(RNS) Religious extremism has gone from raging against abortion clinics and modern science to shaping American fiscal policy and rewriting the way Washington does politics.
Heaven help us.
A tragic three-way marriage has occurred. One party is middle-class rage, which Tea Party string-pullers have cleverly directed against immigrants and government, rather than their actual enemy, the predatory rich. The second is racial bigotry, which cannot accept the legitimacy of a black president. The third is hard-core Christian fundamentalism, which has lost its way in idolatry of right opinion.
Out of this three-way of utter certainty has come a class of politicians who start at an extreme position and say no to anything else — and keep saying no until they get their way. If this continues unchecked, their absolutism and disregard for freedom will become national policy.
This is a dangerous moment. Responsible adults in Congress and state legislatures have abandoned ship. Over the past few weeks of debt-limit wrangling, even the president surrendered.
Citizens raised on common sense and happy endings are unprepared for this extremist onslaught. It is so nonsensical and anti-American, how could it possibly go anywhere? Well, watch it happen.
With no serious countervailing force, religious extremism will drive the U.S. economy to its knees, while thanking God for the will to stand firm for “righteousness.” It will foment the kind of right-wing, anti-immigrant violence that is spreading across Europe and blame the victims for the crime of being non-white and new.
It will paralyze political structures at every level and take sweet delight in being right even as roads crumble, schools collapse, pensions go unpaid, the poor suffer, and a nation built on optimism and a can-do attitude turns sour of mood and hopeless of spirit.
Reality means little to the religious extremist. Compromise is off-limits when “God’s will” is at stake. The maturity and wisdom of listening to people, finding common ground, and working together for the common good are denounced as weak.
The pathology of religious extremism is a familiar story. Otherwise decent people get caught up in powerful convictions that leave no room for nuance or other points of view. The typical scenario is this:
“I believe. I believe so strongly that my belief becomes the center of my life. I cannot bear to be around people who don’t believe as I do. Those people are wrong, indeed they are evil. They are dangerous to true believers and must be removed. I am called as a true believer to get rid of them. I can use whatever means I want. I am right, and God rewards me for it.”
Most believers get off this train to destruction. Their faith takes the expression of love, not right opinion, and in that love, they understand other points of view as different, not evil.
Extremists don’t get this message of love, just the ego-flattering message that they are right and everybody else is wrong. The religious extremist’s identity, ego and life purpose are tied up in being right. There is no room for compromise. Just a relentless drive toward violence in word and deed.
I keep waiting for responsible grown-ups in government to re-establish the rule of law. But they seem intimidated.
As far as I can tell, religious extremists are a small minority in America. They don’t represent the majority’s faithfulness or patriotism. But the majority must speak up.
(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus” and founder of the Church Wellness Project. His website is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com. Follow Tom on Twitter @tomehrich.)
