by Chris Hedges
The Christian Right, for now, is forced to function within the political system it seeks to destroy. Judges continue to judge. Teachers continue to teach. The media continues to report. Politicians continue to campaign. But in the world of fundamentalist rhetoric, only “Bible-believing” judges are worthy of respect. Only Christian teachers are true educators. And only the pseudo-reporters seen and heard on Christian broadcasts, who portray the course of historical and world events as conforming to purported biblical prophecies, report the real news. Finally, it is only the men of God, those who champion the Christian state, who have the right to rule. The movement is creating a parallel system, complete with parallel Christian organizations, to replace the old one. It is a slow and often imperceptible process, but Johnson’s Ohio rally is the outward expression of vast subterranean shifts that are methodically reorienting the lives of literalist Christians and the country.
Students in Christian schools are being inculcated with the intolerant, heavy-handed political doctrine on display at the rally. The Accelerated Christian Education curriculum, one of the country’s three major publishers of Christian textbooks, defines “liberal” in its schoolbooks as “referring to philosophy not supported by Scripture” and “conservative” as “dedicated to the preserving of Scriptural principles.”4 And “Conservative Christian schools,” identified by their affiliation with one of four national school organizations that define themselves as evangelical and Christian, are the fastest-growing segment within the private school system. Such schools now represent 15.4 percent of all private school enrollment. The National Center for Education Statistics shows a 41 percent growth in the total enrollment at conservative Christian schools between 1992 and 2002.5 The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that the number of home schoolers rose from 850,000 to 1.1 million between 1999 and 2003. Of those surveyed, 72 percent of parents cited the desire to give religious and moral instruction as a top reason for home-schooling.6
In texts published by A Beka, one of the big fundamentalist publishing houses, African religious beliefs are described as “false.”7 Hinduism is “pagan”8 and “evil.”9 The lack of Christian conversion among Africans is blamed on “Satan’s strong hold on these people,” according to a Bob Jones University Press history textbook for seventh graders.10 A Beka’s high school world history textbook blames the poverty and political chaos in most of Africa on a lack of faith. It skips over the repressive colonial European regimes that exploited the continent and decimated the population in countries such as the Congo, explaining:
For over a thousand years, there was no clear Christian witness in the vast heartland of Africa; the fear, idolatry, superstition, and witchcraft associated with animism (the belief that natural objects and forces are inhabited by mostly malignant spirits) prevented most Africans from learning how to use nature for man’s benefit.11
Another A Beka textbook argues that “witchcraft and spirit worship” caused most postcolonial self-governments in Africa to descend into dictatorships.12 Hinduism is described as “devastating to India’s history.”13 Hindus are “incapable of writing history [because] all that happens is dissipated in their minds into confused dreams. What we call historical truth and veracity—intelligent comprehension of events, and fidelity in representing them—nothing of this sort can be looked for among the Hindus.”14
The Muslim prophet Muhammad is portrayed as deceiving followers about his “supposed encounters with angels,” and Buddha is criticized because he desired to “leave his wife and newborn son”15 in a search for enlightenment. The deaths of Muhammad and Buddha, set against the risen Christ, are taken as proof that Islam and Buddhism are false religions. And while the movement works alongside right-wing Catholic groups, within its own circle it spits venom at the Catholic faith. The A Beka textbook calls Catholicism “distorted” and explains that in Catholic countries such as Ireland children “grow up believing the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church without knowing of God’s free salvation.”16 The Catholic empires of France and Spain failed to colonize the United States, students are told, because God wanted to make America a Christian nation.
The college protesters of the 1960s were largely the instruments of communists “seeking to exploit youthful rebellion in order to advance their own goals.”17 Riots occurred in black neighborhoods because “power-hungry individuals stirred up the people.”18 Those dependent on the welfare programs of the 1960s “became more susceptible to politicians that preyed on economic insecurity. . . . In this way politicians literally bought the votes of millions of Americans.”19 And Joseph McCarthy becomes a patriot, with a textbook stating, “McCarthy’s conclusions, although technically unprovable, were drawn from the accumulation of undisputed facts.”20
It is this binary worldview that informs those around me at the rally. The room falls silent to watch a video that will precede the talk by Blackwell. It begins with images of the life of Christ. The text that accompanies the images is lifted from a passage in LaHaye’s final apocalyptic novel Glorious Appearing. The novel reprints a sermon by the late Dr. Shadrach Meshach Lockridge, who served as the pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego from 1952 to 1993. It is pounded out in a raplike beat, the voice deep and sonorous. The narrator slowly builds momentum, and the crowd shouts, rises and erupts in thunderous applause. Blackwell regularly uses the video as a campaign prop.
The Bible says my king is a seven-way king. He’s the king of the Jews; that’s a racial king. He’s the king of Israel; that’s a national king. He’s the king of righteousness. He’s the king of the ages. He’s the king of heaven. He’s the king of glory. He’s the king of kings. Besides being a seven-way king, He’s the Lord of lords. That’s my king. Well, I wonder, do you know Him?21
The video builds on this refrain, all the while listing attributes of the king. The beat and pace of the words infect the crowd, which shouts, “Amen!”
