Christian Religious Fundamentalism
“A culture that cannot distingush beween reality and illusion dies.” — C. Hedges
1 Teaching fundamentalism
In the mid 19th Century Emil Durkheim discussed what he termed an increasingly anti-bourgeoisie working class. He noted that it would be useful for the bourgeoisie to control this group. To do so, he suggest using the religious myths of the ’working classes’ against them.
Drumming up belief in religious myths was essential he said, in order to ensure social cohesion, undercut class polarisation, and most of all return the working-class to their former state of obedience to those in power.
Durkheim called upon the educated Parisian bourgeoisie (i.e. the capitalists of the day, the powerful and wealthy) to create a uniform pretence. This pretence should be that they put on a show of faith for the masses. The powerful should pretend that they too believed the religious myths of the citizenry. He called for the instrumentalisation of religion. That is, he called on those in power to use religion as a means of maintaining political dominance.
Durkheim believed that the Christian religion, already strongly hierarchical with a long history of control over peasants and the poor was an ideal vehicle for his ideas. But even better he felt, was Christian fundamentalism. This was perfect a perfect vehicle for keeping the mass of people subservient to their betters.
His ideas were incorporated into his designs for
educational curricula, and hence into the social narrative of several countries. Particularly in the west.
“Any time of place in which a single wordview comes to dominate the hearts and minds of men is almost by definition a dark age - ideologies of this type diminish people and society to the small and stifling measures that always serve narrow and self-perpetuating elites.” — J. Restakis [26]
2 Fear laden societies
’I am driven with a mission from God’. God would tell me, ’... go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan. And I did. And then God would tell me ’... go and end the tyranny in Iraq’. And I did... I feel God’s words coming to me" — a U.S. President and Christian fundamentalist [25,38], corroborated by the BBC [39]
“This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent—the ‘forceful’ ones—will lay hold of the kingdom.” — Ron Luce, appointed by the U.S. President to the White House Advisory Commission on Drug-Free Communities, and leader of the multimillion dollar U.S. BattleCry evangelical organization [41]
Fast foreword now to our own time, when there are:
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Severe economic downturns,
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wars of genocide for oil,
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decreasing life expectancy for all but the wealthy,
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massive job losses,
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“terrorism” and resultant restrictions on freedom of movement,
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rise of violent perversions of religion,
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non-stop warnings about potential epidemic diseases,
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obviously uncaring and contemptuous government,
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climate disaster, destruction of the oceans, largest species extinction since the dinosaurs died out,
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the end of the nuclear family,
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escalating gang violence in cities,
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overpopulation and mass starvation around the world,
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no chance of upward social mobility for the vast majority,
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removal of basic human rights around the world, removal of privacy rights, mass surveillance,
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end of democracies,
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economic collapse
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a planet ruled by uncaring corporations,
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and so on.
These all contribute to an underlying narrative of
fear. Such a narrative has historically been nurtured and expanded by the unscrupulous as a means of social control. Of particular utility in instilling this narrative has been, and is, religion.
The sharp rise in religious fundamentalism and the false hope of reward for the blind obedience a fear-laden society demands is the result. Religious fundamentalism is the outgrowth of fear, for obvious reasons.
3. Western religious fundamentalism
Overall, the majority of people in Mexico, Canada, and the United States identify themselves as members a Christian religion.
The first act of a recent U.S. president was to officially dedicate his inauguration to Jesus, who he declared to be “our saviour.” Almost fifty percent of the population of the U.S. believe the Christian holy book to be the inspired word of their particular deity [2]. More than 33% believe this
political rather than spiritual book to be composed entirely of the actual words spoken by their version of a deity [1]. Interestingly these numbers are roughly the same as one finds in several middle eastern countries [16] which numerous U.S. politicians have said are filled with religious fanatics.
Needless to say as education level ascends, fewer and fewer believe these religious myths [3], but those lacking education report in survey after survey that they believe their bible to be the only true word of their version on a god [4]. Belief that this
church written, political book was composed by some god is also closely tied to one’s class and opportunity for socially upward mobility [17,18,19,20].
