From follower to pharisee

In many countries religious and ethnic minorities have seized power and ruled over those who don't share their faith or heritage, now it has happened here.

While the punditocarcy of the corporate media (re: neo-fascist ) tell the rest of us we are out of step with the nation, I wouldn't bet on it. Even by their own estimates no more than 30% of America self-identifies with this emerging christian sect of true believes and it's strict adherents are probably less then half that number.

This new brand of fundamentalism began it's rise in late 1970's and its faithful have now become the storm troopers for the neo-cons as we enter the 21 century. I used to be one them. When Pat Robertson of the 700 Club began talking about people of faith needing to get involved in public-life, I thought it was a great idea. By the time doughboy Jerry Fallwell formed his hopefully (some would say deceitfully) named Moral Majority, I knew that something was up.

When Rev. Pat first encouraged us to play our part, I thought fan-fucking-tastic. I was convinced the world could use a couple of million civically engaged followers of Jesus; practitioners of the gospel of love. Boy was I wrong. Shortly after getting out of my own spiritual Dodge (Christians call it falling away), I met a fellow man of faith who patiently tried to explain to me that by "love" Jesus didn't mean what humans commonly think of as love. He defined a version of devine love that seemed closer to the tough-love craze of the 80's and 90's, he talked about a love that seemed more like hate. And that's what we have to day in the neo-saved. You would think that Orwell himself had rewritten the gospels. Now Jesus "turn the other cheek" Christ is telling us "better to fight the terrorists there than here". I wonder what these neo-saved would think of Jesus if they actually had to confront his "positions". I can only imagine that they would find him wanting in the tough-on-crime and tough-on-terror departments.

So now they're pushing the rest of their religious tenets on us almost daring us to stop them. First of course there's the scourge of homosexuality. The fascist media is telling us that we "lost" the election because we don't love fags and dykes enough to stop them from getting married, or in some cases to even establish legal ties to buy property or care for each other if they get sick. For shame. Truth be told this was one of the deal breakers for me, decades back when I was wearing rock concert tee shirts that proclaimed Jesus Loves Me. I just got this pit in my stomach listening to people poke their nose in other peoples private lives. I mean get a fucking hobby.

Second, did you know that Jesus was against public education and social security? Well apparently so. Under Bush's divinely inspired domestic agenda God will push for an ownership society until there's nothing left of the government except for a bloated inefficient military, loaded with unnecessary corporate welfare party-favors; a police force that will more and more come to resemble the military; a prison system to neo-save, house and kill the unwashed and the more darkly complected felons among us; and of course various legal structures, aimed at protecting entrenched wealth and filtering more and more of it upwards where it belongs.

And what's the advise to the rest of us from the on-air snake-oil hawkers? Be like Mike. Actually be like George, Karl, Dick, or Grover. Which is to say be mean-spirited fucks who whore Jesus on our arm like some cheap trophy-wife and nail whatever it is we want to push through to our own political cross as we carry it into battle.

And the Democrats, weak-ass shits that they are, seem to be taking their advice. Only they seem to be trying to find a way to massage the Republican issues to fit their own kindler-gentler corporate-friendly agenda. It boggles the mind. Grover, Karl, et al have laid down the gauntlet and told us point blank that we're in a culture war. Only they like to pretend it's war between their own brand of hate-filled piety and hedonism. Instead of what it really is: A war between those wanting to destroy democracy and replace it with their own brand of neo-christian theocracy and those who would be inclined to salvage and improve our own imperfect secular democratic republic.

The first thing the Democrats should do is show some guts and put Howard Dean in charge of the DNC. If they instead opt for a Republican-lite sleeze-bag like McAuiliffe, we're in for more of the same.

As I watch what's going on I can't help thinking that we're seeing first hand how the German people allowed the ascendancy of the Third Reich in Germany prior to World War II. The real moral question for our day is not will we pray to Yahweh's son, but will we defend our values and our nation from our fellow country-men and women who want to destroy it?

Posted: Tue - November 16, 2004 at 09:33 AM