Letters to the Editor
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Secular Hysteria
I'm sorry, half of this article isn't news and the other half is ridiculous. Yes, there are right wing fundie fascists. Always have been. Are they dangerous? Sure, but by wandering around finding the most dedicated maniacs among them and quoting them is hardly responsible journalism, and doesn't inform us. If the average American Christian is like this, we are all fucked and we should just give up now. But Goldberg has no idea how many Christian nationalists there actually are. She just went and hung out with the biggest rednecks she could find and extrapolated a mass movement from them.
Is fascism or nationalism by definition driven by religious belief, particularly Christian religious belief? No. Imperial Japan, anyone? And by the way, Ms. Goldberg, what's this I'm hearing about a secular "Jewish State" which systematically abuses ethnic minorities, valorizes militarism and compels all citizens to serve in military units? A state constructed around a single ethnic identity that runs itself like a military academy? What's that remind us of?
What is particularly bizarre is Ms. Goldberg's boring reductio ad holocaust, which is simply tiresome. To say that the religious fundie right is anti-semitic is, well, odd given their incredible support for the state of Israel. Christian anti-semitism, as currently constructed, is the most benign form of racism in history, as it is composed largely of arming Jews to the teeth, which is a damned strange way to try to annihilate them. The fact is, right-wing fascists in the US like the right-wing fascists in Israel. And not-so-oddly enough, the Christian nationalists who quote the Bible generally quote the Old Testament God- the one they share with Jews and Muslims- not Jesus. Nevertheless, Fascism orbits around the Party, the Nation, and the ethnic group, not around God. This is how Hitler was able to join German Christians and atheists together in the Nazi party. His cabinet included Christians, pagan fetishists, fanatic anti-Catholic bigots like Bormann, and so on. Religion was secondary in their system to their common love of authority and kinky boots.
If I wanted to write a similar article refuting this, I could just go to some ANSWER meetings and troll the left-wing wacko sites, find those who would make the practice of religion illegal (as has been done by the authoritarian left in certain countries, let's remember), come up with some quotes, and produce a counter-article of the same validity as this one.