He’s indescribable. He’s incomprehensible. He’s invincible. He’s irresistible. Well, you can’t get Him out of your mind. You can’t get Him off of your hand. You can’t outlive Him and you can’t live without Him. The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found they couldn’t stop Him. Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him. Herod couldn’t kill Him. Death couldn’t handle Him, and the grave couldn’t hold Him. That’s my king!22
It is on this euphoric note that gubernatorial candidate Blackwell rises to speak. He turns to the cheering crowd, now on their feet, and shouts: “He is my King! Do you know Him?”
Blackwell is the only candidate for governor to appear at the rallies. He has posted on his Web site a list of 20 requirements for people of “high character.” He helped make Ohio a “State of Character,” part of a movement within the Christian Right that includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia and Oklahoma. There are also more than 160 American cities and towns of “high character,” 36 counties and 47 foreign cities, most of them in the Philippines. Blackwell has put funding and resources aside to train citizens and leaders on how to be people of character. To all potential candidates he sends out forms to fill out to declare they are persons of character and posts the names of those who abide by the request on his Web site.
Woven into Blackwell’s 20-point list, which deftly eschews all religious terminology, is a blueprint for an authoritarian state, one where questioning power is unpatriotic and only those with “high character,” as rigidly defined by Christians like Blackwell, have the right to lead and be heard. Individualism, the right to privacy, the belief that other political viewpoints and moral systems have value—all are attacked as disruptive to social cohesion.
Within the movement there is an open call for a uniform moral code, one that needs to be enforced in the public and private realms. In the section titled “Unity,” followers are told:
High-character people strive to build relationships that foster oneness among others who are bound with them to a common promise, vision, mission or purpose. Ethica
l organizations seek uniformity in their people’s shared character ethics and unity among their otherwise richly diverse people. Without a persevering commitment to shared character ethics, there is no hope for sustainable unity. (Observable Virtues: reconciler.)23
In section 7, titled “Accountability,” followers are told how to enforce this unity:
High-character people scrutinize themselves and welcome the scrutiny of others. They acknowledge that human nature compels us toward independence. Our preference for independence results in isolation from one another. Isolation breeds temptation to unethical conduct. High-character people resist this chain reaction by adopting transparent life-and work-styles that invite inspection. They place themselves in relationships that motivate self-examination and encourage constructive critique from others, particularly those they serve. (Observable Virtues: an open, up-front, disclosing spirit.)24
Point 14, titled “Honoring Authority,” is a reminder that without moral guides, people of “high character” can go astray and deviate from the ethical standards imposed from above:
All people are imperfect, requiring boundaries for behavior. High-character people willingly yield to the authority of those who are charged with upholding those boundaries. They help shape and then abide by the legitimate laws, rules and boundaries established by legitimate authorities and strive to live within those boundaries for the betterment of all people. When those given authority violate conscience-convicting character ethics, high-character people take wise action to justly hold them accountable. (Observable Virtues: yieldedness, submission/“aligned with the mission.”)25
Toward the end of the list, in point 19, under a heading titled “Our Ability to Change,” there is a section titled “Submission to Truth”:
Truth transforms people only when we submit to it. People who seek truth cannot not transform. Eventually everyone confronts the power of truth. When people of conscience are confronted by what is true, they feel convicted to replace or “put off” their lower character by pursuing and “putting on” high-character ethics. Taking action on this choice can occur overnight or over a long and often painful period.26
All the points ask people of “high character” to give over all authority for moral and political decisions to leaders who tell them what is true and what is right. All must, if they have “high character,” invite scrutiny by these leaders, by the organs of the state and by their neighbors. These tenets are the pillars of the police state, the state where all are told to watch for social and political deviants, where there is only one orthodox truth, where all dissent is heresy, where those who are not of “high character,” those who do not submit and do what they are told, are not allowed to contaminate the public domain. Those of “high character,” those who abide by these moral tenets, become servile, afraid, bound to the tasks laid out by their leaders, willing to be punished for failing to achieve the moral standards and goals imposed by the state and ready to denounce those around them.
Rod Parsley, the head of the World Harvest Church, is one of the Christian Right’s shining lights, not least because of his crossover appeal among African Americans, who make up about 45 percent of his 12,000–member congregation. Parsley works crowds like a revival preacher. His spitfire phrases tumble out of his mouth. His face is swiftly covered with sweat, which he periodically swipes clean with a white handkerchief. Often, as he did at a rally at Columbus with former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Parsley orders the secular media to leave. He was instrumental in mobilizing voters to support the gay marriage ban during the 2004 presidential elections in Ohio, an effective tool in getting the religious right to the polls to vote for President Bush.
