, The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 05/30/2006 1:35 PM | Opinion
Djoko Susilo, Jakarta
Forget free speech, forget freedom of the press, forget the First Amendment. America is now moving from its secular liberal political tradition into religious fundamentalism, in particular the Christian evangelical camp. They have an immense and strong political influence within the Bush administration and the U.S. Congress. The Christian fundamentalists also have a strong influence on economics and the mass media.
This leads to questions when American diplomats everywhere work hard to push an agenda of democratic reforms and liberalism in other countries, while in their homeland people have difficulty promoting the humanist-liberal and secular values of democracy.
Rabbi Michael Lerner wrote for the January/February edition of the liberal Jewish magazine Tikkun an article titled Hostile Takeover: Theocracy in America, in which he explained that with the confirmation hearings of judge Samuel Alito, the take-over by the religious right-wing of the judicial institution had been completed. It confirmed and underscored the immense power of the religious right, who will not hesitate to show their muscles to their opponents. This condition is unprecedented in American political history, and threatens the secular and pluralist society which has been established over the last 200 years.
Responding to the growing power of the religious right, Lerner wrote in his new book The Left Hand of God: Taking Our Country Back From the Religious Right (Harper Collins, 2006) that the liberals should fight back, otherwise America would lose its unique position as a bastion of free speech and a secular democracy. Last week in Washington, D.C. he organized a national convention with the special aim of stopping America from falling further into the religious fundamentalism espoused by people such as Pat Robertson, who last year called for the assassination of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
The ascendancy of the religious right into political power structures in the United States is partly a result of the disorganization of the liberal movement. In the mid 1980s, many Americans wrongly believed religious power was finished as a political force. Several key leaders were involved in various scandals. Pat Robertson was fined US$25,000 by the Federal Election Commission for raising campaign funds a year before he declared his candidacy. His campaign messages were very controversial: the U.S. government should encourage higher birth rates in order to save ""our culture and our values"", no atheists would work in his administration and he claimed Cuba was housing missiles aimed at the United States.
Secondly, at the end of 1980s there were many revelations in the press of bizarre scandals. The popular tele-evangelist Jim Bakker admitted that he had cheated on his wife, and he and his wife Tammy Baker had their PTL satellite TV network's tax exempt status revoked because of financial improprieties.
Third, the religious right was rocked by a sexual scandal. Adult magazine Penthouse in June 1988 published various pictures and a confession by a prostitute who had ""serviced"" Jimmy Swaggart, a leading member of the Assemblies of God. Swaggart finally admitted on national TV that he had a habit of soliciting prostitutes.
In 1990s, with the presidency of Bill Clinton, it seemed the religious right was in decline. The liberals were wrong. In fact, the religious right was consolidating and after the election of George W. Bush they worked hard to change the course and shape American politics. They began organizing grassroots political movements. One of the most important examples was Concerned Women for America, founded by Beverly LaHaye in 1979. She organized conservative women to oppose the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1991, they successfully lobbied to win a Senate confirmation for the conservative judge Clarence Thomas to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
On the media front, the religious right have had success in beating the secular and liberal groups.
The conservative religious right controls at least six national TV networks and more than 2000 religious radio stations. It is estimated that religious radio programming is now more popular than any formats other than country music and news talkback.
Given their immense power and influence, the religious right's radio and TV stations have been courted by George W. Bush and the elite of the Republican party. Indeed, George W. Bush owed much to the religious right when he won Florida in the 2000 election. In fact, Bush got 84 percent of all white evangelical Protestants who voted in the 2000 election. Though he lost the popular vote by half million votes, Bush managed to capture the White House with a razor thin margin of Electoral College votes.
Bush is very grateful for the support of the religious right. One of his good friends is James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, a right wing conservative group. Dobson has called for constitutional reforms to permit prayer in public schools. He sponsors a group called ""Love Won Out"" which holds monthly meeting around the country for those ""suffering"" from same sex attractions. He has accused the proponents of gay marriage of being Nazis and has backed political candidates who have called for the execution of abortion providers. Dobson defines embryonic stem cell research as ""state funded cannibalism"".
The religious right has also invaded the business community. In May 2005, one Business Week cover story was Evangelical America, Big Business Explosive Politics. Pastor Rick Warren successfully sold his book The Purpose-Driven Life, published in 2000, using a network of churches. More than 23 million copies have been bought by religious groups across the nation. Warren is now a millionaire. But he is not the only religious leader in American who has become very rich. Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, formed the consulting firm Willow Creek Assn and last year reaped profits of more than US$17 million.
With millions of dollars in their hands and unprecedented access to the White House and the U.S. Congress, the religious right has now changed the American political landscape forever. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State could not hide his terror when he explained that if the Republican party could get 60 more votes in the current U.S. Congress to toe the line on the religious right's agenda, they would be able to dictate any policy in America.
So should we help moderate Americans face the onslaught of the conservative, fundamentalist and religious right?
The writer is a member of the House of Representatives' Commission I on Defense and Foreign Affairs. He can be reached at susilodjoko@yahoo.com [1]
[1] mailto:susilodjoko@yahoo.com
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