In the United States there is a concerted attack on one of our fundamental
constitutional rights—freedom of religion. This attack is not being carried out
by some secular movement such as communism or even from the ranks of
non-believers such as agnostics or atheists. It is being carried out in the
name of religion itself by a vocal minority within those who believe in the
Christian doctrine. It is in many ways a mirror image of the Islamic
fundamentalist movement, which the US government has done so much to promote.
While religious belief should be beyond the scope of any respectable political
party, the fact is that what we are seeing is a political movement disguised as
religion. Whether you call them evangelical or the Christian right, these
groups have little to do with religious beliefs and everything to do with
gaining political and economic power.

The fundamentalist movement has deep roots in the southern states where many have an unbroken record of supporting right-wing political movements all the way back
to the reign of wealthy slave owners. When advocating violence against recently
freed slaves would have been political suicide in the public arena, the racists
preached their poison from pulpits and revival tents all through the south.
With slight alterations the minister’s garb became the feared white hood of the
Ku Klux Klan. Their modern day counterparts use a more subtle form of bigotry
directed against blacks, gays, immigrants, abortion advocates,
environmentalists, Jews, and Muslims. In the race for the 2012 Republican
nomination it looks like Mormons could be added to the list.

The election of George W. Bush based in part on major support from the religious
right brought the fundamentalists out of the shadows and onto the center stage
of American politics. The media fed rise of the Tea Party and evangelical
movements have further promoted the agenda of this narrow but vocal slice of
those pushing the political debate further to the right and into the pocket of
the moneyed elite. To a large degree campaigns against abortion, gay marriage
and the breaching of the wall between the state and religion serve to divert
attention of the American people from the real choices we face as a nation.
When the debate over public education has shifted to how to dismantle the
public education system in favor of a private, often religious, charter system,
the deeper questions of educational reform never make it on the agenda. The
corporate media promote the impression that these attempts to turn back the
clock of social progress have a huge following when in fact they represent a
fringe element in the political spectrum.

While it might be tempting to dismiss this sector of the American people as a
meaningless minority, the fact that they enjoy priority treatment by the
propaganda machine and political representatives of the super-rich, make them a
force to deal with. Perhaps it is time for those who support social progress to
acquaint themselves with the doctrines that these radical right groups claim as
the foundation for their beliefs. There is nothing so stark as the contrast
between the positions of self-proclaimed Christians and the actual teaching of
Christ—even as filtered by former censors in religious garb. The New Testament
and the words of Christ it contains contradict point for point the claims of
the Christian right.

It seems that these wolves in sheep’s clothing know how far from Christian
doctrine they have strayed. Most of the justifications for their actions and
attitudes derive not from the Christian Doctrine but from Jewish law as
outlined in the Old Testament. When George W. launched his war of revenge
against the “terrorists” after 9/11 he was following the ancient Hebrew adage
of ‘an eye for an eye’ not Christ’s teaching of turning the other cheek.
Imagine the moral authority the United States would have enjoyed if Bush
refused to launch the wave of terror that still plagues the Middle East, and
instead began a process of peace and reconciliation. But of course the
merchants of war and retribution would not have reaped their billions in
profits. Most frightening of all for their continued death-fueled profit
margin, peace may have broken out in that region. The ‘Arab Spring’ shows how
likely that possibility really was. Take away the US support system and the
whole structure of terrorism begins to collapse.

The latest attack on the right of women to control their lives, the attempt to
amend the state constitution of Mississippi to declare that a fertilized egg
has citizenship rights, shows the level of cynicism of its supporters in the
Democratic and Republican parties. Luckily the American people, even in the
Deep South, have more sense than to follow the political pundits of the 1%. The
expectation was that with bipartisan support and a well-financed media barrage,
the measure would pass by a large margin. If anything this surprise rejection
by the Mississippi voters shows their moral strength.

