The Comma

The Most Dangerous Fundamentalism

A Piece Submitted to The Thoughtful Christian

by

James W. White

Minister Emeritus, First Congregational United Church of Christ

Chairperson, Board of Directors, Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission

There is a religion in America/of America which is fundamentalist, evangelical, and armed. I argue that it needs to be separated from the state for the good of the state, other religions, and the world.

I am talking about what sociologist Robert Bellah names “the civil religion” and historian Sidney Mead dubs “the religion of the Republic.” It is the religion of the nation-state. The giants of the Enlightenment (Rosseau, Locke, Mill, Jefferson, and Madison) gave it to us. In the 21^st century, it has gone totally awry.* It has led us into the worst international catastrophe of American history. Let me explain this pernicious religion.

Question: What is the primary reason we invaded Iraq?

Answer: The national religion of America.

There are three spurious justifications for the war in Iraq: (1) Saddam Hussein had WMDs, (2) Saddam was an unparalleled dangerous dictator, and (3) Saddam with Osama bin Laden was behind September 11, 2001. All those are untrue and were known to be untrue in 2003 when the war began. Put them aside. There are, however, five plausible drivers-to-war suggested by thoughtful analysts. I list them in ascending order of importance:

1. Psychological-familial issues of George W. Bush.

2. Oil, the desire to secure and control the world’s third largest reserve.

3. Reinvigorating the military-industrial complex of the United States.

4. Geo-political push to establish an American presence in the Middle East.

5. Israel and the American Israeli Lobby’s foreign policy goals.

All of these interrelate. They are held together by the prime driver: America’s Religion.

As to WHAT IS THIS RELIGION…please note that the United States Constitution declared there would be “no establishment of religion” in this country. So the religion of the denominations (churches, synagogues, mosques, etc.) was cut off from the state. Still the religious nature of social collectivities, especially that of the nation- state came into being. (See Emile Durkheim for theory here.) In this country our basic religious credo was laid out in the Declaration of Independence proclaiming that “all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The later three became America’s Holy Trinity trumpeted now for over 200 years. Every President in his inaugural speech has always spoken of a Creator, Author of Liberty or God. Basically, most (perhaps 95%) of our citizens believe with Ben Franklin that (1) there is a God, (2) we are called to be moral, and (3) we are eternally accountable. People in churches may believe more, but most hold to such broad ideas. We may recite the “Shema” at a Shabbat service AND, next afternoon, get chocked up at a football game singing the Star Spangled Banner. We can and do belong to both a denominational religion and the state.

This religion of the Republic has had a two-pronged history: an EXEMPLAR self-understanding and a LIBERATOR self-understanding. The former suggests we might be a “city set on a hill” inviting others to emulate our values; the latter suggests that we have a mission to the world to intentionally “extend the blessings of liberty.” John Quincy Adams took the former tack saying, “America does not go abroad seeking monsters to destroy[!],” while Thomas Paine held that “We have it in our power to begin the world anew.” During the last two centuries these sides have struggled for ascendancy, the later usually prevailing.

Within the last decade a group of true believers (read: fundamentalists) in the liberator self-understanding came to political power with the current administration. They are unipolarists or neoconservatives. For the most part, they have no personal or denominational religion. Among their foremost spokespersons (read: preachers) are Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. They were eager (read: evangelical) in their belief that democracy could be spread. They chose Iraq as the country in which to launch a great experiment in regime change toward “freedom and democracy” (our mantra), believing that change there would precipitate regional transformation. After September 11 they got their wished-for “Pearl Harbor” to garner public support behind their planned invasion of Iraq.

It was this ideology (read: religion) more than Israel’s string-pulling, geo-political positioning, industrial-militarism, desire for oil, or the president’s psychoses which drove this nation to war.

What I urge us to do is (1) recognize this national religion that lives among us (necessarily so), (2) understand that its liberator side has been taken over by radical, fundamentalist, evangelical, and armed—incredibly well armed!–believers, and (3) take needed steps to separate out this religion. The civil religion has become vicious. It is time to expunge it from the body politic.

Thoughtful-Acting Christians can help with the exorcism.

James W. White

April 25, 2008

*For a full treatment of this topic, please see my paper, “Benjamin Franklin’s Publicke Religion Gone Awry,” presented at the American Academy of Religion Regional Meeting in Denver, March 28, 2008. It may be found on-line at www: ppjpc.org.