The danger inherent in fundamentalism is it demands an absolutist and
strict obedience to a concrete standard, or set of standards, that its
ideologue devotees cannot waiver from or comprehend non-compliance from
non-adherents. Religion, in its purest form, is steeped in
fundamentalism primarily because strict obedience to its particular
tenets is required by its adherents who tend toward imposing their
beliefs on the rest of society. America’s version of conservatism is a
fixed belief system not unlike fundamentalist religion, and regardless
the U.S. Constitution, or will of the people, conservatives are
ill-inclined to waiver from imposing their ideology on the people. Like
religion, conservatives demand strict obedience from all members of
society making it incompatible with democracy or a free society. For the
past four-and-a-half years, Americans have been besieged by an axis of
fundamentalist groups who exemplify anti-democratic ideology and between
corporatists, evangelical fundamentalists, and conservatives, the
nation risks drifting toward fascism and if not thwarted spells the end
of American democracy.
Although corporatists pose a clear and present danger to America’s
representative democracy, it is religious and conservative
fundamentalists who openly oppose the idea of a free society, and in
their rush to impose their ideology on the entire nation belie their
contention they love America or its founding document. Republicans in
Congress have all but brought governance to a halt with their
obstructionism and demand that the nation adheres to their
fundamentalist agenda or they prevent government from operating, and in
conjunction with forcing bible-based laws on the people demonstrate
their hatred for democracy. As Americans await a pair of Supreme Court
rulings on same-sex marriage,
religious fundamentalists preemptively warned that a decision contrary to their religion will leave
them no choice but to defy the Court
they claim is “
acting beyond its constitutional role and contrary to the Natural Moral Law which transcends religions, culture, and time.” The evangelicals released a
letter stating their intent to
defy the High Court and ended with a threat; “
Make no mistake about our resolve, this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross,” and it exemplifies the Christian-conservative mindset Republicans are pushing on the people at all levels of government.
At the beginning of the 113
th Congress, Speaker of the House John Boehner promised evangelical fundamentalists that “
making abortion a relic of the past”
was Republican’s primary goal for 2013, and following through on his
word House Republicans passed an unconstitutional ban on abortions after
20 weeks in clear violation of the High Court’s ruling that abortion is
a woman’s choice, and legal, until the fetus is viable outside the
womb. Fundamentalists could not care less what the Supreme Court ruled
and Republicans demonstrated their allegiance is not to the
Constitutional authority of the High Court, but to the absolutist
standards of fundamentalist Christians. In Virginia, the state’s
attorney general and candidate for governor, Ken Cuccinelli, is
defending an unconstitutional law, “
Crimes Against Nature,”
because he feels it is his religious right to prohibit oral and anal
sex between consenting adults because like opponents of same-sex
marriage, he claims it is “
contrary to natural moral law” spelled out in the Christian bible.
Cuccinelli has a
history
of demanding Virginia residents adhere to his religious fundamentalist
agenda and is the poster-boy for the Christian right’s attempt to rule
by biblical edict. In 2007, Cuccinelli
cosponsored personhood legislation that defined a zygote is a human being and would
abolish
and criminalize all forms of birth control as tantamount to murder for
preventing a zygote from implanting in the womb. In 1982 the Senate
rejected legislation defining human life at fertilization because it
automatically
defined contraception as an “
abortifacient” which is a nice word for zygote killer. In 2010, Cuccinelli sent a
memo
to the state’s universities informing them they did not need to protect
gays from discrimination, and that it would be illegal if they did. He
said, “
It is my advice that the law prohibits a college or university
from including ‘sexual orientation’ as a protected class within its
nondiscrimination policy,” and it is based on his “
view that
homosexual acts are intrinsically wrong. I think in a natural law based
country it’s appropriate to have policies that reflect that. They don’t
comport with natural law. I happen to think that it represents behavior
that is not healthy to society.”
Cuccinelli, like same-sex marriage opponents and conservatives
opposed to social programs, safety nets, taxes on the wealthy and
corporations, represents the fundamentalist threat to democracy because
they will go to any length to impose their ideology on the people
regardless the U.S. Constitution, Supreme Court rulings, or the will of
the people. For example, Republicans blocked expanded background checks
for gun purchases despite
90%
of America, including Republicans and NRA members, supported a sensible
means of keeping guns out of criminal’s hands. In a January 2013 poll,
70%
of Americans supported abortion rights and yet Republicans, at the
behest of evangelicals, passed an unconstitutional ban after 20 weeks
despite the risk of losing more women voters in the next election.
Democracy is the antithesis of, and protection from, fundamentalism
because the idea of one man, one religion, one political ideology, or
one religious book being set up as the absolute standard to which all
people of a nation are bound will always subject the majority to
tyranny. It is true that is the end goal of Christian fundamentalists in
America the same as it is the goal of conservatives in the tea party
and Republicans pushing libertarianism on America, but it is not
democracy and certainly not the Founding Fathers intent. Admittedly not
all Christians seek to impose their will on all the people, but inherent
in all religions is the belief that there is only one way, one law, and
one absolute that rejects all others and it is why men like Cuccinelli,
conservative Christians in Congress, and same-sex marriage opponents
openly threaten to defy the Highest Court in the land because a ruling
may be contrary to their “
natural moral law” and state categorically that the Supreme Court has no “
moral authority” to rule that all Americans are protected under the
14th Amendment.
Perhaps the religious leaders who threatened there is a “
line we cannot and will not cross”
are ignorant of the High Court’s duty to the Constitution and the
nation because it is not a moral authority; it is a legal and
Constitutional authority
over the entire nation. Whether the religious fundamentalists like it
or not, the Constitution, and not any religious book, is the legal
authority in America and that is a line that the great majority of
Americans will not tolerate any group crossing regardless of what kind
of fundamentalist ideologue they are.
At Their Core Flag Waving Republicans Oppose Democracy and a Free Society was written by Rmuse for PoliticusUSA.
© PoliticusUSA, Jun. 22nd, 2013. All Rights Reserved
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