Christian
Fundamentalism
And American Empire
By Yoginder Sikand
24 September, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Little
talked about in the media, Western Christian fundamentalism is today
a potent threat to global security. With George Bush and several of
his top advisors being Christian fundamentalists, this is but to be
expected. Today. American foreign policies, as in Afghanistan, Iraq
and now Iran, are powerfully shaped by the Christian fundamentalist
agenda of global conquest for Christ and Capital.
Christian fundamentalists
believe that Christ alone is the way to salvation, and that the entire
world must be brought to heel before him, by force if necessary. In
the past, this doctrine was used to bless bloody Crusades and wars of
imperial plunder. The doctrine serves the same purpose today, as the
bombing of Afghanistan, the destruction of Iraq, the unreserved support
for Israeli terrorism and so on indicate. Although these acts are sought
to be justified by America as a 'civilising' mission or as part of its
'war on terror', the underlying white Christian supremacist vision behind
American imperialism, a continuation of the logic of European colonialism,
is unmistakable.
What, then, is the Christian fundamentalist vision that is driving Bush
and his key advisors to world conquest, even if this could possibly
mean destruction and chaos on a global and unprecedented scale? Stephen
Mansfield's recently published 'The Faith of George W. Bush' [Jeremy
Tarcher/Penguin, New York, 2004], a hagiographic account of the American
President, provides a deeply disturbing, account of Bush's personal
commitment to Christian fundamentalism. The book's cover describes it,
obviously exaggeratedly, as a 'national bestseller' and quotes the Wall
Street Journal as commending it as 'a story of spiritual awakening'.
Referring to the enormous
clout that Christian fundamentalism now enjoys in American decision-making
circles, Mansfield writes with unconcealed glee that, 'More than any
other presidency in recent years, George W. Bush's presidency is faith
based'. 'He has often said', Mansfield approvingly mentions, 'that faith
saved his life, nurtured his family, established his political career
and helped form the destiny of the nation'. Bush, so Mansfield claims,
'incorporates his faith and belief in God into every detail of life
[…] The President relies upon his faith to direct his actions
and goals'. Mansfield does not conceal his delight at the growing influence
of Christian fundamentalists in the corridors of power in Washington
under Bush's patronage. 'In no previous administration', he says, 'has
the White House hosted so many weekly Bible Studies and prayer meetings
and never have religious leaders been more gratefully welcomed'.
Bush's Christian commitment that Mansfield fervently endorses is not
the world-renouncing faith of a Christian hermit. Rather, it is a vengeful,
hate-driven creed rooted in the notion of the notion of the triumphalist
Church that desperately seeks to subjugate the entire world and expand
the borders of Christendom till the ends of the earth. It is this vision
of Christianity that informs the worldview of Bush's spiritual mentor,
the American televangelist Billy Graham, at whose hands, Mansfield tells
us, Bush experienced a re-conversion to Christ more than two decades
ago. Mansfield tells us that Graham is driven by a visceral hatred of
Islam, and quotes him as having declared that Islam is 'wicked, violent
and not of the same God [as Christianity]'.
It is entirely possible that Graham's deep-rooted Islamophobia has rubbed
off on his disciple Bush. Graham's Christian fervour has certainly been
instrumental in developing Bush's firm belief that 'Jesus is the only
way to God', although Mansfield does admit that Bush 'has been hesitant
to say' this, adding that once when he did so to a Jewish reporter it
'ignited a powder keg of controversy'. Mansfield also dwells at length
on Bush's close bonding with other notorious American Christian fundamentalists,
most notably Jerry Fawell and Pat Robertson, who insist that Christianity
alone is the way to salvation and that all other religions are limited,
false or even Satanic.
Bush's agenda of imposing global American hegemony cannot be understood
without taking into account his commitment to the doctrine of Christian
supremacy, Mansfield makes clear. 'From the tragedy of September 11
to the conflict in Iraq', he informs us, 'President Bush has learned
to use his faith to help him live in public and private life' and to
'shape the affairs of his administration'. Bush, Mansfield says, sees
himself as having been appointed by [the Christian fundamentalist] God
to serve His divine purposes in the world. Bush is convinced, he remarks,
that he is the President of America because he has been specially chosen
by God for the post. 'I am here because of the power of prayer', Mansfield
quotes Bush as proclaiming.