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration--courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and, above all, love of the truth." - H. L. Mencken [57]
A few points from the Christian Bible (which as you recall, these fine folk say is the actual word of their version of a deity):
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Women wearing pants: “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so [are] abomination unto the LORD thy God. “ [Deuteronomy, 22:5]
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Unicorns: “His glory [is like] the firstling of his bullock, and his horns [are like] the horns of unicorns.” [Deuteronomy, 33:17] (See also Numbers 23,22; Numbers 24,8; Job 39,9-10; Psalms 22,21; Psalms 29,6; Psalms 92,10; Isaiah 34,7 - lots of unicorns as translated from ראם or rĕ’em)
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Prayer vs medicine: “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” [James, 5:15]
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Subjucating women: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” [Ephesians, 5:22] and “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” [Timothy, 2:12]
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Whipping slaves: “[Jesus said:] And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many [lashes]” [Luke, 12:47]
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Killing non-virgin brides: “But if this thing be true, [and the tokens of] virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die” [Deuteronomy, 22:20-21]
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Burning people alive: “[And Jesus said:] If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” [John, 15:6] It was this statement that was repeatedly used by the Christian Church to burn so many people to death during the decades of the Inquisition.
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Genocide and war crimes: “And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick kiln:and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem." [Samuel, 12:31]
Well. There are also some religious zealots who take the words of their Bible ascribed to Jesus to be his true teachings. Scholars however, and even such organizations as the Jesus Seminar, estimate that at least 85% of the words and actions of Jesus in the Bible’s New Testament are fake, added later, made up by latter day Christians etc. Believing categorically that the Bible accurately reports Jesus’ teachings is simply said, incorrect.
As I pointed out above, throughout history where there has been an artificially created atmosphere of fear and some book is held up as the only security, religious fundamentalism has frequently taken hold. For with an increasingly intransigent upper class amassing increasingly more wealth whilst the majority suffer, adamant belief in a better ’next world’ is for many, the only way out.
This is what we now see in several western countries. Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Slovenian, Holland, the United States, Canada, and so on for most other western countries ... all have leaders openly espousing fundamentalist/evangelical Christian beliefs. Well, history has many lessons for what happens to love and peace when evangelicals take over.
4. Fundamentalism and power
“However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you.” — Christian bible, Deutoronomy 20:16-18 (NIV) [27], exemplifying the belief system from which fundamentalism arises.
Of course as Durkheim pointed out, along with the rise of fundamentalism it is tremendously advantageous for those in power to pretend to outdo everyone else in their religious fervour. For by pretending to hold fundamentalist belief in what they choose to call “Christian values”, particularly in a background of fearful events, entire populations can be turned to support them and their self-interested goals. Those who led the crusades in which millions died so that the leaders could become even wealthier, knew this well.
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“God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that,” -– a U.S. Cabinet member [21,22] and Christian discussing the reason for the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan
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"I don’t know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." — George Bush 1st (a U.S. President) [24] and Christian
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"For the first time ever, everything is in place for the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ." — Ronald Reagan, (a US President) [23] and Christian
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We are a Christian country and we should not be afraid to say so," — David Cameron [56], Prime Minister of England
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"Well, you know what? I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol. Our spiritual enemy will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus." — U.S. Lt. General William G. Boykin [53], United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence
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"Our culture is superior. Our culture is superior because our religion is Christianity and that is the truth that makes men free." — Pat Buchanan [53], U.S. Presidential Candidate
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"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren’t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That’s war. And this is war. ... Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims." --Ann Coulter, U.S. journalist and avowed Christian [42]
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"Yes, religion and politics do mix. America is a nation based on biblical principles. Christian values dominate our government. The test of those values is the Bible. Politicians who do not use the bible to guide their public and private lives do not belong in office." — B. LaHaye, head of U.S. Concerned Women for America, and avowed Christian [43]
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“The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Church’s public marks of the covenant–baptism and holy communion–must be denied citizenship. ... This is God’s world, not Satan’s. Christians are the lawful heirs, not non-Christians." — Gary North [45], U.S. Institute for Christian Economics
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"When the Christian majority takes over this country, there will be no satanic churches, no more free distribution of pornography, no more talk of rights for homosexuals. After the Christian majority takes control, pluralism will be seen as immoral and evil and the state will not permit anybody the right to practice evil." — Gary Potter [46], U.S. Catholics for Christian Political Action
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"The Christian community has a golden opportunity to train an army of dedicated teachers who can invade the public school classrooms and use them to influence the nation for Christ." — James Kennedy [47], U.S. Center for Reclaiming America
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"The Court, by seeking to equate Christianity with other religions, merely assaults the one faith. The Court in essence is assailing the true God by democratizing the Christian religion." — John Whitehead [49], U.S. Rutherford Institute
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"Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between Communistic Atheism and Christianity." — Joseph McCarthy [50], U.S. Senator, alleged perpetrator of McCarthyism and the worst western mass censorship of the 20th c.