Parsley represents the new breed of Christian Right leaders. His worship services resemble freewheeling chats between him and the congregation. Traditional hymnals and choreographed, predictable liturgies, as well as suits and dresses, have been replaced by a casual come-as-you-are attitude, electric guitars and dancing in the aisles. But the service revolves around Parsley. He exudes the aura of a rock star and the moral authority of a prophet. Parsley, although white, changes easily into the traditional rhythms and cadences of the black church. He questions the biological basis for homosexuality. He argues that the gay lifestyle is morally and physically damaging to homosexuals. He says that liberals defend homosexuality to erode the moral fiber of the nation. Islam, he says, is “an anti-Christ religion” that intends to use violence to conquer the world. Allah, Parsley contends, is a demon spirit.27 And Christian America has been mandated by God to do battle and defeat all demons to usher in the reign of Christ. Charismatic and funny, he peppers the language of war and violence into his sermons, which usually rouse his audiences to their feet. I heard him speak in Washington, where, in a naked call to battle, he soon had those in the hall standing and shouting. (Part of his peroration appears above, in Chapter 1.)
Throughout history, countries and kingdoms have been birthed on the battlefield of a revolutionary movement. Such crusades have been championed by soldiers and citizens who have refused to be denied or delayed or detoured in their pursuit to take up a cause they believed deserving of even death itself. Now, the effect of such an upheaval has been the escalation of every religious, political, and social event from Communism to feminism, from Marxism to Nazism, from mayhem to martyrdom, from anarchy to democracy.
A moral revolution is dependent upon the moral virtue of the people. It becomes necessary when the vice and ignorance, or virtue and intelligence, of a people demand it. At that point, negotiation and compromise become void and revolution is inevitable. . . .
The church that claims to hold the cause of right, yet condemns confrontation, is little more than a social club. They want rain with no thunder, and rain with no lightning. They long to avoid confrontation by dwelling in what I call the devil’s demilitarized zone, inside the safety of their sanctuary. . . . in order that they might preserve their little façade of peace at any price. But there are those in this room with pigmentation in their skin a little darker than mine that understand this terminology: power—real power—concedes nothing without demand. Somebody’s got to speak up and be seen and be heard. Somebody’s got to say, “I’m not going to the back of the bus, not one single solitary time more. My father owns the bus line; I will sit where I please.” [Applause]. . . .
I don’t know if you’ve noticed it or not, but we are at a point of crisis. Our culture is in chaos. The moral foundations once constructed by the tenets of our faith are quickly crumbling around us with no sign of a cure. We are at a point of crisis. We are at a strategic inflection point. And we are this morning faced with a choice. Let me share it with you this way: when complacency exceeds your desire and mine for change, the consequence is concession and chaos. But when comfort and contentment no longer pacify the people, the cry “Freedom at any cost” can be heard, and it alone becomes the catalyst which produces confrontation, which gives birth to change.
Such upheaval was apparent in the early church. Men and women became martyrs and misfits. They didn’t fit in. They were mocked and ridiculed by the social, political, and religious leaders of their day. But . . . they could not bow, and they would not burn.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed it or not, but I see the embers starting to flicker again. I see a glorious church just about to rise out of the blurs of indistinction. I see a remnant of people here this morning that are glad to give their lives to a cause greater than themselves.
There’s no greater drama than the sight of a few remnant believers gathered for breakfast, scorned by a succession of adversaries, multiplying miraculously from a world that still doesn’t understand where it came from. We’ve multiplied miraculously. The more they afflict us, the more we prosper and grow. I’m here to tell you, if you think 2004 was something, we have not begun to reach critical mass. We are the largest special-interest group in America.
We’re giving order to chaos. We’re fighting the sword with the Word. We’re
fighting savagery with hope. We’re rescuing the downtrodden, restoring the disheartened, reviving the life of Christ in the hearts of humanity. Look at them. Look at us. We’re people and we’re battered, but we are not bowing. Why? Because we are propelled—here’s what they don’t get—we’re propelled by a power that is greater than ourselves.
Christians, evangelical Christians, are the original obsessive-compulsive people. We put down one arm and the other goes up. We cover our mouths, and the gaze of our eyes shouts a hallelujah of victory. We’re compelled by a power greater than ourselves, compelled to serve an infallible leader, an irresistible power which is based upon absolute truth.
Listen, when you get hold of truth—I’m not talking about tolerance, that’s what secular humanism has done to the church of Jesus Christ across America. It has turned us into secular humanists, where we try to use the Bible as a tool to make God give us what we want. It’s time to start singing old songs again, like “I Surrender All”: “All to Jesus I surrender./All to him I freely give./I will ever love and trust him./In his presence daily live. I surrender all. Though none go with me, still I will follow.” A thousand men may fall at my left and ten thousand at my right, but it shall not come nigh thee. With God before me, who can be against?
Men and women of such moral stock will not cave in at the sight of first opposition. You don’t need anybody. Just give us somebody. Give us somebody like David in the Valley of Elah, with five smooth stones, crying out, “Is there another cause?” Give us somebody like Moses. They don’t have to have perfect speech. Give us a Moses to stand in front of Pharaoh, saying, “L-l-l-l-l-let my—better let ’em go.”
