I've recently read the Sam Harris book The End of Faith, just finished watching the documentary Jesus Camp and am about one-third the way through Chris Hedges' American Fascists.
They work well as a trilogy.
The End of Faith is basically an attack on religion even as it acknowledges the need for spirituality. Harris particularly takes his rhetorical broadaxe to Christianity and Islam. He is especially frustrated with religious moderates who tolerate religious fanaticism (CBC's Tapestry interviewed him on Nov. 5/06).
"The first is their mode of discourse, that they don't want faith itself criticized ... (which) really provides immense cover for religious fundamentalism and religious extremism," he said in that interview.
They don't see the link between faith and violence, he said. "The religious moderate ... because his beliefs really don't commit him to anything very concrete in this life, really loses sight of the fact that millions and millions of religious believers believe in God with much more certainty than that, and expect paradise for dying under the right circumstances."
In the United States, millions of Christians "quite literally expect to be raptured into the sky by Jesus so they can witness a holy genocide that is going to inaugurate the end of human history," he said.
"These beliefs really do commit people to, I argue, behaviours that are totally maladaptive and they prevent people from making the types of compromises and decisions that we need to create a durable future for ourselves as a civilization."
Veteran visitors to this blog might remember my Jan. 26 post Global Warming and the Second Coming, about a Washington state father's crusade against showing the Oscar-nominated An Inconvenient Truth in his daughter's school. An excerpt:
"No you will not teach or show that propagandist Al Gore video to my child, blaming our nation -- the greatest nation ever to exist on this planet -- for global warming," (Frosty) Hardison wrote in an e-mail to the Federal Way School Board. The 43-year-old computer consultant is an evangelical Christian who says he believes that a warming planet is "one of the signs" of Jesus Christ's imminent return for Judgment Day.
Let's segue to Jesus Camp.
Early on in this documentary co-directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, we see two young boys watching TV at their home in St. Robert, Missouri, where they are home-schooled by mom.
On the TV, an Indiana Jones-looking actor asks rhetorically: "Was it an explosion? Did we come from a gob of goo?"
A cartoon character adds: "It has been said we are the result of an explosion. Is this 'true'? Is this 'scientific'?" and then adds, without irony, "... or is it just based on a belief?"
The boys are called into the kitchen for homework. The textbook is "Exploring Creation With Physical Science."
Mom reads the following out loud: "One popular thing to note in the United States in the past few years is that the summers in the United States have been very warm. As a result, global warming must be real. What's wrong with this reasoning?"
Levi, who hopes to be a preacher, says, "It's only gone up 0.6 degrees."
"Yes, it's not really a problem, is it?" replies mom.
Levi opines that he doesn't think it's going to "hurt us."
"It's a huge political issue, global warming. And that's why it's really important for you to understand," says mom.
Levi asks about evolution and creationism.
"If you look at creationism, you realize it's the only possible answer to all the questions," mom said.
She then says: "Did you get to the part where it says science doesn't really prove anything? It's really interesting when you look at it that way."
The film slips in the nugget that 75 per cent of those home-schooled in the United States are evangelical Christians.
"Why are kids taught that global warming doesn't exist?" asks Air America host Mike Papantonio. "'Look, rape this world, rape this Earth. It doesn't matter because we're not here for very long. Christ is coming to take us away from Earth. So cut down our trees, use all of our oil, take advantage of everything the earth has to offer .' ... you want to shake them and you want to say, 'what is it you are not understanding about the fundamentals of Christianity?'"
Enter American Fascists.
Author Chris Hedges, who attended the Harvard Divinity School, starts by quoting Umberto Eco's 14 elements of Ur or Eternal fascism. Number four is "The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture, the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason."
Hedges notes that many in the Christian faith are "selective literalists" who cherry-pick from among the Bible's many contradictory passages, with those on the right leaning towards the most bloodthirsty interpretations. He appears to be on Harris's side with respects to criticizing religious moderates. "... Until the Christian churches wade into the debate, these biblical passages will be used by bigots and despots to give sacred authority to their calls to subjugate or eradicate the enemies of God. ... The steadfast refusal by churches to challenge the canonical authority of these passages means these churches share some of the blame."
The most malignant branch of the Christian right, for Hedges, are the Dominionists. "Dominionism takes its name from Genesis 1:26-31, in which God gives human beings 'dominion' over all creation," he says.
Dominionists seek political power and seek to make the United States a theocratic country. They probably comprise about seven to 12.6 per cent of the U.S. population (about 25 per cent of Americans are evangelical Christians).
Hedges makes the point that the evangelical community is a diverse one, ranging from those who believe God wants Christians to be rich to those who eschew politics and focus on spiritual renewal. But he still thinks a major crisis could provide the opening the Dominionists need to make a move.
