The Right
insists that the Terrorists are real Muslims and in fact their actions express
the true nature of Islam.
The Right
insists that you can't divorce their actions from their ideology. This is
keeping with the whole Clash of Civilizations mindset many have embraced.
And yet, the
Right and in particular the Christian Right will cry foul if Timothy McVeigh or
Anders Breivik are identified as Christian Terrorists.
To
Biblically defined Christians a Christian Terrorist is an oxymoron and of
course we would immediately say that neither McVeigh nor Breivik are or were
Christians.
But to the
mainstream Christian Right, the Dominionists, those who define Christianity in
terms of Christendom, they have a bit of a problem.
On the one
hand they want to define Christianity in terms of civilization. They view
themselves as fighting for Christian civilization. They celebrate Christian
soldiers and so-called Christian Freedom Fighters and Rebels.
Broadly
speaking that's what McVeigh and Breivik stood for and people like Geert Wilders
and Viktor Orban stand for today. They stand for what they view as Christian
Civilization. Like American Evangelicals they have equated Christianity with
Christendom and Western Civilization.
Ah, but they
aren't 'believers' as we would define it. That's true, they aren't. But that's
because we (Bible Christians) use the term Christian in its restricted
Redemptive-Covenantal Biblical-Theological sense. It is inappropriate to apply
it culturally or politically.
At this
point the Christian Right wants to use the term as we do, but more often than
not they're happy to use it in its extra-Biblical expanded sense referring to
culture, i.e. Christendom. This is true most of the time, except when it's
inconvenient. Their definitions seem to be blown about by the political winds.
Wilders is a hero to many American Evangelicals and yet Orban, though
officially a Calvinist is pro-Russian and thus an enemy.
How many
works of art, literature, how many politicians are labeled as Christian or in
line with Christianity because they basically harmonize with the worldview of
Christendom? The list would be too long to list here. In fact not long ago we
heard that very thing about Romney. Sure, he's a Mormon, but his worldview was
basically viewed (by this faction) as compatible with Christianity.
He was Christian
enough shall we say?
And yet,
when it comes to the terrorists, or certain varieties of political extremism, no
they're not Christian at all. They're illegitimate betrayers of the legacy.
But then
that same intellectual bifurcation is not permitted the Muslims even when the
mainstream, the largest group of them will insist the terrorists are not acting
in accord with Islamic principles.
But the
mainstream shows sympathy it is argued...
Well, how
many White Christians past and present have showed some sympathy toward say the
KKK? They might not go along with the KKK, they might not join it but they do
in fact largely agree with its platform and agenda. I'm afraid the past has
been erased at this point and there's a lot of intellectual dishonesty too. The
millions of Klan members from the 1920's and after have been quite deliberately
forgotten by today's Evangelicals. It's a chapter they don't want to revisit
and yet it is very much part of their history and it was by no means restricted
to the South.
The KKK
believed itself to be standing for Christian civilization too. Maybe many
contemporary Christians would say they were too extreme in their actions, but
in the realm of ideas many who have stood for Conservative Christian values
will find rather astonishing levels of harmonized beliefs with the Klan and
what it has stood for.
I'm
referring to Nativism, Prohibitionism of drugs and alcohol, Segregation, (whether
Jim Crow in the South or White Flight and Anti-busing in the North),
'Christian' government, Anti-Communism, Anti-Labour, Anti-Union, States-Rights,
Gun Rights, Militia movements, Family Values, Anti-Feminism, and
Anti-Immigration. Until about twenty years ago most of the Christian Right also
shared in their Anti-Catholicism.
Christian
Conservatives are certainly not as hostile to the KKK or John Birch as they
might be toward the Black Panthers. Why not? Because the KKK and John Birch are
to some degree Christian in their sympathies.
Islam with
perhaps the exception of the Sufi tradition has never functioned outside a
political framework. To be honest I have no interest in the false religion of
Islam or spending a lot of time learning about its nuances. If you want to
criticize it, that's fine, but not from a position of political power. The
battle with Islam is a spiritual one and our weapons are not the weapons of the
world. The question is, how do I as a Christian behave when I have a Muslim for
a next door neighbour?
Constantinian
Christianity has blinded and disabled itself when it comes to interaction with
the world. It has become hypocritical and schizophrenic and because of its political
activism it has put these flaws on display. It's sad that so many lost people
have a better understanding of the world and a stronger moral compass than what
we find in Christian circles.
Another
example along these same lines is the issue of Christianity among the
population and divorce statistics. On the one hand Evangelicals are quick to
point out that when surveyed the majority of the population professes belief in
God and large numbers say they believe the Bible, in heaven and hell and in the
literal return of Christ. They use these numbers to try and argue America is in
fact a Christian country. Of course only be redefining the term Christian can
this be so.
And yet when
divorce statistics among Christians prove to be the same as among secular
society, suddenly Evangelical leaders want to restrict 'Christian' to more
specific categories regarding those who attend Church regularly. The nominal
Christians who answer the survey questions but apparently don't go to Church...
suddenly they don't count as Christians.
The only
people Evangelicals are fooling, are themselves.
If the
Church would abandon politics and return to its martyr-witness status it would
truly be able to speak more effectively and with moral authority on these
issues. The so-called Christian leadership in America and their various media
platforms have no moral standing. They think they can earn it through force,
through taking over the nation's institutions and mandating conformity. This is
why people like Phyllis Schlafly want a return of Joseph McCarthy's
Inquisition. They only believe in freedom and democracy when it suits them and
when they're in charge. The hypocrisy on these questions cannot be ignored.
They're living and more importantly thinking a lie and that's something we as
Christians cannot do.
