It's the Fundamentalism, Stupid
There is no war on terrorism. It just doesn't exist. It's a code that means a war on Islamic Fundamentalism -- that group of believers who feel that Islam is the only truth and that its truth is to be applied to everyone regardless of their will. That's the real danger here. If you want to be a devout Muslim, fine. If you want your family to adhere to orthodox Islam, that's fine, too. When you want Islam to be the basis for the law that governs all men, including non-Muslims, that's unfair.
Of course, we have our own homegrown fundamentalists here, too. The May 2005 issue of Harper's magazine has two stories about Fundamentalist Christians who are building armies who are going to fight for their way of life.
Even though they are reportedly credited with handing the election to George Bush, these Fundamentalist Christians see themselves as underdogs and view the present has a pitched, foretold battle between good and evil. They're the type of people who skip the gospels about love to go straight for the parts about angels with swords and galloping horsemen. These people are militantly anti-gay, anti-feminist, and they openly sneer at anything with the words "secular" or "humanist" in them.
In short, they're a threat to this country's safety and welfare.
This isn't the first time in American history where we've had ne'er-do-wells stirring up the bottom of the barrel of our politics and culture. In the past, we've been saved by the irresistibility of widow's pocketbooks, which usually brings down the top of their organization. Or these groups eventually breakdown along lines of dogma, finding some obscure bible verse to disagree and disband over.
What's different about this movement, though, is that it seems a natural reaction to the September 11th attacks. People in this country have been told by our own President that Al Queda has attacked us because they hate "our way of life." Despite the fact that this is patently wrong--Al Queda has many more concrete grievances against us, namely our presence in the Middle East--polls show that many Americans believe it's true. Sects normally at war with each other over dogma now join together in a coalition of Christ. Many of them openly call for a reconfiguration of this country along Christian lines. It's as if by sharpening the contrast between "us" and "them," we have a better chance of winning this inchoate "war."
Just as the atheistic element of Soviet communism rallied American Christians around the cross, so too does jihad and abortion. Their followers, nudged forward by "Left Behind" books and cultural war issues, think that they're living in a nascent spiritual war. Certainly, it is an idea fostered by movement leaders like James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family.
All of this worries me. When people are tricked into thinking they're at war and they're tricked about the reasons and basis for that war, all sorts of bad things start cascading down. Think of the misery of Viet Nam and the folly of the Spanish American war.
I've got nothing against Christians. Just don't tread on me or my rights.
Of course, we have our own homegrown fundamentalists here, too. The May 2005 issue of Harper's magazine has two stories about Fundamentalist Christians who are building armies who are going to fight for their way of life.
Even though they are reportedly credited with handing the election to George Bush, these Fundamentalist Christians see themselves as underdogs and view the present has a pitched, foretold battle between good and evil. They're the type of people who skip the gospels about love to go straight for the parts about angels with swords and galloping horsemen. These people are militantly anti-gay, anti-feminist, and they openly sneer at anything with the words "secular" or "humanist" in them.
In short, they're a threat to this country's safety and welfare.
This isn't the first time in American history where we've had ne'er-do-wells stirring up the bottom of the barrel of our politics and culture. In the past, we've been saved by the irresistibility of widow's pocketbooks, which usually brings down the top of their organization. Or these groups eventually breakdown along lines of dogma, finding some obscure bible verse to disagree and disband over.
What's different about this movement, though, is that it seems a natural reaction to the September 11th attacks. People in this country have been told by our own President that Al Queda has attacked us because they hate "our way of life." Despite the fact that this is patently wrong--Al Queda has many more concrete grievances against us, namely our presence in the Middle East--polls show that many Americans believe it's true. Sects normally at war with each other over dogma now join together in a coalition of Christ. Many of them openly call for a reconfiguration of this country along Christian lines. It's as if by sharpening the contrast between "us" and "them," we have a better chance of winning this inchoate "war."
Just as the atheistic element of Soviet communism rallied American Christians around the cross, so too does jihad and abortion. Their followers, nudged forward by "Left Behind" books and cultural war issues, think that they're living in a nascent spiritual war. Certainly, it is an idea fostered by movement leaders like James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family.
All of this worries me. When people are tricked into thinking they're at war and they're tricked about the reasons and basis for that war, all sorts of bad things start cascading down. Think of the misery of Viet Nam and the folly of the Spanish American war.
I've got nothing against Christians. Just don't tread on me or my rights.
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