The book talks about why evangelical churches are successful, and looks at the recruiting tactics they use, which aren't really different than those of any successful cult.
And when you've read that, watch Jesus Camp and watch Pastor Becky Fischer work the kids.
“Extreme liberals who look at this should be quaking in their boots,” she declares towards the film's end.
Quite so.
Addendum
Salon talked to the filmmakers back in September.
If you go to the Kids In Ministry website, they promote the sale of the film. From the blurb:
Jesus Camp, the Oscar nominated documentary that has America talking, features Kids in Ministry International and it's founder Becky Fischer along with the most amazing children who are 100% sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ and are not ashamed to say so. As Bill O'Reilly of the O'Reilly factor said about the film, "Hollywood doesn't like seeing kids worship God." And, though secular viewers cannot relate to or understand what they see, passionate faith and worship by children is exactly what you experience in this film. And, yes, they WILL change America and the world!
There are comments about the film available there.
There is also a section dealing with questions about the film, such as "Are you raising Christian terrorists or another Hitler Youth Movement?"
An excerpt of Fischer's answer:
This is probably the most frustrating and exasperating part of this film for me. This is the conclusion people are coming to when they see the trailer, and I have to say that if I was not a believer in Christ and I saw nothing but the trailer, I would probably come away with the same impression.
But any born again Christian should be able to read between the lines and know there is absolutely no truth to this at all, and I hope other discerning individuals will as well.
There are many scriptures in the Bible that use terminology like "warfare," "weapons," "armor" and so on. When born again Christians speak of warfare they mean "spiritual" warfare. This is a war of ideologies and spiritual issues, and not a physical war that is fought with guns and bombs. Christians do believe they are in a cultural war for the lives and souls of people worldwide, and particularly for the minds and hearts of our children and youth.
There's a clip in the trailer that shows me with my arms raised up and I'm shouting, "This means war!" That came during a prayer time at the end of one of our services where I spoke on the battle we wage against sin and temptation we fight on a daily basis. We had spoken about the challenges of keeping our minds and our hearts pure in a world that throws all kinds of mental and visual trash at us all the time. But out of context it could be taken to mean anything!
The unfortunate thing is that right now the secular world has no other grid to go by than what is happening in the war on terror, and the terrorists themselves sending their young out to blow themselves up and take as many other people with them as they can at the same time. But that has nothing to do with the way Christians think of spiritual warfare. The weapons Christians use is prayer, the Word of God [Bible], and so on.
On the other hand, Fischer does make comparisons with Islamic youth who do go on to commit suicide bombings and whatnot. "I want to see young people who are as committed to Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the Gospel as they are over in Pakistan, in Israel, in Palestine, in all those different places."
Her definition of war is not that dissimilar from the Islamic notion of jihad, or struggle. Jihad can have multiple levels of meaning. It can mean the internal struggle to live a virtuous life, or it can mean physical battle against the perceived enemies of Islam.
At one point in the film, Fischer starts talking about Harry Potter (?!?!). "Warlocks are enemies of God. And I don't care what kind of hero they are, they are enemies of God. And had it been in the Old Testament, Harry Potter would have been put to death."
Becky sounded like she was longing for the good old days.
At another point, some unidentified male adult with a vaguely South African accent asks the kids: "How many of you want to be those who would give up their lives for Jesus?" Much wild screaming.
Now, there's a subtle difference between those who would give their lives to serve Jesus or give up their lives for Jesus.
This guy also talked about the "enemies" in government who did things like take prayer out of schools.
I'm sorry, but when you start throwing around words like "enemy" and "war," and how killing "enemies of God" like warlocks would have been hunky dory in Old Testament days, some people might get confused.
Sam Harris devotes a large part of his book to pointing out some of the more poisonous verses in both the Koran and the Bible -- and details some of the horrible things that have been done in the service of God.
And Chris Hedges talks about how the Christian right's definition of things like "liberty" are radically different from the same term in the secular world.
For all that, the main kids in Jesus Camp seem like very nice youngsters. Based on the film, there would be no basis for calling them Hitler Youth or Christian terrorists.
However, kids do grow up. And the vision of the hard religious U.S. right that Hedges outlines sounds like a Christian version of Iran on a bad tolerance day.
For some reason, I'm moved to remember this lyrical snippet from Saturday Night Holocaust, by the Dead Kennedys:
A Hitler youth in jogging suit
Smiling face banded 'round his arm
Says, 'Line up, you've got work to do
We need dog food for the poor'
The one thing Jello Biafra might want to add, if the worst-case scenario of Hedges ever came true, is a cross around the neck.
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