We Americans talk about theology, philosophy and ideology as if they are discrete mental categories, but of course, they aren’t. The other day, as I was mourning the political reality I inhabit, as I tried to comfort myself with reflections about the “fits and starts” of progress, I suddenly realized what I have missed about America’s current cold civil war: at its base, it’s our contemporary version of religious war.
I actually owe this insight to Micah Beckwith, who recently took to X/Twitter to declare that college students who criticised his medieval worldview are impermissibly “woke” and to threaten the existence of the Indiana Daily Student, which had published the critique.
I don’t know why it took me so long to realize that the hysteria against “wokism” is terminology for the war between religious fundamentalism and liberalism–especially religious liberalism.
Religious beliefs began as an effort to explain mysterious phenomena: why the tides go in and out, why people become diseased, why some folks prosper and others don’t. What we call secularism is really the steady expansion of human knowledge that erodes the role of supernatural beliefs. We no longer ask the priest to pray over a broken leg, we call the doctor. We no longer use prayer (or rain dances) to counteract droughts. Most of us (unfortunately, not all) reject the Calvinist belief that equates poverty with moral deficit and wealth with superior merit.
Many denominations have responded to the growth of science and empiricism by revisiting their approach to theology. Rather than seeing religious adherence as a simple issue of obedience to orders from “on high”–orders interpreted differently by the theologians of each specific denomination– many Christian, Jewish, and Islamic congregations have reinvisioned religion’s role. Rather than issuing fundamentalist decrees, these more mature theologies help parishioners wrestle with the nature of goodness and the ethical and moral obligations of humanity. Their churches, synagogues and mosques offer congregants the comfort of loving and supportive communities. My friends in the Christian clergy tend to focus on the Sermon on Mount (could anything be more woke?).
But that lack of an authoritative “bright line” drives fundamentalists crazy. Horrified religious literalists (abetted by those whose personal prospects are enhanced by biblical notions of patriarchy and America’s cultural Calvinism) fight back. Today, they are the bulk of the MAGA people supporting Trump.
One example is Pete Hegseth–the Fox News pundit who is Trump’s ridiculous and unqualified choice for Secretary of Defense. Hegseth is a self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist who has tattoos that he claims are “religious symbols.” Those symbols date back to the Crusades–the effort by the Christian west to “liberate” Jerusalem from Muslim control. One of the tattoos says, “Deus Vult.” Hegseth explained in 2020, “I’ve got Deus Vult – God Wills It – which was the cry of the Crusaders, on my bicep.”
Like Micah Beckwith and other fundamentalists, Hegseth is confident that he knows precisely what God wills. I need not spell out the dangers of putting such people in positions of power.
People like me, who tend to be critical of organized religion, have missed a central point: it isn’t “religion” that is the problem–just as it isn’t philosophy or ideology. It’s regressive religion, philosophy and ideology. It’s a primitive world-view used in the service of Othering–a religion, philosophy or ideology that is at base a rationale for the dominance of some people over others.
The danger arises from “righteous” folks who are certain they possess exclusive knowledge of “God’s will.” That isn’t just the Beckwith version of Christianity. Every religion has its contingent of fundamentalists who know exactly what their God demands and are prepared to impose that understanding on the rest of us.
In the U.S., because Christians have been in the majority, the religious fundamentalism that animates Christian Nationalism threatens not just our religious and civic liberties but allso–as my Christian friends insist — authentic Christianity.
Those of us who have rejected organized religion cannot lead the charge against this theocratic Crusade. That leadership must come from within the Christian community. There are signs that such leadership is emerging, that Christians who base their understanding on Jesus’ “wokeness” are waking up to the fact that the fundamentalists pushing for theocracy are endangering the very values and beliefs that animate their more loving and inclusive versions of their faith traditions.
I now understand the battle over “wokeness.” It’s a modern version of the Crusades–a battle of fundamentalist True Believers against contemporary religious and philosophical beliefs.
well said and still so very sad
You’ve nailed this. Thank you. I have waited for years for Christians to take back leadership from these “fundamentalists” – who are merely fascists using Christianity as their excuse to oppress and commit violence agsinst others…with the lie of Manifest Destiny paving the road.
Unfortunately a lot of men love to feel a sense of control at a micro level – their families and similar. At a macro level it becomes the school board then Indiana then the U.S. on to the planet. Too many women either go along with or enthusiastically endorse Patriarchy- fears and hopes of all the rest of us usually go along – super wealthy profit- welcome to 2025- beginning now- we are very very Late in recognition and action.
The only remaining question is: How much damage can they do in four years? The answer is: More than you know. It’s time to join the opposition!
