The View from the Vicarage Sunday July 24, 2022
As food for thought this week, I share some alarming warnings for the future of our beloved
nation and the Christian faith itself from the pen of The Rev. Dr. Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize
winning journalist and ordained Presbyterian minister.
Just recently was posted on Facebook Chris’ courageous declaration: “And what I’m willing to
do, which the mainstream church is not, is to denounce the Christian right as Christian heretics.
You don’t have to, as I did, spend three years at Harvard Divinity School to realize that Jesus
didn’t come to make us rich. And he certainly didn’t come to make Pat Robertson and Joel
Osteen rich. And what they have done is acculturate the worst aspects of American
imperialism*, capitalism, chauvinism, violence and bigotry into the Christian religion.”
*[I would add: “American exceptionalism”. CJB+]
Elsewhere he writes: “[My] book, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on
America, was a warning that an American fascism, wrapped in the flag and clutching the
Christian cross, was organizing to extinguish our anemic democracy. This assault is very far
advanced. The connecting tissue among the disparate militia groups, QAnon conspiracy
theorists , anti-abortion activists, right-wing patriot organizations, Second Amendment
advocates, neo-Confederates and Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol on January 6 is
this frightening Christian fascism.
“These Christians fascists are clear about the society they intend to create. In their ideal
America, our “secular humanist” society based on science and reason will be destroyed. The Ten
Commandments will form the basis of the legal system. Creationism or “Intelligent Design” will
be taught in public schools, many of which will be overtly “Christian.” Those branded as social
deviants, including the LGBTQ community, immigrants, secular humanists, feminists, Jews,
Muslims, criminals, and those dismissed as “nominal Christians”—meaning Christians who do
not embrace this peculiar interpretation of the Bible—will be silenced, imprisoned, or killed. The
role of the federal government will be reduced to protecting property rights, “homeland”
security and waging war. Most government assistance programs and federal departments,
including education, will be terminated. Church organizations will be funded and empowered to
run social-welfare agencies and schools. The poor, condemned for sloth, indolence, and
sinfulness, will be denied help. The death penalty will be expanded to include “moral crimes,”
including apostasy, blasphemy, sodomy, and witchcraft, as well as abortion, which will be
treated as murder. Women, denied contraception, access to abortion, and equality under the
law, will be subordinate to men. Those who practice other faiths will become, at best, second-
class citizens. The wars waged by the American empire will be defined as religious crusades.
Victims of police violence and those in prison will have no redress. There will be no separation of
church and state. The only legitimate voices in public discourse and the media will be
“Christian.” America will be sacralized as an agent of God. Those who defy the “Christian”
authorities, at home and abroad, will be condemned as agents of Satan.”
Given that all of Jesus’ teachings contradict this movement into Christian fascism American-
style and all it espouses, it’s time for the rest of us to stand up and be heard!