American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America

Chris Hedges

Jan 2007 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Twenty-five years ago, when Pat Robertson and other radio and televangelists first spoke of the United States becoming a Christian nation that would build a global Christian empire, it was hard to take such hyperbolic rhetoric seriously. Today, such language no longer sounds like hyperbole but poses, instead, a very real threat to our freedom and our way of life. In American Fascists, Chris Hedges, veteran journalist and author of the National Book Award finalist War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, challenges the Christian Right's religious legitimacy and argues that at its core it is a mass movement fueled by unbridled nationalism and a hatred for the open society.

Hedges, who grew up in rural parishes in upstate New York where his father was a Presbyterian pastor, attacks the movement as someone steeped in the Bible and Christian tradition. He points to the hundreds of senators and members of Congress who have earned between 80 and 100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian Right advocacy groups as one of many signs that the movement is burrowing deep inside the American government to subvert it. The movement's call to dismantle the wall between church and state and the intolerance it preaches against all who do not conform to its warped vision of a Christian America are pumped into tens of millions of American homes through Christian television and radio stations, as well as reinforced through the curriculum in Christian schools. The movement's yearning for apocalyptic violence and its assault on dispassionate, intellectual inquiry are laying the foundation for a new, frightening America.

American Fascists, which includes interviews and coverage of events such as pro-life rallies and weeklong classes on conversion techniques, examines the movement's origins, its driving motivations and its dark ideological underpinnings. Hedges argues that the movement currently resembles the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s, movements that often masked the full extent of their drive for totalitarianism and were willing to make concessions until they achieved unrivaled power. The Christian Right, like these early fascist movements, does not openly call for dictatorship, nor does it use

physical violence to suppress opposition. In short, the movement is not yet revolutionary. But the ideological architecture of a Christian fascism is being cemented in place. The movement has roused its followers to a fever pitch of despair and fury. All it will take, Hedges writes, is one more national crisis on the order of September 11 for the Christian Right to make a concerted drive to destroy American democracy. The movement awaits a crisis. At that moment they will reveal themselves for what they truly are -- the American heirs to fascism. Hedges issues a potent, impassioned warning. We face an imminent threat. His book reminds us of the dangers liberal, democratic societies face when they tolerate the intolerant.

Ratings and reviews

From reading just a short amount of this book, I've already found two false claims about the Bible. 1st: He says on page 4 that the Gospel of John has many hateful references to the Jews. This is not true. He says that John 3:18-20 says that hatred of Jews is very common in John. The passage talks about people who are not of Christ are in darkness, and that Jesus is Light. It makes no reference to Jews, or any other specific people or nation. then, this book says that John 8:39-44 talks about how Jews are the "children of the devil." The passage says "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Jesus here is not talking about their physical father, but instead of the Devil, who is the father of lies. Jesus is saying that their master is not the "God of Abraham" but instead, they serve the devil.

Yes everything is true about Trmp sup play victim but will help abolish free speech in the end. I mentioned fake news as just a term to cover up alt views and why his daughter is there if no one voted for her. First I mentioned it on their YT site I got accounts deleted and censored twice. Conservatives claim they are being kicked out or censored but its not just them. They need to wake up and stop sup dictatorship. If you even dont sup his daughter they call you feminist if your a woman but yet they mock other female politicians and celebrities. According to them its ok as long as its not his daughter they dont want anyone saying bad about them even if its true.

I read the entire book, some time ago. Hedges and I have one huge disagreement--whether god exists. Sure he has written some things that do not seem to "cover all bases". (I'll have to take that guys word on the Bible verses--they looked fine to me, and I had Catechism--maybe a different version?). Who hasnt? But, I feel that Hedges more than makes up for detail with his obvious desire to honestly delve into what happens inside the human "spirit". Sound wierd from an atheist/agnostic? I didnt say that I didnt belive in spirituality. Accuracy without empathy or compassion , is just like intelligence in the same vein--useless. (King James version) My version must be different. In Hedges' book, he states (p 4, once again) "A LITERAL reading of the Bible means reinstitution of slavery....children to be executed...women...children of the debvil..." I suppose it would be up to the indidvidual to determine whom he is speaking aobut. I'll trust the Seminary graduate, but, all the same it is neither here nor there to me. John 8:18-20, Jesus says. "Ye neither know me nor my Father"......." He, if you read it in context, is obviouly "scolding" his own people --the Jews. "Ye judge after the flesh. I judge no man". (Because he was a MAN---the exact POINT of his walking the earth that fundamentalists seem to miss) John 8:30-44 "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham....but now you seek to kill me. A man (man) who has told ye the truth....If God were your Father, ye would love me.." John 8:48-52 "Then answered the JEWS, ...Say we are not well that hast a Samaritan. and hast a Devil." Jesus answered "I hast not a devil but I honor my Father and ye do dishonor me".....Then said the Jews unto him, "Now we know that thou hast a Devil. Abraham is dead...and you keep saying that those shall never taste death...art thout greater than our Father Abraham...Then they picked up the stones to cast at him...but Jesus hid". It generally comes down to, the "sins of the father" being visited upon their "begats". That is, if you take a literal tranlation of the Bible, which I believe , Hedges is urging you not to do. The Old Testament, in particular, is full of hatred, wars, and unsubstantial death. The Jews asked that the sins of themselves be visited against their children. If you take the Bible literally, you do not get to change it to fit your values.

About the author

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent and bureau chief in the Middle East and the Balkans for fifteen years for The New York Times. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. He is host of the Emmy Award­–nominated RT America show On Contact. Hedges, who holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard University, is the author of numerous books, and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist for War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Toronto. He has taught college credit courses through Rutgers University in the New Jersey prison system since 2013.