Transcript Religious Fundamentalism and Anti

Religious Fundamentalism and
Anti-Democratic Orientation
Religion and Politics
12 November 2006
Overview
 Six readings
 First and second – Christian right and
extremism
 Third - Judaism as example of all
religions naturally leading to extremism
 Fourth – Stability through
institutionalization – Belgium
 Fifth and sixth – Minority/majority status
and religions within society
Christian Violence in America –
Mark Juergensmeyer
 Millennium Thinking
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Iran
Japan
India
US
Story of Reverend Bray – Lutheran
Minister
 Equate America with Nazi Germany –
elimination of a class of citizens – the
unborn
 Bonhoffer – hanged by Nazis
 Niebuhr - Just War Theory – Fulfill
social Justice – realist
 A capture of Niebuhr
Dominion Theology –
Van Til,\Rushdoony,
Gary North, Greg Bahnsen
 Creation mandate – subdue the earth
and populate
 New Testament – Matthew 28
20 ”and teaching them to obey
everything that I have commanded
you. And remember, I am with you
always, to the end of the age."
(Jesus)
Christian Identity
Eric Rudolph – Atlanta
Timothy McVeigh – Oklahoma City
Ruby Ridge
Aryan nation
Fear Jewish takeover – true Jews are Anglo
Saxon (Issac’s Sons)– like Jesus/
Freemasons
 Lost Sheep of the House of Israel –
 Apocalyptic
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Nature of violence
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Destructive Display of Power
Incidents of power on God’s behalf
Compel to obedience
Re-establish order
Popular Christianity and Political Extremism
in the United States – James Aho (Smith chapter 9)
 Extremism includes –
 efforts to deny civil rights to certain
people
 thwarting attempts by other to organize
in opposition to us
 not playing according to legal and
constitutional rules of political fairness
(idea of organic constitution)
American Right Wing Extremism –
 Manichaenism – world divided into warring
principles of absolute good and veil
 Populism – citizenry would align with good
except uninformed of present eveil
 Conspiracy – forces of evil have a scheme
of control
 Anti-modernism – progressive movement is
institutionalism of this conspiracy
 Apocalypticism – the end is coming
Every thirty years an upsurge in
America
 1790s – Federalist Party activists –
opposed Illumanti-Illuminati
 1830s – The Masonic Lodge
 1890s – Papist and Jesuits
 1920s – Hidden Hand
 1950s – The Insiders of Force X
 1980s – Trilateral
Society/Rockerfellerians
Several parallels
 Secret societies in their own right
(Ku Klux Klan)
 No connection with economic turns
 Christian Preachers have been
instrumental
Christian Extremists Religious Pedigrees
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Reformation heritage/Reformed/Baptist/fundamentalist
Beliefs –
Total human depravity
America a chosen people
Covenant theology and the right to revolt (strict
covenant to be chosen people)
 2 Chron 7:14 if my people who are called by my
name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and
turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
(national mission)
 Millennialism (Hal Lindsey Late Great Planet Earth,
recently – Left Behind series – Tim Lahaye)
 Anti-Semitism
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Practice
 Christianity is more than adhering to a
particular doctrine – it is to live righteously
 No two realm cosmology
 Calvin’s Geneva –
 Organization – social network theory –
 John Frame – Christianity as Philosophy –
pg 32 –
 Rushdoony – Thy Kingdom Come – pg 194
 Christian Nation
 Samuel Rutherford –
Samuel Rutherford – 1600-1661
 Lex, Rex was, after the Restoration, burned by the
common hangman, and led to the citation of the
author for high treason, which his death prevented
from taking effect. It presented a theory of limited
government and constitutionalism that laid the
foundation for later political philosophers such as
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and thus for modern
political systems such as that of the United States. He
advocates a rule by law rather than rule by men and
discusses such concepts as the separation of powers
and the covenant, a precursor to the social contract.
His chief fame, however, rests upon his spiritual and
devotional works, such as Christ Dying and drawing
Sinners to Himself, but especially upon his Letters,
which display a fervour of feeling and a rich imagery
which, while highly relished by some, repel others.
Legitimation Problems in the
Modern State - Habermas
 The state does not, it is true, itself establish
the collective identity of the society; nor
can it itself carry out social integration
through values and norms, which are not at
its disposition. But inasmuch as the state
assumes the guarantee to prevent social
disintegration by way of binding decisions,
the exercise of state power is tied to the
claim of maintaining society in its
normatively determined identify. The
legitimacy of state power is then measured
against this; and it must be recognized as
legitimate if it is to last. (112)
Extremism as a Religious Norm –
Charles S. Liebman
 Religion claims absolute truth about
ultimate reality
 Gains adherents
 Supplies the “right way”
 Religion can evaluate culture and forms of
truth in terms of religious truth
 Religious commitment is total commitment
– religious behavior is moral behavior
Definition –by dimension
 First – Expansion of Religious law - halakha
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Scope – from public to family to private (includes social institutions)
Elaboration of the Details of the Law – centralized control
Strictness versus leniency in interpretation – strict being imposition of
restrictions and hardships
 Second – Social Isolation –
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May be physical isolation
May be emotional isolation – intense evangelism
 Third – Cultural Rejection – rejection of cultural forms and
values that are not perceived as indigenous to the religious
tradition
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Modern
Modern
Modern
Modern
thought
science
entertainment
education
Extremism cannot exist in reality –
The Shakers
 The norm – Religious Extremism –
 The abnormal – Religious liberalism or moderation –
this needs explanation
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Extremism is restrained when religion is an organic part
of the society diffused throughout its institutions. To
survive it must compromise and avoid isolation but
adapt
Successful religion confers status and material benefits
on its leaders an attracts to its ranks individuals with
self interested motivations, orientation and propensities
inconsistent with extremism
Religion is not unidimensional attracts those inconsistent
with extremist orientations
Three models –
 First – interprets tradition in light of
contemporary culture or values
 Second – contemporary culture or
values are to be understood in light of
tradition
 Third – Separation –
compartmentalizes life into Jewish
and universalist realms
Democracy and Religious Politics,
Evidence from Belgium
 Religious Politics inimical to democratic development
 highly ideological
 aliberal, antisecular
 Certain contexts can foster cooperation between
religious politics and democratic development
 Belgium proved to be an excellent example of
cooperation between religious entities and the
democratic process
Democracy and Religious Politics,
Evidence from Belgium
 Why Belgium?
