Religious Extremism
by Joe Mayer
(NOTE: Joe Mayer is a man of strong faith. He wrote this piece nearly a year ago. It seems like nothing has changed since then.)
"Religious extremism is one of the most horrifying and devastating movements historically and currently. Wars, holocausts, slavery, brutal dictatorships, and forced migrations have all occurred in the name of the 'only' God." If this is said about right wing Muslim extremists, nearly 100% of the conservative political right would agree. If this same quote is about today's Christian right-wing extremists, a nearly unanimous strongly worded rebuke would flow from the political conservatives.
We've all heard the questions, "Why has Islam allowed extremists to hijack their religion? I ask, "Why has Christianity, in America, allowed the same to happen here?"
Extremism says, "We are right and everyone else is wrong. The world is divided into black and white, good and evil. If you are evil it justifies hatred. God also hates evil. Vengeance is justice. Our God is right and we know his exact message. Therefore, anything we do is done in God's name – war, imperialism, ethnic cleansing, sexual discrimination, political absolutism. Anyone who disagrees with us is irreligious and opposed to God."
By branding Democrats and progressives as irreligious, the religious right has claimed the high moral ground and defined it basically as anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, pro war and pro wealth. This exacting moral sense justifies rewriting American law into a theocracy. Any election in the United States between supposedly faith-based people and people who are deemed secularists will be won by the religionists.
It isn't only the religious right that is killing democracy and debate. Many ministers, priests, and rabbis seem to have been intimidated from speaking against the war and from presenting a loving God acting with concern for all people and all creation. Angry phone calls, letters to superiors, threats to cut off financial support and threats of replacement cause them to narrow their spiritual perspective. A shallow, nationalist, hateful God is the result. It places mainline churches in the same pew with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
Most Democrats and progressives are not atheists, are not irreligious, belong to a faith-based community, love God and attempt to follow His/ Her ways, believe God has the same concern for their fellow humans as for themselves, expect some kind of unity with this God following death.
This is not a minority position in the United States, just as progressive ideals are not minority principles. But conservatives and the religious right, through cunning and deception have abducted religion just as they have distorted the political atmosphere.
And Democrats have been stampeded on the religious issues just as on the political issues. "If I move a little to the right they'll accept me." A little movement doesn't cut it in the black or white, good or evil, no-compromise world. "You're either with us or against us," derives just as much from the author's religious doctrine as from his political positions.
People of faith, of whatever religious persuasion, need to reframe the political agenda to include the best impulses from their religious dimension. To do otherwise is to concede both religion and politics to the theocrats.
The movement of God in history, the intimacy of God with all people, the bond of God with all nations is larger than any denomination, more inclusive than any group of people, more broad than any nation or period of time, more comprehensive than any single political party to verbalize.
(NOTE: Joe Mayer is a man of strong faith. He wrote this piece nearly a year ago. It seems like nothing has changed since then.)
"Religious extremism is one of the most horrifying and devastating movements historically and currently. Wars, holocausts, slavery, brutal dictatorships, and forced migrations have all occurred in the name of the 'only' God." If this is said about right wing Muslim extremists, nearly 100% of the conservative political right would agree. If this same quote is about today's Christian right-wing extremists, a nearly unanimous strongly worded rebuke would flow from the political conservatives.
We've all heard the questions, "Why has Islam allowed extremists to hijack their religion? I ask, "Why has Christianity, in America, allowed the same to happen here?"
Extremism says, "We are right and everyone else is wrong. The world is divided into black and white, good and evil. If you are evil it justifies hatred. God also hates evil. Vengeance is justice. Our God is right and we know his exact message. Therefore, anything we do is done in God's name – war, imperialism, ethnic cleansing, sexual discrimination, political absolutism. Anyone who disagrees with us is irreligious and opposed to God."
By branding Democrats and progressives as irreligious, the religious right has claimed the high moral ground and defined it basically as anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, pro war and pro wealth. This exacting moral sense justifies rewriting American law into a theocracy. Any election in the United States between supposedly faith-based people and people who are deemed secularists will be won by the religionists.
It isn't only the religious right that is killing democracy and debate. Many ministers, priests, and rabbis seem to have been intimidated from speaking against the war and from presenting a loving God acting with concern for all people and all creation. Angry phone calls, letters to superiors, threats to cut off financial support and threats of replacement cause them to narrow their spiritual perspective. A shallow, nationalist, hateful God is the result. It places mainline churches in the same pew with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
Most Democrats and progressives are not atheists, are not irreligious, belong to a faith-based community, love God and attempt to follow His/ Her ways, believe God has the same concern for their fellow humans as for themselves, expect some kind of unity with this God following death.
This is not a minority position in the United States, just as progressive ideals are not minority principles. But conservatives and the religious right, through cunning and deception have abducted religion just as they have distorted the political atmosphere.
And Democrats have been stampeded on the religious issues just as on the political issues. "If I move a little to the right they'll accept me." A little movement doesn't cut it in the black or white, good or evil, no-compromise world. "You're either with us or against us," derives just as much from the author's religious doctrine as from his political positions.
People of faith, of whatever religious persuasion, need to reframe the political agenda to include the best impulses from their religious dimension. To do otherwise is to concede both religion and politics to the theocrats.
The movement of God in history, the intimacy of God with all people, the bond of God with all nations is larger than any denomination, more inclusive than any group of people, more broad than any nation or period of time, more comprehensive than any single political party to verbalize.
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