Thank you for this clarifying piece, Sheila. I’ve been thinking about it this week also after a friend posted an image of a large army of soldiers from the Crusades fully armored with spears and shields and the words “The Church is not an audience to be entertained, it’s an Army to be empowered.” About the same time I read about Hegseth and the symbols dating back to the Crusades embraced by Christian Nationals. I would note the KKK’s Blood Drop Cross symbol uses that same kind of cross with four equal arms like a plus sign +.
I do fear that we are on the precipice of some Dark Ages in America complete with Crusades, Inquisitions, and Witch Hunts. I wonder if the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other militia that have been itching for the outbreak of civil war will be deputized as moral enforcers by the President or our own governor to “purify” our state and country.
This was one of your best. Thank you. To me, gentle faith also includes hope.
We are now the resistance! I have pledged myself to make one contact (letter, email or phone) each day to either express my opposition to Trump’s policies or to support those in opposition. If we all do it, we could flood our politicians with our resistance and help turn the tide in the midterms and beyond.
Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, formerly of Fox News, indeed has a massive challenge ahead of him in replacing sitting Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III, formerly board member of defense contractor Raytheon Corporation.
Indiana played a role in making Hogseth’s job more difficult in challenging the rising military capability of China. Not long after the Bush Administration signed the Patriot Act of 2001 to deter and punish terrorist acts in the U.S. and around the world (and to relax Constitutional safeguards against government surveillance of Americans), Indiana employer and manufacturer of cruise missile guidance systems, Magnequench, was sold to Chinese buyers and moved to a newly-constructed facility in Tianjin, China. Months before the 2004 takeover of Magnequench, one of the buyers, San Huan New Materials, was cited by the US International Trade Commission and fined $1.5M for patent infringement and business espionage.
The purchase was protested by Representative Peter Visclosky and Senator Evan Bayh to the Bush administration, the Pentagon and the U.S. Treasury Department. None intervened in the sale.
We hope Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hogseth, who seems to have no apparent conflicts of interest with the military industrial complex, is able to act in the security interests of the United States, and resist the corporate interests who are willing to sell critical American technology to the highest bidder.
More information on this topic can be found in the 2005 book by Jeffrey St. Clair entitled, “Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Corruption and Profiteering in the War on Terror.”
It was probably sometime back in the 1970s when I started telling people that religion and science are not really compatible but that they could coexist (as they have in the U.S.) as long as people have freedom of thought and expression. Without that freedom, the inevitable result is religious war.
Every religious fundamentalist thinks the world would be improved if everyone just followed his rules and believed his beliefs, but no two fundamentalists are in total agreement about about what those rules and beliefs should be. Ergo, war.
The requirement for freedom OF religion is freedom FROM the religion of others. In a complex world, that has always seemed relatively simple to me.
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
One quick question: Why didn’t Sotomayor retire during Biden’s presidency? Trump could very easily get three more appointments over the next four years.
Merriam-Webster’s definition of “woke” has changed. Instead of relating to consciousness, it’s about “racial and social justice.” They picked up the definition from African slang. The same thing for the Celtic Cross. It used to be a symbol of Christ and Religion, but now it’s a hate symbol.
The term Christian Taliban has been very popular for years and is very fitting for dimwits like Beckwith and Hegseth. The latter is the perfect dimwitted “yes man” for Trump at the Defense Department since Trump plans to use the military as his personal police against anybody he perceives as his enemy.
The Progressive magazine has a great article about the war against the media. Trump wants to loosen libel laws to sue any news agency attempting to hold him accountable. He also wants to yank their licenses, and he can force other broadcast news agencies to sell off their market to Sinclair.
Religion is just a place for ignorant and fearful people to congregate and feel safe in numbers (their faith). Sadly, when the most ignorant among them think they know what a god wants, we will have problems. The most horrendous criminals for years have claimed they knew god’s will. Any human claiming they understand a supreme being is comical at best. How could they wrap their head around their creator? 😉
Neofascism and/or right-wing populism is taking power across the US, and I wonder why the Democratic Party has moved in that direction instead of further to the left. If we were a true “democratic republic,” we, the people, would oppose fascism with socialism. I believe Marx said that unchecked capitalism will morph into socialism vs fascism. My belief is we’re a pure oligarchy that controls both parties and has restricted socialism’s movements within the people.
We’ll see what happens as we experience unrestricted fascism in January.
The Confederacy, in our times, is a conspiracy of special interests, for instance, those shopping for Dollar General government, religious fundamentalists, various survivalists, racists, under-educated elitists, wealthy welfare seekers, those who watch too many scary movies, Rambos, aristocrats, the power-less, those who spend more than they make, and those who’s TV and minds are stuck on one channel.
In “Sapiens,” Yuval Noah Harari explains it very well as a natural evolutionary adaptation to an overcrowded, overconnected, gossip-mediated mass of lonely primates fueled by hubris and fossil fuels.
We understand Artificial Intelligence better than the kind in our skulls.
It will fail globally as Trump struts on stage declaring Nirvana.