How can truly moral citizens whether or not they ascribe to Christian doctrine be
worried about the rights of a newly divided cell, when 46 million Americans
live below the poverty line with homelessness and hunger spreading like a
plague among the children of America. Suffer the little children to come to me!
These unchristian political powerbrokers would sacrifice the future of real
live human beings on the altar of greed. They hold prayer meetings to ask
blessings for America but hold tight to their wealth when it is a question of
helping the starving children in their midst.

Many of these same parodies of Christianity parade their wealth, often obtained
through less than noble means, as a sign that they are blessed. Giving
donations to their favorite evangelical group is promoted as a way to not only
receive the promise of everlasting reward but as a sure fire way to enjoy
wealth here on earth. But what was Christ’s answer to the rich who asked how
they could obtain a place in the kingdom of heaven? It wasn’t “go out and
multiply your riches.” He was very clear “give away your wealth to the poor and
follow my teachings.” The right-wing fundamentalists have turned everything on
its head. Christ was very blunt—if you are rich, your chances of going to
heaven are about as good as that of a camel passing through the eye of a
needle. These fakers claim to await the second coming, but if Christ would
appear today they would be hiding in the basement with their gold bars.

It is interesting that the three main fundamentalist currents in the world today,
Christian, Muslim and Jewish(Zionist), all owe their existence and popularity
to support from the government of the United States. Part of the secret history
of the present terrorist wars goes back to the late 70’s and early 80’s when
the US government through the CIA and the Pakistani ISI recruited, trained and
armed the jihadists to fight against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. With
the help of Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran (under the Shah), a huge
recruitment campaign was carried out to leverage a small fundamentalist Muslim
sentiment into a major terrorist network. The CIA even flew leaders of the
Palestinian left to recruit fighters among refugees in the US. After the defeat
of the Soviets, the Saudis took more direct control through the
multi-millionaire Osama Bin Ladin.

(See Unholy Wars by John K Cooley)

The whole founding of the fundamentalist (Zionist) state of Israel is tied with the
American oil and hegemonic interests in the region. The US continues to maintain
the state of Israel as their main proxy in the Arab world to carry out shock
and awe campaigns. The segregated anti-democratic social structure in Israel harkens to the Jim Crow south and the former South-African Apartheid regime. President
Obama’s claim that the Palestinian bid for statehood, after decades of failed
diplomacy, is misdirected since the United Nations is not the arena for such
talks, shows the deceptive nature of US politicians. The state of Israel itself
was created by UN decree. Unfortunately Israel and the US have violated
every aspect of the UN resolution as it pertains to the right of Palestinians to
life, security and territorial integrity.

So once again the religious and political interweave when it comes to
fundamentalism. The ‘born again’ president launches a terrorist attack against
Afghanistan and later Iraq as payback for an attack on American soil that did
not include a single Afghan or Iraqi. It was an attack by well-trained Saudis.
Saudi Arabia also happens to be the main political and financial support for
the fundamental Islamists all around the globe. They also happen to be the
major support for the US policy and military intervention in the region. Was it
just a happy coincidence that the son of the Bushes main business partners in
the Middle East, the Bin Ladins, was responsible for converting an unpopular do
nothing George W. into a president with near-dictatorial powers? And was it
another coincidence that Bush made sure the obvious support group for the
attack, over 120 Saudis in the US, were shuttled out of the country
unquestioned, while all the rest of the commercial flights were grounded? But
the favors were not one-sided—Bush’s strategy of attacking the innocent made
sure that the cause of Islamic Fundamentalism and especially the terrorist wing,lead by Osama Bin Ladin, grew a hundred fold.

It is up to Christians to take on the fundamentally misguided concepts of the
Christian right in our country just as true believers in the tenets of the
Muslim and Jewish religions have a responsibility to counter the misconceptions
of their fundamental extremists. This process will not only ensure a truer
transmission of their respective traditions but it will also clarify the
underlying political agendas that motivate these quasi-religious movements.
Christians, Muslims and Jews have a long history of tolerance and living in
harmony. In a world poised on destruction, it is time for believers and
non-believers to unite to change the course of the political discussion. We
need to build a just, sustainable future where differences are celebrated and
religious freedom is guaranteed.