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"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good. Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don’t want equal time. We don’t want pluralism." — Randall Terry [54], U.S. Operation Rescue
Dark times always have led to religiosity amongst the gullible and desperate. Politicizing religion has always been, and is therefore, a very useful tool through which to exert power during such times.
5. Fundamentalism for money
Exploiting religious fundamentalism has been one of the easiest means of making pots of money for oneself. Marjoe Gartner has written extensively on this, and he should know. He was by his own admission one of the self-admitted bilkers of the vulnerable. When he left the exploitation circuit, others flocked in to take his place. Such fiscal exploitation has been aided tremendously in several “Christian” countries by lawmakers who create tax systems specifically exempting recipients of donation largess from paying taxes.
Now, completely and utterly unrelated to the foregoing, here is a fun table to look at some fundamentalist groups in the United States::
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Who
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Alleged message and alleged beliefs (note)
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Alleged annual Revenue (rounded) at time of writing
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Christian Broadcasting Network
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Separation of church and state is evil; God is ’with America’. Their fine leader allegedly issued alleged anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim statements in public, which are readily available in the academic literature. For example: Why 9/11 happened - “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians, the A.C.L.U., People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularise America, I point the finger in their face and say, ’You helped this [war, economic collapse, etc.] happen.’”. Or on freedom of speech - “Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions”; — Christian Broadcasting Network leader Jerry Falwell and personal friend of two US Presidents on why 9/11 happened [4]. “If [Falwell] had been given an enema, he could have been buried in a matchbox.” — Christopher Hitchens [41].
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$187,000,000 [5]
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Focus on the Family
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Corporal punishment for children; church-state separation is wrong; Girl Scouts are evil agents of "humanism and radical feminism"; tolerance of other beliefs is evil; homosexuality is an evil sin [6]
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$138,000,000 [7]
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Coral Ridge Ministries
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Oust all those not believing in their version of Christianity and ’seize the nation (the United States) for Christ’; against homosexuality; against separation of church and state [8]
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$40,000,000 [9]
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Alliance Defence Fund
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Dominate the justice system and “reclaim the legal system for Jesus Christ”; wants creationism taught in schools as truth; wants no separation between church and state; runs National Litigation Academy to have lawyers apply “Christian values” when litigating [10]
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$18,000,000 [11]
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Jehovah’s Witnesses
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6.7 million members of which only 114,000 can get into heaven. Giving to charity is forbidden. Blood transfusion is forbidden. State and federal governments are alleged by them to be run by their interestingly horrible version of a devil. Core activity – evangelical conversion of everyone to their alleged cult [12].
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$914,000,000 [13]
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American Family Association
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Want to remove "anti-family" programming from media; want no separation between church and state; want to make United States to be a solely Christian country [14]
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$18,000,000 [15]
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Of course there are many other fundamentalist organisations which also make quite a bit of money, as indicated
here. That Jesus is said to have eschewed and actively rebelled against such activities may to be irrelevant to some of these groups. Sadly the exploited minions of fundamentalism seldom read their particular holy books. The admonition for example to ’turn the other cheek’ should one be struck is lost amidst the bellicose call for war against those who are not of their faith. A tragedy of human stupidity.
"... let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his state, the
means will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by everybody
because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be"
-- Machiavelli [16]
6. Mental Illness
“Believing oneself to be perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind” — Lt. Commander Data, Starship Enterprise, addressing the Queen of the Borg
One of the hallmarks of severe mental illness is evidenced by a person hearing a voice in their head which gives them instructions or suggestions that they act on.
Take another look at the quotation at the top of this article. Often such people may be loosely grouped under the heading of schizophrenic. Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by impairments in the perception of reality. It often gives rise to auditory hallucinations, paranoia, delusions, and/or disorganized thought and speech. It frequently results in social and occupational dysfunction. There are many other forms of disease, notably some forms of dementia such as Lewy Body disease which also manifest with auditory and visual hallucinations, or some forms of psychoses which lead to irrational feelings of superiority and ignorance of or uncaring about the real world consequences of ones actions. The point is that hearing voices in one’s head is a marker for a number of very serious mental illnesses.