 Three reasons for success:
 political shift negatively affecting religious actors
(moderate political insiders)
 existence of competitive institutions (radical grassroots
outsiders)
 centralized religious structure (a centralized church)
 Four Reasons to study it:
 religious cleavage coupled with religious mobilization
 ideological preference for an aliberal/nondemocratic
regime
 competitive political institutions
 democratic consolidation
Democracy and Religious Politics,
Evidence from Belgium
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Historical Catholicism, perfect antithesis for Democracy
 opposed to political liberalism, democracy
 freedom of speech, conscience, religion, and press
 the doctrine of progress
 separation of church and state
Why did it fail to establish a “Church State” in Belgium?
 unable to run countries in which it was the "subculture“
 if anything, helped to provide stabilization? how? (never
really explained)
 modernization in Europe lead to a movement away from
church-run governments (theocracy to true democracy)
Democracy and Religious Politics,
Evidence from Belgium
 Belgium, historical background
 revolt in 1830
 liberals and conservatives formed a "union"
 liberals started to sap power from church, this lead to
partisan politics
 resulted in the advent of a "true" catholic party (the
Ultramontanes)
 Political Actors
 the Church (instrumental in the creation of the state)
 the Ultramontanes (highly conservative sect,
interested in restoration of the "Christian Society")
 the Conservatives (moderates in their position, more
accepting of the state as was)
Democracy and Religious Politics,
Evidence from Belgium
 Conflict
 election of 1878, liberals win
 push church out of school related affairs
 diplomatic breaks with the Vatican occurred (1880)
 Ultramontanes pushed in 1878 elections (Catholique
et Politique)
 Ultramontanes wanted the "catholic restoration of the
conservative party"
 defeat of conservatives pushed for stronger bid for
"pure catholic party"
 conservatives asked for Vatican intervention but were
denied
Democracy and Religious Politics,
Evidence from Belgium
 Outcome
 Conservatives were embraced with the decision of
Leo XIII to not attack Belgium's constitution
 end of Ultramontanes party
 signaled a more moderate approach to the treatment
between church and state
 consolidation between both parties
Rethinking Protestantism and Democratic
Consolidation in Latin America
 Protestantism is said to be having a positive affect on
political climates
 material and economic culture
 political culture
 Defining Democracy
 universal adult franchise
 freely contested competitive elections
 absence of significant reserved powers
 recognition of liberal rights and freedoms
Rethinking Protestantism and Democratic
Consolidation in Latin America
 Pentecostals in Brazil
 Egalitarianism
 strict adherence to moral principles
 non-violence
 "clean break" from traditional culture roles
 external validity comes into question
 one group in one country
 Hope in Brazil?
 Is it possible for there to be a shift away from the
more authoritarian view of religion in South America?
Rethinking Protestantism and Democratic
Consolidation in Latin America
 Peasants in Chile
 Protestantism found to be reinforcing traditional roles
 new source of paternalistic authority
 Protestantism therefore provides a new set of
symbols and signs to combat the "changing social
structure"
 Protestantism’s Effects
 latent changes in South America
 Democratization will come
 capitalism to go hand in hand with liberalism,
democracy?
 Protestantism > entrepreneurial spirit > capitalism >
democratic stability
Rethinking Protestantism and Democratic
Consolidation in Latin America
 Hope in Brazil
 Pentecostals, tend to be clientist
 open embrace of religious freedom
 mirror-images of democratizing factors seen in
government
 The Future?
 The spread of Democracy or the co-habitation of
religious communities and governmental structures
seem very imminent in Latin America
Religious Minorities and Support for Immigrant Rights in
the United States, France, and Germany
 Religious and Social Minorities
 tend to sympathize with one another
 influence both political and social thought
 case study of Jewish attraction to political left
 Surveys were conducted in:
 France
 Germany
 The United States
Religious Minorities and Support for Immigrant Rights in
the United States, France, and Germany
 Variables (in addition to whether or not respondent
was in the social or political minority):
 Education
 Income
 Religious Preference
 Will religious preference play a role in view toward
minorities and immigrant rights?
Religious Minorities and Support for Immigrant Rights in
the United States, France, and Germany
 In the United States:
 Yes, Minority Status leads to Minority Support (both
religiously and socially)
 Who exactly supports minorities?
 Jews
 Catholics (independent of being Hispanic)
 Those with No Religion
 In Germany and France:
 Similar results as those in the United States
 White Protestants, however, shown to be the exception
Question
 Do you think given the recent power shift in Congress
that a more moderate core within the Republican
Party will strive to move away from the Religious
Right (a la the Ultramontanes) to try and reconcile the
power it lost in the 2006 elections?
Question
 Is it possible that the movement away from more
religiously dominated governments could be a direct
cause of some other variable besides improving social
conditions?
 Do you think that this in any way ties back to
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
Question
 Collectively, minorities (social and political) can stand
to gain a lot from working with one another in a
hostile environment. Can you cite any potential
drawbacks to this strategy? How could groups
combat any unforeseen drawbacks?