Christian Right's Rage Problem: How white fundamentalists are roiling America

As I have predicted before, the Christofascists are killing the Christian brand by making rage, hate and bigotry synonymous with the term Christian.  This is especially true with younger generations who are particularly put off by the Christofascists' constant anti-gay jihad.  And it's not just here in America that this is happening.  In the UK, a pundit said gays sleep with up to 20,000 partners during their "short, miserable lives."  But the rage and hate isn't reserved just for gays.  In Kansas, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who counts himself among the "godly folk" and is naturally a Republican, said that it’s possible that a Hispanic majority in the U.S. could conduct an “ethnic cleansing.” The obvious target?  Whites, and especially Christians.   It's little wonder that those who identify with no religion - the "nones" - comprise the fastest growing segment in America.  A piece in Salon reviews a new book and looks at the problem hatred and rage is creating for the Christofascists even though they seem to be oblivious to the reality that they are hastening their own demise.  Here are excerpts:

Over the past few years, America has been divided by religion.  The culture wars have heated up with secularists on one side and God-fearing Americans on the other, and to understate things: They disagree.  But does that mean we hate one another?  If the animosity is so intense, what kind of outrage goes too far? Bonnie Weinstein has tackled this issue in an important but very troubling book out Dec. 2, titled “To the Far Right Christian Hater … You Can Be a Good Speller or a Hater, But You Can’t Be Both: Official Hate Mail, Threats, and Criticism From the Archives of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.”

[T]he author has collected and annotated a sampling of the hate mail the foundation has received over the past few years.  This hate mail is not trolling or anonymous “Internet comments.”  The letters are specific and threatening and most often include a return address or email.  The Weinsteins’ home has been vandalized — many times — and the family has had to take serious and expensive security measures.  It’s no joke.  As I read the book, curled up on my couch, my wife kept asking if I was OK.  My face was fixed in an expression of horror and disbelief as I read the rage, hate and cruelty cataloged on every page.  Bonnie has uncovered a shocking reality: Self-professed Christians deny the fundamental humanity of other people they don’t even know.

As hard as it was to read in places, it’s important to read and understand.  It offers an unflinching examination of a subset of American fundamentalism, created by a segment of our society that is whiter, more conservative and a lot angrier than the rest of America.  For some people the future of their faith and of the nation are in danger, threatened by secular forces controlled by Satan himself.  This existential threat to Christian supremacy justifies the most offensive, vulgar and cruel letters I’ve ever read.   

“A lot of people will say these letter writers are not true Christians, but  they are acting as if this is what their lord wants them to do. This is how they behave and they justify it through Jesus.  It’s insidious and understated,” Bonnie said.

I will summarize almost every letter: The MRFF hates America, Weinstein is a dirty Jew who deserves to be raped / murdered / skull-fucked, some truly awful sexual filth directed at Bonnie, fuck-shit-fuck, cocksucker, and Jesus is Lord.  Frankly, I’m downplaying it a lot.  . . .  As the MRFF has racked up success pushing back against the creation of a Christian army — also outlined at the very end of the book — the letters the MRFF receives have gotten angrier and meaner.

When reading Bonnie’s book, the scope of the problem in the fundamentalist, dominion theology is obvious.  The sad thing is that everyone knows one of these letter writers.  You do and I do.  Perhaps it’s an uncle who yells about “the communists” or won’t stop demanding “Obama’s real birth certificate.” This person holds the view that the American military is a Christian army out to tame the heathens (most often Muslims) in a latter day crusade. 

Despite the condemnation these letter writers deserve, I would argue many of them have been goaded into their ugly views.  There is a systemic, manufactured religious war going on in America.  It’s passed down through families and churches.  It’s exploited by “family values” spouting politicians. It has been created to line the pockets of the most ignorant and vile flimflam artists who dare call themselves “reverend.”  It’s used to fill pews and collection plates and to generate votes for the self-proclaimed party of God, the GOP.

I was also sad that so many people spew so much hate in the guise of religion and freedom, and I was the most troubled that I don’t think it will change, at least not any time soon.  As long as there is money to be made and votes to be mined, people in the far-right wing of American religion will vilify this family and anyone else who dares to stand up to them.

These "godly Christians" need to become social pariahs and excluded from decent society. They are not nice or decent people and they deserve ZERO deference or respect.