His faith makes Bush, or so Mansfield claims, a 'better man'. This 'better
man', Mansfield says with passionate approval, has been inspired by
his faith in Christ to invade Iraq, ostensibly 'to root out a terrorist
threat and remove Saddam' and also to 'make it a Midland of the Middle
East, not so much as an exact cultural and industrial parallel but as
the model of how human beings ought to live together'. Bush's hopes
for a post-war Iraq, Mansfield piously proclaims, 'are safety, family,
benevolent political leaders, good schools, sports, friends and love'.
'All men should live this way, he believes. It is what he wants America
to be and for America to model in the world'. This nauseating defence
of American terrorism, the killings of thousands of people in Iraq and
elsewhere by American troops, is thus blessed as a grand civilising
mission to be thrust down the throats of unwilling non-white and non-Christian
people, no matter what the cost in human terms.
True to his passionate commitment to the doctrine of Christian supremacy,
Bush sees the world in stark Manichaean terms. In the Christian fundamentalist
world-view, God and Satan, are engaged in a cosmic struggle that will
culminate in the grand war of Armageddon that will engulf the world,
heralding the Second Coming of Jesus. Seated on a throne in Jerusalem,
Jesus will rule the world. All knees will bow before him and all unbelievers
will be dispatched to eternal damnation in Hell. Christian fundamentalists
believe that the end of the world is near, and for this suitable preparations,
including unleashing bloody wars against Christianity's supposed enemies,
must be made.
Christian fundamentalists
see America as being actively engaged in this struggle, which might
entail, among other things, waging war for the glory of Christ. As a
Christian fundamentalist, Bush, Mansfield suggests, sees complex questions
in the most simplistic terms, as simply a battle between 'good' and
'evil'. Blind to the reality of brutal Western imperialism, economic,
cultural, political and military, that is at the root of widespread
distress and anti-Western sentiments among many Muslims, as well as
other non-Western peoples, Bush, Mansfield says, is apparently convinced
that Islamist militants and many other Muslims are opposed to America
simply because, as he believes, America is 'freedom's home and defender'.
'It is the price we pay for being good', Bush piously proclaims, It
is as if anti-Western feelings, including Islamist militancy, stem from
a congenital Muslim/non-white/non-Christian madness or barbarity that
can only be cured through military bombardment or else through the 'civilising'
mission of Christianity. It is as if Muslims are inherently opposed
to the 'freedom' and 'democracy' that Bush believes the American Empire
represents.
Fired by a seemingly irrepressible
zeal for the cause of Christian fundamentalism, Mansfield writes that
Bush has actively sought to marshal Christian theological legitimacy
for his imperialist wars, seeking to invoke the 'Just War Theory' developed
by the Church to bless the anti-Muslim Crusades, expand the boundaries
of Christendom and to subjugate the 'benighted heathen'. This, indeed,
is how Bush and his cohorts see the wars that they are currently waging
in the Muslim world and elsewhere, a restatement of the arguments used
to sanction the numerous bloody wars that America and its European allies
sponsored during the Cold War against the 'atheistic' communists.
Bush's fiery commitment to
the Christian fundamentalist agenda also explains his fervent support
to Israel. Although the Christian Church for centuries provided religious
sanction to anti-Jewish hatred, many Christian fundamentalists are today
vociferous supporters of Israel, Zionist expansionism and the brutal
suppression of the Palestinians.
Accordingly, the close nexus
between America and Israel appears to have received a tremendous boost
under Bush, who makes no effort to conceal his belief that his version
of Christianity demands that he unabashedly support the Zionist state.
Bush's commitment to Israel, Mansfield tells us, is widely recognised
in Zionist circles.
Like other forms of religious
fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism is a dreaded doctrine of supremacy,
a cult of hatred and a recipe for disaster. And with an avowed born-again
Christian at the helm of affairs in America who claims to be appointed
to that position by God and to be dictated by what he claims to be divine
communication, one shudders to think of what more brutalities are in
store for the world if Christian fundamentalism is allowed to remain
unchallenged.
The author works with the Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia
Millia Islamia. He moderates an online discussion group called South
Asian Leftists Dialoguing With Religion, which can be accessed on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saldwr/