Normally if a person claimed that their version of a deity spoke directly to them and told them to invade a country, she may be encouraged to wear a straitjacket for her own, as well as others’ protection. But alas, if the person in question is a scion of wealth and power, nothing is done. And so we have the bizarre and rather sad display of several front running candidates in several U.S. elections claiming to have heard their version of god whispering in their ears that they should run for the president of the United States [28]. A hefty number of these candidates not only say they hear voices in their heads (angels, their version of god, etc.) but actually have millions of supporters who believe them [ibid]. Mass psychoses of course are not uncommon in history, particularly in times where inculcating fear is the primary tool of those in power. That such is called “religion” rather mental illness, is merely an indicator of the depth of illness which has taken hold.
“George Bush was not elected by a majority of the voters in the United States, he was appointed by God.” — U.S. Lt. General William G. Boykin [52], United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. (At least half of this statement is correct.)
There is even the bizarre case of a recent front running U.S. presidential candidate and senator who also heard the voice of god [31], saying that those millions of citizens of that country who lack food and shelter, should trust in god to provide for them rather than using government run programs to help. This deeply religious Christian candidate wanted to cancel all social programs which helped the poor as being too ’expensive’ [29], saying the poor should trust in (his version of) God instead. Slashing government aid to the poor and destitute was considered acceptable or even desirable by these multimillionaire leaders because in the black-and-white fundamentalist doctrine they espoused, (their version of) god helps good people and punishes bad people [30]. It is not the government’s job to help bad people. Corporations are rich and powerful, so (their version of) god must love corporations. And clear He hates the poor and sick, because they are poor and sick. Therefore government programs to the poor and destitute must be cut but aid to corporations should be increased in order to be in accord with (their version of ) god’s will. Q.E.D.
A governor of a large U.S. state (a state which had recently required teaching of Christian creation myths in all schools [33]) organized prayer sessions lasting three days. Why? Because he said that (his version of) god would hear the prayers and elevate the drought farmers in his state were experiencing [32]. In another U.S. state the governor called upon the citizenry to hold mass prayers for rain, but neglected to allocated monies to help save farmers’ crops from draught [34]. Needless to say, no rain came. The then president of that country even prayed to (his version of) god to help with yet another fiscal crises. Again, if ordinary citizens went around suggesting that solutions lie in prayer to natural disasters, he or she might be subject to some rather rapid medical intervention - particularly if they, like these so many of these fine leaders, suggested that (their version of) a god spoke to them directly about what to do.
There is also a happy group of holy folk in that benighted holy country called the New Apostolic Reformation [38]. The movement’s top men allegedly consider themselves to be prophets and apostles. And that (their version of a) god speaks to them directly. Ignoring their god’s words is they allegedly say, the reason for earthquakes in Japan, the U.S. 9/11 incidents, the U.S. economic collapse, and other disasters. They allegedly believe too, that the U.S. Democratic Party is controlled by satanic demons, some of whom they have actually seen appear at rallies. The alleged underlying work of the New Apostolic Reformation is a plan to seize power first in the U.S., and then on to the world. They allegedly have plans to infiltrate all levels of media, arts and entertainment, government, military, and so on. All because (their version of a) god told their leaders or prophets, to do so. Voices in their heads. And perhaps in the head of one of the candidates for President of the country, who has adopted (at least publically) their beliefs.
Religious fundamentalists hearing some imaginary voice in their heads telling them what political policies to adopt, are of questionable sanity. Whether in the wealthiest nation on the planet or in one of the oil rich countries it has invaded. In all cases those who adopt prayer as solution rather than swift allocation of resources to alleviate poverty, crop failure, misogeny, and escalating infant mortality are at best cynical hypocrites, and at worst, of questionable sanity. That these people who hear voices in their heads should aspire to or worse, hold high political office, is a tragedy.
8. Fact vs. fantasy
“Prayer is a sophisticated way of pleading with thunderstorms” — T. Pratchett [40]
Roughly 2000 years ago Celsus wrote his “True Doctrine (’alethès logos)” [35], a polemic against Christian fundamentalism. As with so many of humanity’s thoughtful and intelligent works, the Church
burned every copy [36]. All that remains to history, comes from Origen [37] - a Christian fundamentalist quoted sections of Celsus’ work in a (feeble) attempt to refute them.
