Almost since the inception of this nation, Americans have had a great need to have enemies. It provides us with a great sense of solidarity -- US against them -- and it's a proven method of diverting attention from domestic troubles of our own making. During the twentieth century, we took this ideal to its zenith with a cavalcade of nations and bad guys to loath and hate.
The targets of American animosity are created by politicians, but the conservative Christian Church is always eager to jump on the bandwagon. Fanning the flames of war, the Evangelical Movement in this country has always been among the first to equate the hatred of "enemies" as the greatest form of patriotism.
As the last century came to a close, we had vanquished our chief enemy for the past three decades with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The mighty Christian nation had again triumphed over another enemy. Let's all sing praises to God!!
But with the former Soviet Union turned aside, we created a bit of a problem for ourselves: Who would be our enemy now? The conservatives were in a panic. If no enemy could be manufactured, then the attention of the American public would turn inward and we might soon discover that the wealthy elite had been plundering the American Dream at will.
And that's when they hatched a two-pronged plan: The new hated enemies would be poor Latino immigrants -- the very people who had kept the American economy humming along -- and nebulous Arab terrorists. The Evangelical Movement welcomed these two target groups because, unlike Russians or Germans, Latinos and Arabs don't look like we do. They don't worship like we do and their cultures are far different then ours.
And so the government launched two wars against the "Arab terrorists" and built a fence to protect God-fearing Americans from the immigrants. For their part, the conservative Christian Church began denigrating the two target populations by sowing self-righteous seeds of suspicion and fear. It is playing out today in the form of anti-immigration legislation sweeping the country and nasty fights against any Muslim group that wants to build a mosque.
But make no mistake about it. In time, these two enemies will fade from the picture and new enemies will be manufactured for public consumption because WE MUST HAVE ENEMIES in order to survive.
Sadly, this has proven to be the quintessential American Way.
The targets of American animosity are created by politicians, but the conservative Christian Church is always eager to jump on the bandwagon. Fanning the flames of war, the Evangelical Movement in this country has always been among the first to equate the hatred of "enemies" as the greatest form of patriotism.
As the last century came to a close, we had vanquished our chief enemy for the past three decades with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The mighty Christian nation had again triumphed over another enemy. Let's all sing praises to God!!
But with the former Soviet Union turned aside, we created a bit of a problem for ourselves: Who would be our enemy now? The conservatives were in a panic. If no enemy could be manufactured, then the attention of the American public would turn inward and we might soon discover that the wealthy elite had been plundering the American Dream at will.
And that's when they hatched a two-pronged plan: The new hated enemies would be poor Latino immigrants -- the very people who had kept the American economy humming along -- and nebulous Arab terrorists. The Evangelical Movement welcomed these two target groups because, unlike Russians or Germans, Latinos and Arabs don't look like we do. They don't worship like we do and their cultures are far different then ours.
And so the government launched two wars against the "Arab terrorists" and built a fence to protect God-fearing Americans from the immigrants. For their part, the conservative Christian Church began denigrating the two target populations by sowing self-righteous seeds of suspicion and fear. It is playing out today in the form of anti-immigration legislation sweeping the country and nasty fights against any Muslim group that wants to build a mosque.
But make no mistake about it. In time, these two enemies will fade from the picture and new enemies will be manufactured for public consumption because WE MUST HAVE ENEMIES in order to survive.
Sadly, this has proven to be the quintessential American Way.
Just curious, you seem to use the phrases "conservative Christian Church" and "Evangelicals" interchangeably, yet they are far from the same thing. Are you referring to exclusively the Evangelical Church body or to Christianity as a whole?
ReplyDeleteI'm basically referring to those who are fundamentalist Christians. It can be very redundant to use the same word over and over again, so, to provide better readability, I interchange fundamentalist, conservative and evangelical quite often.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm certain that some people may think there is a wide difference between the three, I have rarely noticed much of any.
The way I see it, "conservative" Christians are a sub-category of the Christian Church and "Evangelical" is a sub-category under that, and "Fundamentalist" under that, etc...
ReplyDeleteAnd, while I understand the readability aspect, it does make a difference because I consider myself at least somewhat conservative (in my political views anyway) and Christian, but not part of the Fundamentalist or Evangelical church bodies.
And so I never know whether to respond or not to comments about conservative Christians because I can only speak for myself and not for fundamentalists or evangelicals or strong conservatives.
Anyway, thanks for the clarification. :)
Might I suggest that you merely comment or respond from the standpoint of the type of Christianity you subscribe to?
ReplyDeleteI suppose that would be logical... :P
ReplyDelete