to democratic political pluralism: an "open democratic market place" for ideas, speech, and consonant political action. Monism amounts to the closing down of the democratic market place, whether by a massive majority or by a preemptive minority.
The monistic impulse, however, in the context of the American political metaphor, must be legitimated by rendering illegitimate those who are to be ruled out of the market place. Enter the imputation of deliberate evil, rather than lack of wisdom; enter the elements of absolutism, moralism, and conspiracy; and enter, of course, the conspiracy target.
Historically, extremist movements are movements of disaffection. Occurring in periods of incipient change, they are addressed to groups who feel they have just been, or are about to be, deprived of something important, or to groups whose rising aspirations lead them to feel that they have always been deprived of something important that they now want. Such deprivation is accompanied by political dislocation. The traditional party structure with which these groups have been associated no longer seems to be serving their needs."
The Politics of Unreason : Right Wing Extremism in America, 1790 1977
by Seymour Martin Lipset and Earl Raab
Pages 6, 428
"The Interfaith Alliance organizes its activities around six issue areas.
- Safeguarding Religious Liberty
- Ensuring the Civil Rights of All Americans
- Strengthening Our Public Schools
- Eradicating Poverty
- Championing a Safe and Clean Environment
- Promoting Good Government"
"On Feb. 16, Weyrich -- a founder of modern social conservatism -- widely dispersed a letter in which he announced that "politics has failed." That "we probably have lost the culture war," that "what we have been doing for thirty years hasn't worked," and that "I no longer believe that there is a moral majority." "
my kudos to whoever's responsible for the cover graphic!-- better image here
"In Apocalypse, a patient study of Christian fundamentalism based on extensive interviews over a five year period with members of apocalyptic communities Charles Strozier identifies four basic beliefs as fundamental to Christian fundamentalism.(1) Inerrancy or biblical literalism, the belief that every word of the Bible is to be taken literally as the word of God;
(2) conversion or the experience of being reborn in Christ;
(3) evangelicalism or the duty of the saved to spread the gospel;
and
(4) Apocalypticism or Endism, the belief that The Book of Revelations describes the events that must come to pass for God's plan to be fulfilled. [1]
Revelations thus becomes an object of longing as well as the key to understanding contemporary history, to reading the news of the day and keeping a handle on an otherwise overwhelming world. Each of these categories, Strozier adds, must be understood not doctrinally but psychologically. What follows attempts to constitute such an understanding by analyzing each category as the progression of a disorder that finds the end it seeks in Apocalyptic destructiveness.
... we may already be living in a fundamentalist Zeitgeist with the collective American psyche now defined, even among those who have never (or seldom) seen the inside of a church, by the emotional needs and principles of operation that find their most seductive realization in fundamentalism. We may in fact find the same "faith" informing a project that initially appears to have nothing to do with fundamentalism -- global capitalism."
"The intrusion of America's leading Republican politicians into the tragic dilemma facing Terri Schiavo and her family speaks volumes about how deeply they have become beholden to the religious right. Brushing aside time-honored advocacy for limited government and state sovereignty at the behest of a crass internal memo advertising a 'great political issue' that 'the pro-life base will be excited' about, Congressional Republicans and President Bush instead used the moment to pay Christian conservatives their most dramatic homage to date. ...
An ABC poll on Monday found not only that 70% of those surveyed nationwide found Congress's involvement inappropriate, but that by a margin of 67 to 19% they believed that the politicians trying to keep her alive were motivated more by "political advantage" than "concern for Schiavo." Among Catholics, support for removing Schiavo's feeding tube stood at 63 to 26%, among conservatives, 54 to 40%, and among evangelicals, 46 to 44%. In granting standing in federal court to 'any parent of Teresa Marie Schiavo', as provided in the remarkable new law passed last weekend, DeLay, Frist and the President were acting on behalf of a minority within a minority of their supporters.
The face of the theocon power brokers that hold the Republican Party in such thrall has up to the present been carefully shielded from the spotlight. At their New York City convention last fall, Republicans offered their prime time podium to a series of social moderates such as Arnold Schwarznegger, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain -- who once referred to the religious right as "forces of evil" -- while persuading the theocons to take a temporary back seat."
"The U.S. is in the middle of a great, ongoing, relentless power grab by extreme rightwing fundamentalist forces -- who deeply deserve the name "Christian fascists." They are moving to impose on everyone a morality and world view lifted from the Dark Ages. ...Emphasis and links are mine -- ed.
In a profoundly anti-democratic sense, they think it does not matter what a person thinks or chooses, or what the population wants. They think their standards and politics are literally divine, and those who oppose them are literally demonic. ...
They are exploiting a monstrous passivity and paralysis among opposing (sic) political forces. In this manufactured crisis, they have demonstrated their determination to reverse any laws, legal rulings, constitutional precedents, and public opinion that may stand in their way -- to recast the whole existing legal and political framework if necessary, to bring their horrific vision of righteousness into command. ...
Anyone who thinks theocracy (rule by religious fundamentalist dictatorship) is unlikely for the United States -- needs to look more closely: These Christian fascist forces are already swaggering in the corridors of power.
For years, far too many people have believed that these Christian fascists are too extreme, too bizarre, too lunatic, and too backward to possibly wrap their fingers around real power in this empire. It has been widely believed that they are simply the low-level, manipulated foot soldiers of Republican business-as-usual. But this is a very dangerous underestimation of them, and of this moment. ...
These forces know perfectly well that the vast majority of people don't agree with them -- on censorship, on abortion, on prayer in schools, on separation of church and state, on birth control, on sex before marriage, on their whole approach of militant and mindless obedience -- and they are determined to define politics and culture anyway. ...
It would have been impossible to pass Palm Sunday's extraordinary Schiavo law if there had not been broad cooperation by the Democratic Party apparatus. Not a single Democratic senator took a stand against the bill -- not Hillary Clinton, not John Kerry, who were absent and silent.
Harry Reid, leader of the Senate Democrats, personally participated in formulating and passing this bill."
