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"You and you and you.. gotta give 'em hope!" ~Harvey Milk

I watched a bit of the John Roberts hearing recently – trying to guess the implications of the word ‘conservative’ when used. Are all Conservatives also Christian Fundamentalists? I don’t think so. Are all Conservatives also Republicans? Mostly.

But I fear that many who call themselves Conservative but aren’t themselves Christian Fundamentalists are choosing not to make a distinction given the current theocratic climate of the GOP. Too many Conservatives don’t seem to care, worry about or – at the very least – understand the implications of the Christian Fundamentalist takeover of their party. I wonder if these non-fundamentalist Conservatives have ever thought about fundamentalism in a broader global perspective regardless of its Christian, Jewish or Islamic manifestations.

“…the ‘fundamentalisms’ all follow a certain pattern. They are embattled forms of spirituality, which have emerged as a response to a perceived crisis. They are engaged in a conflict with enemies whose secular policies and beliefs seem inimical to religion itself. Fundamentalists do not regard this battle as a conventional political struggle, but experience it as a cosmic war between the forces of good and evil. They fear annihilation, and try to fortify their beleaguered identity by means of selective retrieval of certain doctrines and practices from the past. To avoid contamination, they often withdraw from mainstream society to create a counterculture; yet fundamentalists are not impractical dreamers. They have absorbed the pragmatic rationalism of modernity, and, under the guidance of charismatic leaders, they have refined these “fundamentals” so as to create an ideology that provides the faithful with a plan of action. Eventually they fight back and attempt to resacrilize an increasing skeptical world.” — The Battle for God, p. xiii, by Karen Armstrong

After reading Bill Moyers’ recent speech 9/11 and the Sport of God regarding the growing threat of fundamentalism in this country especially after 9/11, I thought of the influence it has had in my life. I come from an extended family with members who are people of color and members (including myself) who are gay. Yet some in my extended family remain explicitly and unapologetically racist while others of my immediate family remain decidedly and arrogantly anti-gay. And I believe it is primarily the fundamentalists in this country who have nurtured these xenophobic arrogant world views. I attribute to the leaders of the Christian Fundamentalists the longevity of these hateful and racist attitudes living on in my family.

It is predominantly the legalistic literalist Christian Fundamentalists pointing to passages in the Bible who have sown the seeds of intolerance, irrationalism and apathy towards our fellow man in this country. Using the power of the pulpit and their viral sermons of denigration they once justified the enslavement and segregation of People of Color and now – under the guise of compassion – they slander the character and agenda of Gay and Lesbian people.

Yet though I recognize the powerful propagandizing influence this cult of the Chosen Ones has had over some in my family, I no longer dismiss their culpability as merely a product of ignorance and provincialism. To me they have sold their souls in order to buy a modicum of comfort, justification and consolation against the complexities of the real world and more shamefully in order to turn a blind eye to the realities within their own family.

I choose to associate little with that aspect of my blood for they deeply offend me and those I truly love. The same cannot be said of my young brown-skinned cousins. They must still endure the burdens of growing up in such a family – one in which racism is masked by emotional distance and coldness. Nevertheless, those who offend me most aren’t the racists or anti-gay family members but the fascist and deeply dangerous Christian Fundamentalist leaders spreading their supremacist ideologies…

“…To these fundamentalist radicals there is only one legitimate religion and only one particular brand of that religion that is right; all others who call on God are immoral or wrong. They believe the Bible to be literally true and that they alone know what it means. …So the Grand Old Party – the GOP – has become God’s Own Party, its ranks made up of God’s Own People marching as to war… Listen to their preachers, evangelists, and homegrown ayatollahs: Their viral intolerance – their loathing of other people’s beliefs, of America’s secular and liberal values, of an independent press, of the courts, of reason, science and the search for objective knowledge – has become an unprecedented sectarian crusade for state power. They use the language of faith to demonize political opponents, mislead and misinform voters, censor writers and artists, ostracize dissenters, and marginalize the poor. These are the foot soldiers in a political holy war financed by wealthy economic interests and guided by savvy partisan operatives who know that couching political ambition in religious rhetoric can ignite the passion of followers as ferociously as when Constantine painted the Sign of Christ (the ‘Christograph’) on the shields of his soldiers and on the banners of his legions and routed his rivals in Rome.” — 9/11 and the Sport of God by Bill Moyers

Does John Roberts hold within him a Christian Fundamentalist view of the world he dare not reveal while being confirmed but that has been privately communicated to all the ‘right’ people?

Or has John Roberts long hidden within him moderate views and progressive ideals, ones he knew would be anathema to his big league ambitions?

I hope Roberts will ‘be his own man’ as he said during his testimony and that he holds within him a great empathy and intelligence for those different from him and yet living under the same laws. I hope that he will be a non-silent voice of reason, fairness and equality by exercising that unique independent power soon to most likely be given to him.

As for me and my family and the irrational fundamenalism infiltrating our lives, I can only do my small part in opposing it. As has often been said, those who fail to oppose tyranny have no one but themselves to blame when it comes for them.

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