Est. 1995

Tag: Fascism

The Rise of the Christofascists

Christian fascism is a term that is used to describe a far-right political ideology that denotes an intersection between fascism and Christianity. It is sometimes referred to as “Christofascism“, a neologism that was coined in 1970 by the liberation theologian Dorothee Sölle.[1][2][3]

Interpretation of Sölle

Tom F. Driver, the Paul Tillich Professor Emeritus at Union Theological Seminary, expressed concern “that the worship of God in Christ not divide Christian from Jew, man from woman, clergy from laity, white from black, or rich from poor”. To him, Christianity is in constant danger of Christofascism. He stated that “[w]e fear Christofascism, which we see as the political direction of all attempts to place Christ at the center of social life and history” and that “[m]uch of the churches’ teaching about Christ has turned into something that is dictatorial in its heart and is preparing society for an American fascism”.[4][5]

Christofascism “disposed or allowed Christians, to impose themselves not only upon other religions but other cultures, and political parties which do not march under the banner of the final, normative, victorious Christ” – as Paul F. Knitter describes Sölle’s view.[6][7]

Donald Trump is greeted by Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) on February 4, 2020.Leah Millis / Getty

Donald Trump is greeted by Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) on February 4, 2020.
Leah Millis / Getty

The most dangerous movement in American politics today is not Trumpism. It is Christofascism. With the election of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the organized effort to impose the extreme religious views of a minority of Americans on the entire country, at the expense of many of our most basic freedoms, took a disturbing step forward.

Despite Speaker Johnson’s claims of being a constitutional “originalist,” via his elevation by a unanimous vote of his Republican colleagues, he has moved America closer to having precisely the kind of government America’s founders most feared.

There is a reason the word “God” does not appear a single time in the Constitution. The founders were breaking with an England and Europe that were still in the thrall of the idea that rulers derived their powers from heaven above, “the divine right of kings.” But the Constitution explicitly states their view that the powers of government are derived “from the consent of the governed.”

Thomas Jefferson said he viewed with “solemn reverence that act of the whole of the American people” which established “a wall of separation between church and state.” George Washington approved a treaty stating, “The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” The First Amendment in America’s Bill of Rights states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The principal author of the Constitution, James Madison, in his treatise, “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments,” described 15 reasons why the U.S. government must avoid backing any religion.

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Here’s Why Mike Johnson Is More Dangerous Than Donald Trump

The GOP is looking more and more like the fascist parties of 1930s Europe

Trump says that if Judge Tanya Chutkan orders him not to reveal details of the prosecution’s case before they can be presented to a jury, including the names, addresses, and testimony of witnesses against him, he’s going to do it anyway and challenge the court.

And there’s little reason to believe he won’t do it: he’ll take what he’s asserting as his First Amendment right to troll and threaten witnesses against him all the way to the Supreme Court he packed with three rightwing crackpots. If nothing else, it may buy him enough time to get elected president and pardon himself before he’s convicted.

Kyle Rittenhouse, after killing two unarmed protestors, is lionized across the GOP (an Idaho Republican Party recently raffled off “Trigger Time With Kyle,” an opportunity to shoot an AR15 with the man-child himself).

From “rolling coal” trucks blowing poisonous smoke at Prius and EV drivers, to “Free helicopter rides for liberals” tee shirts invoking Pinochet’s murders, to hate groups and militia members showing up at school board meetings, today’s Republican Party has fully embraced hate and trolling.

 

Have Trolling & Hate Become the Core, the Essential Identity, of the Post-Trump GOP?

How far can a political party take trolling as its main way of motivating voters before it turns into something like the fascist parties of Europe in the 1930s or modern-day Russia and Hungary?

FASCISM: Army Talks 3/24/1945

Fascism, the U.S. government document explained, “is government by the few and for the few. The objective is seizure and control of the economic, political, social, and cultural life of the state.” “The people run democratic governments, but fascist governments run the people.”

May 29, 2023

Beginning in 1943, the War Department published a series of pamphlets for U.S. Army personnel in the European theater of World War II. Titled Army Talks, the series was designed “to help [the personnel] become better-informed men and women and therefore better soldiers.”

“The basic principles of democracy stand in the way of their desires; hence—democracy must go! Anyone who is not a member of their inner gang has to do what he’s told. They permit no civil liberties, no equality before the law.” “Fascism treats women as mere breeders. ‘Children, kitchen, and the church,’ was the Nazi slogan for women,” the pamphlet said.

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The Fight for Justice Never Matters More Than When Fascists Are Trying to Pervert the Very Idea of It

What’s this case really about? A lot more, I suggest, than many think, even now. The way it’s framed so far — even on the thoughtful side — is the old line about a nation of laws versus a nation of men…people. That’s true, but in a much subtler way than is being talked about.

How do nations fail? How did America get here? What’s really happening to America — right now?

One side — the fascists, basically — abuse their way into power. They cheat, they defraud, they tell Big Lies — “the election was stolen!! Gay people are groomers!! Jan 6th was a peaceful protest!!” On and on it goes.

And then something crucial happens. When they gain power, they begin to rewrite the law

In an America Collapsing Into Fascism, Indicting Trump Couldn’t Matter More

Perhaps he can write his very own Mein Kampf while he’s in prison. It was apparently, after all, his bedtime reading. There’s been a lot of ink spilled already about the indictment of Donald Trump, and plenty more surely will be. Let me offer a few thoughts. Does it matter?

When You Want to Annihilate Everyone Else in Society, Maybe the Problem Is…You

Hate is a strong claim, and yet it’s easy enough to see, or at least it should be, that in the manifold attacks on basic freedoms above, isn’t just the subtext of hate… But the real thing. Open calls for “eradication,” speaking about those of who are just pleading for decency as if we’re a “virus.” If all this isn’t hate, then what is? Surely hate doesn’t have only to be the next step, which is genuine material annihilation. It begins here.

Why Do the Fascists Hate Everyone So, So Much?

There’s a question which I keep asking these days. Maybe you do, too. It’s simple enough, and yet it’s surprisingly complicated, strange, and…ugly. Why do they hate us? You know what I mean already. Just think of the state of the nation or the world. It’s being rocked by fascist tides again.

I am your retribution

Like Mussolini and Hitler before him, Trump knows that the strongman must be everything to his people. His devoted followers must be so bonded to him that no other leader is possible in their minds. Only he can save them.

“I am your warrior, I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

Victim and Avenger: The Fascist Roots of Trump’s CPAC Speech

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