Celsus made two primary arguments. The first was to separate Jesus as a person from the nascent Church’s version of him. In other words, he was not keen on the massive revisionism (which I discuss
in more detail here and
here) made by the hundreds of authors of the Christian Biblical Gospels, which pushed certain political doctrines rather than the teachings of Jesus. The second was to argue that fact from belief may sometimes coincide, but they are fundamentally different things. And so for example he objected to the insertion of the other religious myths - notably the resurrection myth as contrary to fact, history, and common sense. “Just believe” was not good enough for Celsus, since he has seen Roman soldiers killing people who did not “just believe” in Roman gods, just as he had seen Christian priest kill people who did not “just believe” in their god. (For examples, please see discussions
here,
here,
here, and
here.) As I point out in the linked documents, Celsus argues that far more people witnessed the resurrection of Aesciepius than the supposed resurrection of Jesus, witness by the three people who had the most to gain from saying they had seen him [35].
For almost 2000 years the fundamentalist Church through massive
bookburning and
people burning, the narrative. Celsus’ argument that Christianity in its fundamentalist form was merely a form of “trickery in the [religious] marketplace” [35]. Celsus, like so many throughout history, was appealed at the hostility of fundamentalist Christianity to every other way of thought, practice, or life. He was appealed at the exclusivity of Christian fundamentalist beliefs - “everyone is damned but us” is the battle cry of fundamentalist Christians. One can hardly be more exclusivistic than that.
This hostility is with us today, where Christian fundamentalist leaders not only hear the voice of their deity whispering inside the heads, but hear it telling them to drop nuclear weapons on those of other faiths (particularly if they live in countries with large oil deposits).
The true fact of religious fundamentalism, as Celsus pointed out 2000 years ago, is that it is a tool of those in power. The fantasy, is that it represents reality.
Those who acculturate to a narrative are doomed to follow it.
9. Conclusion
“Our gods are dead. Ancient Klingon warriors slew them a millenia ago. They were...more trouble than they were worth.” - Worf, Star Trek
In a world progressively more ruled by those who espouse fundamentalist teachings to direct the mob science and rational behaviour are lost. Manipulation of the poor, the under-educated, those without hope through religion has always been a handy tool for the unscrupulous. The army of unquestioning obedience however, arises from their fundamentalist followers. Whether these leaders lead out of a desire for power or money or both is moot. Either way, human potential is lost.
For in many countries religious fundamentalism has become little more than mimicry of state supported doxa. It serves to instil a habitus of subjugation to higher authority. When complete, those acculturated to this propaganda (for that is what it truly is) can mobilised to suppress any threat to such authority. Religious fundamentalism, particularly Christian Fundamentalism is growing in many countries. Fundamentalist zealots in these countries have called for assassination of democratically elected heads of state, the end of religious freedom, the bombing of countries of different religious persuasions, torture, and other horrors. And for a new Crusade which would bring about the forced conversion all all peoples to Christianity “in order to bring peace to the region” [19]. What any of this has to do with the teachings of Jesus is of course, moot. For fundamentalism is the antithesis of science, rationality, sane action, and the civilised discussion one might term thoughtful fact-based argument:
“Science finds every soil barren in which miracles are taken literally and seriously and revelation is considered to provide authentic knowledge of the physical world. If the scientific method is trashed, no amount of resources or loud declarations of intent to develop science can compensate. In those circumstances, scientific research becomes, at best, a kind of cataloguing or ’butterfly-collecting’ activity. It cannot be a creative process of genuine enquiry in which bold hypotheses are made and checked." [17]
I have a very good friend who is a Baptist minister. He is a gentle person, very much beloved by his congregation. He does not believe the Christian Bible is directly inspired by a Christian version of a deity. He believes in God. But his God is seen in the gentleness of a sunrise, or the lilt of a bird’s song. Like Francis of Assisi. His God is gentle, kind, without form. His God needs and wants no praise, no followers, no crusades, and no soldiers marching off to kill in His name. My friend lives in real poverty, giving almost all of any monies donated to his church back to the community (not just to his parishioners), in order to help others. He does not believe in missionary work, saying rather that God does not need human help. He believes his God expects humans to help one another, not shove religion at one another.
He has said many times that there is a darkness in a soul when it believes there is only one path to God, only one version of God, and that some book could be the only right way.
